coronavirus scams

Russian mobsters, Chinese hackers and Nigerian scammers have used stolen identities to plunder tens of billions of dollars in pandemic aid, officials say.

According to newly released data by the Federal Trade Commission, nationwide there have been more than 338,000 consumer reports about COVID-related scams and fraud.

Newly-released numbers from the Federal Trade Commission reveal there have been more than 5,000 reports of fraud in Illinois since the start of the pandemic. Lisa Parker with NBC 5 Responds has the story.

As states ramp up their contact tracing efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, so too are scammers who are preying on consumers’ fears, experts said. NBC 5’s Katie Kim reports.

As states ramp up their contact tracing efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, so too are scammers who are preying on consumers’ fears, experts said. “Scammers love pandemics. They are having a field day,” said Steve Bernas, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau, serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. Bernas said 90 percent of complaints to BBB’s…

Scammers pretending to be coronavirus contact tracers are sending text messages to warn people they’ve been exposed to someone with COVID-19 and need to click a link to learn more.

Google has developed a tool that it says can protect people from online scams, which have dramatically risen now that so much of life has moved into the virtual realm during the coronavirus pandemic.