Scammers and other criminals are always quick to take advantage of crises, and this latest – centered around the spread of the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus around the world – is no exception.
With the Western world conducting a considerable chunk of its day-to-day life online, with the help of computers, mobile phones and email, they are open to a variety of coronavirus-related cyber scams and schemes.
A rising threat
Aside from those who (legally) exploit the crisis by gouging the panicking public on the price of face masks, disinfectants, and similar items that are currently in big demand, there are fraudsters who ostensibly sell masks but never send the hugely overpriced items to those who have paid for them.
According to Reuters, victims in the United Kingdom have lost more than 800,000 pounds ($1 million) to coronavirus-linked scams since last month.
And then there are the phishers and malware peddlers: since the very beginning of Covid-19’s surge in Wuhan, they’ve been tricking users with fake email notifications and fake alerts impersonating local authorities, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) to…
