Recent Corona Virus Scams

[plvbob0070]

This situation is giving those scammers an opportunity to scam more people. I've been hearing and seeing news about scam and fraud, and they are using this pandemic as a reason. I have read before that there are scammers impersonating WHO and is asking for donations. Good thing that WHO already gave awareness to people about these tactics.

It's really frustrating that instead of helping each other and showing humanity, they are becoming more selfish and greedy to steal money. Other people only want to help but scammers are taking advantage of it. That is why before we make transactions or click any link related to the virus, let's make prior research to see if it's legit or not. Let us also share this information with our families and friends about these scams.

[hirngespenst]

I do not know who to blame anymore. Govs thieving medical equipments from each other, sellers and even big companies rising the price of many goods in addition to hiding some of the basic ones to sell it x2-4 its price, regular thieves profiting from quarantine to stole things without much stress, people calling for fake donations... Piracy, scams everywhere!

Exactly! Scams are everywhere, and most of the time-poor and illiterate people get affected by it! In developing countries, poor and middle-class people are suffering too much because of the long Quarantine time! But bad people did not stop cheating others to make more money. I read the news that government gave 500K USD for a limited area where people received only 150K USD worth goods, rest of money is vanished by ministers! Crypto Scammers are creating corona coin, scam exchange like Yobit supporting them and many scammers keep mailing people by asking donations! These people making the world toxic, I hope they will learn well when COVID-19 catch them!

[PANK21]

I read on the cointelegraph today about how scammers are using the recent pandemic to scam people using phishing, malicious malware attack and other scam tactics to scam people. I think this is well informative and worth peoples attention. That is why I brought it here on this forum. There are major things that I read:

1. Scammers are using fake donation platforms to trick victims to pay bitcoin.
2. Use of phishing attack tricks claming to sell products for residents of specific affected areas. They claim to sell hand sanitizers and face mask and demands high price but will not deliver the items.
3. Using phishing attack to steal private data or to install malware or ransomware into crypto wallet devices.
4. Also, hospitals are not left out, victims of cyberattack in hospital are willing to pay to regain access to hospital compromised equipments by cyber attackers.
5. A new ransomeware called CoronaVirus was discovered on malicious websites. A given amount of bitcoin will be demanded by the scammers in order to unlock back their devices.
6. Lastly, the use of corona virus map that infect users with malware and also using it to get access to passwords and other sensitive information stored on the website browsers.

This is the link to the news on cointelegraph is very helpful and I will like you to read the news in full details.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/beware-scammers-are-out-for-crypto-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic

Let us all inform our people of this cyber attacks from the scammers, do not think only wallet owners can be affected,  some cyberattacks can also steal our banking or other sensitive information if you read the number 7above.  We should be safe and also handle our wallets and cryptocurrencies  as if scammers are always at work.

I have written some articles here on this forum about how to protect ourselves from scammers and about how to secure our crypto wallets. The two articles are well informative. Only the donation scamer tactic was not included as all these scam tactics above are what we wallet owners know about and avoiding daily. You will see the two articles helping using this link:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5232577.msg54021683#msg54021683

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5235930.msg54107672#msg54107672

And lastly, let us tell our family, friends about this scams because not we only wallet owners can be affected. Stay safe.

I agree to all that you said. Recently there is some page that added me and share my profile picture saying that i won a bonus token in my last joined campaign. They have provided some links that redirect to a site that you may think thats legit, at first you cant say that it is a phishing because it looks totally convincing but after i realize they are getting some private key, it was totally a scam and i proved it when i visit the telegram page of my last campaign. Scammers nowadays will do everything to fool us. We have to be aware and alert of everything that we do online. Im fortunate that they didnt get my private key. Awareness is the key!

[Casdinyard]

I do not know who to blame anymore. Govs thieving medical equipments from each other, sellers and even big companies rising the price of many goods in addition to hiding some of the basic ones to sell it x2-4 its price, regular thieves profiting from quarantine to stole things without much stress, people calling for fake donations... Piracy, scams everywhere!

Exactly! Scams are everywhere, and most of the time-poor and illiterate people get affected by it! In developing countries, poor and middle-class people are suffering too much because of the long Quarantine time! But bad people did not stop cheating others to make more money. I read the news that government gave 500K USD for a limited area where people received only 150K USD worth goods, rest of money is vanished by ministers! Crypto Scammers are creating corona coin, scam exchange like Yobit supporting them and many scammers keep mailing people by asking donations! These people making the world toxic, I hope they will learn well when COVID-19 catch them!

Frankly speaking, no matter how cruel the world events are, without having pandemic still there are people who will try to make easy money all over the world. There are people who even sells a face mask in a double, triple of the regular price, so it does not surprise me at all if there are still scams during a problematic world like where we are now. Unfortunately, these scammers can hardly make anyone fall in trap since people are very needy now of money aside only gullible people are being expose to this kind of crap in the internet.

[alexsandria]

Just because of the recent news about the corona virus that is happening right now all over the country. There are some mushrooms that pop up in which they are a corona virus scams in which they are using the virus to scam other people or to cheat with other people and it is sad to say and to know because in all of a sudden although we have a crisis that is facing right now there are some people who are using it to cheat or earn to other people.

[Maestro75]

This scams will continue until people learn. But people are not ready to learn, that is the big issue. Ignorance and mostly greed make people victims to scams. If people take their time to observe things before they rush into it, they will notice the scams before they happen.

In my country,the scammers are calling old people on the phone and telling them that their relative has been infected with coronavirus,so they have to donate a certain amount for his/her medical treatment.This doesn't involve cryptocurrency payments,but it's a nasty scam nevertheless,because old people are naive and can get panicked very easy.
The fight with the hackers/scammers will continue despite the pandemic.

I can tell you that whoever is doing this knows the old people personally. It may also be someone close to this old people that gave out their phone numbers to the scammers to call and scam them.

[kemoglo]

Thanks for the fair warning, specially that we are under a crisis, even those scammers will not rest and have taken advantage of the covid-19 and created a lot of fake websites trying to lure a lot of people. So all of us need to be very vigilant as there are reports of people losing their money on such scam like this one.

PLEASE BEWARE - 14,000 XRP stolen from Ledger. So we really need to educate ourselves and people around us that they need to be very careful and cautious.

I saw this one, that's a pretty big sum of cash and all thanks to a "google extension", scammers are out there and we oughta be careful.

[Meowth05]

To avoid this scam you need to have a good knowledge how scam works, they play with your emotion so having a calm and collected demeanor surely helps a lot when dealing with this. Help your old folks to know that there are scammers, the reason they fall for the bait is they are not informed. Instead of donating in charities in Internet, you should instead donate in your local charity, they are more legitimate.

[seoincorporation]

About the topic: There is a lot of opportunists and this is a nice chance for them because there are a lot of people who want to help with donations, but is complex to understand where de donating goes. So, the best thing to do in a hard time like this is to keep our money and to help our friends and family.

Hi!  There is someone here who can help me with 0.5-1 bitcoin so I can pay for the apartment and buy food.  Anyone who can please search for a private message.  Thanks!

Please read the forum rules, I hope you understand no one will give away $7200 to you. The money is for the ones who work, so, go to beg to the streets because in this forum that's not allowed.

[fiulpro]

See the reason why the world is still not developed is due to the fact that The scammers and the criminals try and find opportunity in everything , be it a war or a pandemic , they will always find a way to throw people off the mark whereas our own government cannot even think about thinking out of the box

I would say , never donate on any kind of platform , if you want to donate towards something , go buy something like clothes for the poor or personally take a stroll in a hospital and pay off for the kid you see suffering.

Don't ever believe in anyone except for the well established  companies that are very well known. (also it is a known fact that even they don't give 100% in charity , corruption is always there)

[Pixyoxx]

Corona virus scams are increasing day by day but i also think the scams are quite flashy one can know that its a scam they are using fake upi addresses,phonecalls even phishing people and taking their bitcoin i strongly suggest everyone please read the terms and conditions of the site on which you are donating and pls see that if its a government approved site for donating otherwise you'll end up loosing your money . Stay safe 🙏

[SirLancelot]

The most annoying thing about this news is that they are requesting for Bitcoin as payment, it’s very annoying, why don’t they request for payment in fiat and stop ruining Bitcoin for those of us that loves it? . This is really annoying to be sincere, now when they keep doing this it might cause the government and the world to see the cryptocurrency community as a bad one and try to stop it.

These foolish hackers and scammers are really bringing us a bad name, I wish there was a way track down these people and capture them so that they will pay severely for the crimes they have committed.

[Kurokonobasuke]

Indeed, as we can see the coronavirus affects many people over the country so that their governments declared to have lock down, this order affects many people because their jobs also affect on it. So that many scammers now are using this crisis to scammed other people, they used all the most helpful people and show them that they are motivated to help to donate but it is not, they used it for their own will and not for others. To prevent of being scam just know them if they are legitimate or not.

[CarnagexD]

While the pandemic outbreak happens, the scammers do not skip this kind of opportunity to make a bad thing and some of them today are making a massive offer of money to the people that they can earn money easily some of them are spreading they are giving some fundraising to the people who affected by the virus and according to their statement some of them are using the money to buy a lot of foods, mask, alcohol and more to protect themselves against the pandemic outbreak but don't let your emotions carried away by this kind of platform because some of them are just a scam and use the events happening right now to make an advantage to the other people about their situations

[Twentyonepaylots]

The most annoying thing about this news is that they are requesting for Bitcoin as payment, it’s very annoying, why don’t they request for payment in fiat and stop ruining Bitcoin for those of us that loves it? . This is really annoying to be sincere, now when they keep doing this it might cause the government and the world to see the cryptocurrency community as a bad one and try to stop it.

These foolish hackers and scammers are really bringing us a bad name, I wish there was a way track down these people and capture them so that they will pay severely for the crimes they have committed.

It's not annoying, it's a smart move from them for choosing an untraceable means of payment. Using fiat as ransom money will just get then in danger and they don't want that thing to happen at any less of the situation so they are with bitcoin. What bothers me is that these people are trying to scam even they know how the life for a normal people in this kind of situation with pandemic and market collapse, It's very cruel on their part, they can't excuse that they are also needy this time. I'm with bitcoin no matter what happens, but if bitcoin will be widely use for this kind of doing over the world then I'm out.

[nutoskaleo]

Will the rules become stricter or not in these coronavirus times? I'm deadly sure that scammers will use a stack of opportunities caused by the chaos that have never ever helped track transparentness a legitimicy of projects. Panic attacks steal people's brains and wariness worldwide. So the main question is how to avoid being a scams' victim now and detect suspicious projects. Are there any updates on that item? I mean, in terms of the current situation throughout the world.

[Zionatin]

People who do advertising like those websites that have offers and tasks to od to earn bitcoin/currency the offerwalls and things like that. Survey unlocks and offers have asked their members not to even use the keyword corona. I have not looked since but I am sure you are not allowed to use the word virus. Otherwise, people will say stuff like "I have the virus!!!" then further down it says "I would have had a not bought a (insert product/offer here) Basically to bait you.

Personally I don't really want to hear about the virus so I stay away from it online. I do hope the virus will make people look after the environment though.

The most annoying thing about this news is that they are requesting for Bitcoin as payment, it’s very annoying, why don’t they request for payment in fiat and stop ruining Bitcoin for those of us that loves it? . This is really annoying to be sincere, now when they keep doing this it might cause the government and the world to see the cryptocurrency community as a bad one and try to stop it.

These foolish hackers and scammers are really bringing us a bad name, I wish there was a way track down these people and capture them so that they will pay severely for the crimes they have committed.

It's not annoying, it's a smart move from them for choosing an untraceable means of payment. Using fiat as ransom money will just get then in danger and they don't want that thing to happen at any less of the situation so they are with bitcoin. What bothers me is that these people are trying to scam even they know how the life for a normal people in this kind of situation with pandemic and market collapse, It's very cruel on their part, they can't excuse that they are also needy this time. I'm with bitcoin no matter what happens, but if bitcoin will be widely use for this kind of doing over the world then I'm out.

How can you say its untracable? You can trace it you just cant link it to someone easily. IT doesn't mean it is impossible. A scammer will use fiat and just use an account and close it afer being paid so the money cannot be paid back. IF they use paypal they will empty their account before you can do anything. I knew someone who worked at a bank and they were telling me there are ways scammers open all kinds of accounts using all sorts of methods and even using just some random person as their bank account and offering that person a cut. It might not be as direct as you think but I assure you it is not impossible and bitcoin is not totally untraceable. You can monitor wallet for years after the crime and make an arrest 10 years later if you need to.

They only ask for bitcoin because those scams use the latest trends to exploit people. It will be bitcoin or anything else that is valauble. A scammer exploits the latest technology because they know not everyone is up to date with it and they can confuse and trick new users more easily. Though to be honest in 99% of cases the person being scammed deserves it for being an idiot.

[Republikcoin.com]

Indeed, as we can see the coronavirus affects many people over the country so that their governments declared to have lock down, this order affects many people because their jobs also affect on it. So that many scammers now are using this crisis to scammed other people, they used all the most helpful people and show them that they are motivated to help to donate but it is not, they used it for their own will and not for others. To prevent of being scam just know them if they are legitimate or not.

I have also seen this a lot, not only in the crypto world but in the real world too, so many people take advantage of this situation for their personal interests. Well, don't be surprised if another "Corona Virus" project appears. Well, I can only give advice that is careful about projects that are named and use this virus for their projects.

[Peanutswar]

The scammers will take this as an advantage because most of the people have a huge problem and do need to have help, and this is one of the most targets of the scammers they are trying to convince people that is desperately need help. But still guys, always be conscious about these things because even you are problems, you need to be aware because you are not secured into the world of scammers; they did not choose any events or situations. One of their goals is to make more earnings.

[FanEagle]

The first scam you have mentioned I think it will be obvious when you see such a scam, and moreover I am not the type of person that donate my money to a platform I don’t know. Take for example, I have Red Cross and Save a Child for a long time and I know their site and their social platforms, so I donate to them and when I see other random sites that are asking for donations, I don’t donate, because I don’t know them.

If I ever feel like donating, I go through their social handles to judge their authenticity. There are lots of things I check that can help me tell whether the platform I’m seeing is real or fake. Moreover there are lots of people on my street and platforms so I guess I do not need to go online but physically I may go for helping people if I adjust my budget for the reason for hard time for common people who do not have adequate saving to survive lockdown days.