People’s fears about pandemic being preyed on by scammers
SCAMMERS ARE preying on people’s health and financial worries amid the outbreak of coronavirus, police in West Yorkshire are warning.
Numerous scams have emerged as criminals seek to take advantage of concerns ranging from how to reclaim money lost on holidays to financial support when schools close.
West Yorkshire Police, Action Fraud and others have been using their own social media channels to raise awareness of the tactics being used.
Ramona Senior, the head of West Yorkshire’s Economic Crime Unit, said her team was anticipating an influx in reports
“They make up all sorts of things that sound legitimate at the time.”
of such scams as fraudsters were very good at “diversifying”.
Investigators typically see seasonal scams tied into things like Christmas shopping, Hajj pilgrimages or HMRC tax return deadlines.
Tickets scams linked to big events like music festivals are another example of how the criminals will seek to exploit people using whatever is topical.
Ms Senior said fraudsters will also look at big talking points in the news like last year’s collapse of Thomas Cook, using emails, text messages and cold calling to try to lure in potential victims.
“They make up all sorts of things that sound legitimate at the time,” she said. “Everything that’s in the public eye, a news report about something that creates anxiety or people may lose money and want to protect themselves, is a bit of an opportunity for the fraudsters.”
The force’s Cybercrime Team has warned in recent days about the risk of downloading apps claiming to provide information on the spread of the virus, which are being used as a way to get malware onto people’s phones.
It also shared an image of a malicious website which is luring in people searching for coronavirus maps. Visiting the website infects the user’s phone or computer with malware, steals information and accesses sensitive data.
And within days of news that the UK’s schools would be closing to everyone but the children of key workers, another scam has emerged. One such email containing fake links and promising funding for families says that if your child’s school is closed and they are entitled to free school meals, then you should click on the link to send your bank details to the school.
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