As state and federal officials continue to sound the alarm about the potential dangers of COVID-19, some scammers are already preying on peoples' fear to try and extort them.
THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK HASSPARKED FEARS AROUND THEGLOBE.
SCAMMERS ARE TRYING TOCAPITALIZE, AND TAKE ADVANTAGEOF PEOPLE TRYING TO PROTECTTHEMSELVES.
PETE ZERVAKISJOINS US NOW TO EXPLAIN HOWTHEY'RE DOING IT AND WHAT YOUSHOULD LOOK OUT FOR TODAY.A NEW APP HAS SURFACED ... ANDCLAIMS IT TRACKS CORONAVIRUSCASES IN YOUR AREA.SOUND TOOGOOD TO BE TRUE?
IT IS.IN THIS WRITE UP BYCYBERSECURITY COMPANY "DOMAINTOOLS"... THE AUTHOR EXPLAINSHOW THE APP ISN'T CONNECTED TOTHE APPLE OR GOOGLE PLAYSTORES.
IT'S DOWNLOADED FROMTHE WEB... AND ONCE IT'S ONYOUR PHONE... HACKERS CANACCESS EVERYTHING FROM YOURPHOTOS... TO YOUR CONTACTS...9:54 they lock your phone, andyou don't have access to anyof your personal data.
THEHACKERS DEMAND MONEY TO UNLOCKTHE PHONE.
BUT JONATHAN ARNOLD- AN I.T.
INSTRUCTOR ATMILWAUKEE AREA TECH COLLEGE -SAYS... many times, if youpay, they don't give you thecode to unlock it anyway ANDTHIS ISN'T THE áONLY,CORONAVIRUS RELATED SCAM TOSURFACE.
THIS ARTICLE INFORBES EXPLAINS HOWHACKERS -SUSPECTED TO BE IN LIBYA -HAVE BEEN USING A SIMILAR APPTO LISTEN IN TO YOUR PHONE'SMICROPHONES... AND LOOK ATYOUR PHOTOS.
9:03 you're goingto see a really large spike inmalware and scams related tothe coronavirusPETE-- DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS TOHELP PEOPLE SPOT A FRAUDULENTAPP .LOOK OUT FOR SPELLINGLOOK OUT FOSPELLING ERRORSOR TYPOS IN ITS NAME,DESCRIPTION OR WEBSITE.
IT'SALWAYS BEST TO ONLY DOWNLOADAPPS FROM PLACES LIKE THEAPPLE APP AND GOOGLE PLAYSTORES... NOT DIRECTLY FROM AWEBSITE.STILL AH
As if the coronavirus wasn’t bad enough, now people are dealing with a new round of scams thanks to the outbreak. One local man..
WATCH: Huntsville, Madison County officials speak about area’s coronavirus outbreak