Another day, another news to share. As almost all of us are experiencing lockdown and cannot go outside our houses due to the threat of COVID-19. Everyone is worried about our current situation and when will this pandemic stop but the good thing about this is we can still see the humanity in us. People are coming out of being a good Samaritan and helping other people in need. There are various donations where you can help even without going outside of your house. But there are also people who are taking advantage of others just for their own benefits. Online scammers can't be stopped by this pandemic and they're even using this issue to steal other people's money.
According to Sophos, a cybersecurity firm, scammers are impersonating World Health Organization to steal cryptocurrency donations allocated for COVID-19.
World Health Organization (WHO) established a donation fund in partnership with the United Nations Foundation to help them fight the virus. COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was launched with the support of Facebook and Google, asking people to help to support the fund. The cybersecurity expert Chester Wisniewski said that the scammers are misleading people to send their bitcoin to them as a donation supposedly for the COVID-19 fund.
"The fake donation request reported by Wisniewski doesn’t refer to the website at all, however. According to the screenshot, the impersonators ask the potential donors to donate by sending Bitcoin directly to an address given in the email. The impersonators are also using a forged address,
donate@who.int, in order to defraud people, according to data from the security researcher. As of press time, both listed Bitcoin addresses in the fake emails are empty, according to data from Blockchain.com’s explorer."
https://cointelegraph.com/news/scammers-impersonate-world-health-organization-to-steal-btc-covid-19-donations
You can find more information about the donation fund on their official website but there's clear information whether they accept cryptocurrency or not. WHO has already warned people to be careful and beware of scammers circulating on the internet. I've checked their official site and they are providing information on how to avoid scammers and to prevent phishing.
https://www.who.int/about/communications/cyber-security
We should always be careful with our money. And be aware of the possible scams we can encounter on the internet. Even if we only aim to help, we can still get scammed so in order to avoid it, be cautious and make sure that you are donating on legit donations. There's a lot of donations available right now that's being offered by different organizations so make sure your money will go on the right hand.
Since almost everyone is just staying at home, their pastime is to spend their time on the internet and that's where scammers can find more opportunities to scam more people. Before sending money, you need to make a research first about the organization's donations to ensure that the money is safe. Do not give your personal and private information and don't click suspicious link being sent to you.
We are fighting the virus yet it doesn't mean you can already trust everyone, especially on the internet. Though I'm still in awe that people would still really be scamming others in a crisis like this. Stay safe from the virus and also from scammers!
PS: I'm not posting this to promote the site, I just want to share the news with everyone. Thank you!
