As you can imagine, with all the fear and the federal bucks floating around scammers are in fat city.
Editor: I know a few of you noticed that I haven’t been posting because I heard from you. Thanks for your concern that I might have been sick. But a big storm took out our TV and internet for a couple of days. LOL! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if I wanted it back on! Amazing how many projects around the farm could get done with most access to the world cut off! So, I am way behind in finding stories and posting and will be trying to catch up.
There are way to many stories to post about scammers in this brave new world we live in now, but this one caught my eye at Psychology Today. The title grabbed my attention!
5 Coronavirus Scams That Can Fool Even Smart People
Here are a few examples from the article, but please read it all!
In just the first nine days of April, the Federal Trade Commission reported $7 million lost to scams.
Here’s a current rogue’s gallery of coronascams:
The Stimulus Scam. You’re excitedly waiting for your stimulus check or student-loan forgiveness. You get an email with a government logo. It says you need to apply—Just provide your Social Security Number and date of birth and perhaps a small registration fee. Gotcha.
The CoronaTracking Scam. You heard, correctly, that Apple and Google are creating a corona-tracking app. Then, you get a text claiming to be from the government, perhaps the CDC or WHO, informing you that you’re eligible to get the app free. It says that, to avoid fraud, it needs your Social Security Number and birth date. Gotcha.
[….]
The Product Scam. An email or text offers to sell you sanitizer, masks, etc. By the time you get to the final screen, the shipping cost atop an inflated price makes it exorbitant. But you’ve put in the effort to get that far (commitment bias), so you click “order.” Worse, you click “order” and not only don’t get the product, the scammers use your credit card to buy themselves cool stuff or gift cards for their programmers so the scam can metastasize.
More! Read it all and see if you are one of the smart people who just might have fallen for one of these!
