Beware the coronavirus stimulus cash or the home testing. They set off a scam alert
Scammers working the coronavirus pandemic by teasing money and at-home testing set off a consumer alert on Tuesday from the Florida Office of the Attorney General.
“If you receive an unsolicited text message, email, phone call or any other communication claiming a cash payment, government benefit or other COVID-19 related offer, be very suspicious,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in the alert. “Guard your personal and financial information and report scams to my office.”
Moody’s office showed a text message asking the receiver by first name to click on a link to receive $1,000 “to help you past the outbreak.”
The alert hypothesizes that the link contains malware. It resembles text messages hitting phones the last few months that purport to be from banks such as Chase or Citibank. There’s an account problem and you need to click on a link in the text message.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General received reports of a scam playing on senior citizens concerns about being the most vulnerable to COVID-19’s worst effects.
Phone callers offer to mail senior citizens free COVID-19 test kits at their home. They might even mention a personal ailment so they seem as if they’re associated with a trusted medical professional.
All they need, they tell the target, is your Medicare number.
A standard warning: Never give personal information, especially health information, over the phone to an unsolicited caller.
Florida consumers who want to report scams or price gouging can call 866-9NO-SCAM or go to the My Florida Legal website.
