AS IF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HASN'T HIT CONSUMERS HARD ENOUGH, NEW DATA SHOWS A HUGE SPIKE IN COVID-19-RELATED RIP-OFFS, SCAMS AND FRAUD.
AS IF THECORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HASN'THIT CONSUMERS HARD ENOUGH, NEWDATA SHOWS A HUGE SPIKE INCOVID-19-RELATED RIP-OFFS,SCAMS AND FRAUD.CONSUMER REPORTER JOHNMATARESE REVEALS WAYS TO SPOTTHEM, AND PROTECTYOURSELF...SO YOU DON'T WASTEYOUR MONEY.IT'S TOUGHENOUGH DEALING WITH REDUCEDINCOME THIS YEAR....AND THECONSTANT RISK OF CATCHINGCOVID 19.
NOWSCAMMERS ARE TRYINGHARDER THANEVER TO GET YOURMONEY.
KALLIDAVIDSON RECENTLY GOT ANOTIFICATION ON HER PHONEABOUTA PURCHASE AT A NEARBY TARGET.BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM."I'm like...hmmmI'm not ATTarget." SHEIMMEDIATELY CONFIRMED WITH HERBANK THAT HER CREDIT CARD HADBEEN COMPROMISED."Maybe it was someone reelingfrom the whole COVIDsituation." ANDKALLI'S NOT ALONE.
FROM BOGUSCURES AND TREATMENTS, TO FAKEWEBSITES PROMISING TO GET YOURRELIEF MONEY, SCAMMERS AREFINDING NEW WAYS TO TAKEADVANTAGE OF AN ALREADY DIRESITUATION."Unfortunately,scammers are very creative andthey come up with all sorts ofways to prey on people in themiddle of a pandemic."THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSIONHAS RECORDED OVER 59 THOUSANDCORONAVIRUS AND STIMULUS-RELATED COMPLAINTS WITH LOSSESTOTALING OVER 74 MILLIONDOLLARS.
OURPARTNERS AT CONSUMER REPORTSMAGAZINE SAY WATCH OUT FORTHESE CORONAVIRUS SCAMS --ALTHOUGH NO CURESOR VACCINES HAVE BEEN APPROVEDTO TREAT COVID-19, IT HASN'TSTOPPED FRAUDSTERS FROM TRYINGTO SELL PHONY REMEDIES LIKETEAS, OILS, AND VITAMIN-CTHERAPIES.FINANCIAL SCAMMERS ARE ALSOSAYING THEY CAN SPEED UP THENEXT ROUND OF STIMULUS ORUNEMPLOYMENTCHECKS.
HOW CANYOU PROTECT YOURSELF: BE WARYOF ANY TYPE OF ROBOCALL OREMAIL THAT USES THE TERM"STIMULUS" AND ASK YOU TOPROVIDE PERSONAL INFORMATION .----------------------AND THEN THERE AREPHISHING SCAMS FROM FAKEWEBSITES THAT MAY HAVE"CORONAVIRUS" OR "COVID19" INTHEIR DOMAIN NAMES."People need to be veryvigilant about sharingpersonal information if theydid not initiate the contact."AND WATCH FOR CONTACTTRACING SCAMS: IF YOU GET ATEXT, NEVER GIVE YOUR SOCIALSECURITY NUMBER OF CREDIT CARDNUMBER.
CONTACTTRACERS SHOULD ONLY NEED YOURCELL PHONE NUMBER...NEVER YOURSOCIAL.
SO BE CAREFUL AND DONTWASTE YOUR MONEY.
THE LATEST ITEM IN SHORT SUPPLY THIS PANDEMIC YEAR: LAPTOP COMPUTERS. IF YOUR CHILD NEEDS ONE FOR SCHOOL... OR YOU JUST NEED ONE..
DID YOU GO ON VACATION OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS? IF SO -- YOU MAY WANT TO THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU POST ABOUT IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
