Authorities warn of coronavirus scams, schemes

A so-called miracle cure in California. Predatory text messages in North Carolina. Fake stimulus checks in the mail.

Authorities are warning that fraudsters are scheming to scam people out of their money or personal information with a coronavirus-related pretense.

The Federal Trade Commission said reports it received from consumers about the coronavirus doubled in about a week. On Thursday, the IRS announced it has seen a surge in identity theft and tax fraud scams with regard to the upcoming stimulus payments.

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said “buzzards and vultures” often come out in moments of crisis.

“It’s unbelievable the con artists are out there exploiting this particular crisis, but it happens all the time, unfortunately, and we’re urging people to just hang up the phone if someone pretends they’re calling from the government,” Mr. Franchot said.

One common report Mr. Franchot and others are concerned about: scammers who say they’re calling from the IRS or another agency to request bank information to electronically deposit victims’ federal relief checks.

No government agencies will call or email citizens for personal information, and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said most Americans will receive their checks via direct deposit beginning April 17 and others will be mailed their checks.

Scammers also are mailing fraudulent checks designed to look like real ones, but recipients are given directions to verify their personal information by going online or calling a phone number, the IRS said.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has warned of text messages being sent by people posing as a loved one, a respirator mask salesperson or an official from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Martin Bailey, a member of the “Silver Shield” anti-scam campaign in Fairfax County, Virginia, reminds consumers to never give personal or banking information over the phone.

He also recommends making sure that website addresses that purport to be a government agency like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention end with .gov, the governmental domain name. Scam sites might appear as cdc.com or cdc.org, for example.

Mr. Bailey has seen a rash of other schemes, some as blatant as scammers trying to sell a treatment or vaccine over the internet. In a new series of podcasts he is producing for the county, he warns against online offers for coronavirus vaccinations.

“Stop and consider if there has been a medical breakthrough. Would you be hearing about it for the first time through an ad or a sales pitch?” Mr. Bailey said. “If you are, you know it’s a scam.”

But some around the country have fallen victim. In the first pandemic-related fraud bust, the FBI arrested an actor in California who said he had invented a coronavirus cure, sold it over social media and tried to lure big-money investments. Other claiming cures, like a silver solution and a special toothpaste, have caught the attention of the FTC.

Many schemes target senior citizens, including phone calls claiming that a person’s Social Security benefits will be suspended because offices are closed during the pandemic — which isn’t true — to coax people into providing their Social Security number and bank info to prevent it from happening. Other scammers pose as charities that aggressively seek donations for the sick.

There’s also what Mr. Bailey calls the “provider scam,” in which a senior is called by someone posing as a doctor who says a child or grandchild is hospitalized with the virus and being cared for, but money is owed to cover medical bills and treatment.

Mr. Bailey said scammers prey on people’s emotions, from fear to greed to a desire to help others.

“The virus gives them one thing that puts all the emotions together, so the scammers have got a real easy job,” he said.

Mr. Bailey advised people in Fairfax who think they have been victimized to report it to the non-emergency Fairfax County police number or the state attorney general’s office. And the best advice when a likely scammer calls is simply to ignore the caller.

“Some people try to hang on the phone calls,” Mr. Franchot said, as a “’good citizen effort’ to apprehend someone when they know it’s a scam. Don’t do that. Hang up the phone. Disconnect, and just go on and about your business.”

Mr. Franchot urges Marylanders to recognize that the coming economic downturn could go on for quite some time.

“Whatever cash people have in their checking accounts and savings accounts, they should husband and protect like a mother lion protects her cub,” he said. “And the last thing they should do is open themselves up to fraud by people who right now are making literally thousands and thousands of these calls in Maryland and millions of calls like this around the country.”

χ χ Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.