A new type of coronavirus fraud is rampant in the US: how to protect yourself

Using people's fear of coronavirus, scammers pretend to be representatives of health authorities by e-mail and try to find out their personal data from people, reports Businessinsider.

Фото: Depositphotos

As the number of deaths from a coronavirus outbreak continues to increase, online scammers use email phishing schemes to try to capitalize on the confusion and fear of people associated with the virus.

Computer security researchers have identified numerous phishing scams. Attackers wrote in emails on behalf of organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization (WHO), offering information about the virus. Their goal is to trick the victim into downloading malicious software or transferring their credentials.

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Although the outbreak of coronavirus is a global health crisis, experts caution against unnecessary panic, arguing that misinformation causes an inadequate response in society.

One of the fraudulent schemes identified by Trustwave Holdings. The crooks send out false allegations that the virus has spread to the hometowns of the people to whom they send messages. And then they suggest users enter their email password to read more information.

Another scam is an attempt to interest such information, and then malicious links are provided to direct victims to the fake Microsoft Outlook portal that collects credentials.

Last week, the World Health Organization recommended that people be careful about phishing scams that manipulate the theme of coronavirus.

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Here's how fraudsters work and what steps WHO recommends taking to protect themselves:

1. Check the sender’s mail domain and see if it matches the website of the organization on whose behalf the message was allegedly sent. Then look at the links included in the email, but don’t click on them.
2. Do not trust sites with unfamiliar URLs where you need to enter any logins, passwords and other personal data.
3. If in doubt, copy and paste the links into the browser, but do not click on them directly from the letter. Do not fall for the tricks of scammers who are trying to get you to act quickly and thoughtlessly.
4. If you have already shared sensitive information, change your passwords immediately.

Do not panic if you think you have already provided your credentials to a scammer. Just change all your passwords in online accounts and set up multi-step authentication where possible.

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