US authorities warn about explosion of coronavirus-related scams

US law enforcement authorities are reporting an explosion of coronavirus-related scams as fraudsters move to capitalize on the panic Americans are experiencing over the rapidly-spreading pandemic.

Law enforcement officials are warning consumers to be especially wary of cyberscams, including sophisticated emails claiming to be from US and international health organizations, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing experts and government officials.

Such frauds are only expected to multiply as the government distributes financial aid to individuals and businesses as part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package to help address the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis.

“We are seeing fraud across the board, everything from low-tech to very sophisticated schemes,” G. Zachary Terwilliger, the chief federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, told the Times.

He told the newspaper that the pandemic has affected so many people in so many different ways that “it just allows the fraudsters to have their buffet, as it were, to prey upon vulnerable people.”

US, UK brace for soaring death tolls as pandemic bears down

The US and Britain braced for one of their darkest weeks in living memory on Monday as the social and financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic deepened.

Federal, state and local authorities are preparing for both criminal operations carried out by individuals and more complicated plots similar to those that arose during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

The US Justice Department has set up a task force to investigate price-gouging and prosecutors have been instructed to prioritize fraud cases. Other agencies have followed suit.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings to more than 15 US companies seeking to sell unproven treatments or diagnostic tests. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has threatened legal action against retailers that sell unregistered disinfectants and sanitizers that falsely claim to protect against the virus.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported Tuesday that the number of coronavirus-related complaints it had received from consumers had reached more than 7,800, doubling during the previous week.

“Scams follow the headlines, and that’s certainly the case with this,” said Monica Vaca, a consumer protection lawyer for the FTC.

Separately in Britain, figures reveal that over 500 coronavirus-related scams and over 2,000 phishing attempts by criminals seeking to exploit fears over the pandemic have been reported to UK investigators.

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, intelligence analysts have monitored a rapid escalation in criminals gangs using a range of scams, many of them targeting elderly people who are self-isolating, The Guardian reported.

The United States and Britain braced for one of their darkest weeks in living memory on Monday as the social and financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic deepened.

More than 9,600 people have died of the virus in the United States, and it leads the world in confirmed infections at more than 337,000.

The US Surgeon General Jerome Adams offered a stark warning about the expected wave of deaths. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”

The outlook was bleak in Britain, which reported more than 600 deaths Sunday, surpassing Italy’s daily increase for the second day in a row.

Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed infected and nearly 70,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are certainly much higher, due to limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate under-reporting by some governments.

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