The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general across the US are increasing efforts to crack down on an explosion of scams related to the coronavirus outbreak.
The agencies have reported a rise in fraudulent activity exploiting confusion around Covid-19, which has infected more than 190,000 people worldwide and has prompted numerous cities to be placed on lockdown indefinitely. The rise in scams has come in the form of email phishing campaigns, fraudulent goods, and disinformation campaigns, according to a report released this week from Digital Shadows, a San Francisco cybersecurity company.
Malicious links put users at risk
The report from Digital Shadows found scammers are increasingly posing as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other legitimate organizations like Johns Hopkins University.
The emails often entice users to click a link to download malware that steals sensitive information such as credit card numbers.
The WHO issued a warning in early February about such issues, and since then the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has repeatedly issued warnings on social media about such potential scams.
“This demonstrates that attackers and hostile actors are capitalizing on the fear and frenzy generated by the pandemic,” said Jack Mannino, chief executive officer at Virginia-based security firm nVisium. “As we continue to be impacted by changes to our way of life, people will become even more reliant on applications and software to provide them with accurate and truthful information. Eroding trust in our systems during a crisis is a perfect way to cause chaos.”
There has been an upswing in the registration of domains related to coronavirus in the past few weeks, a report released on Thursday from security firm Check Point said. The report also found that sites on the darknet, the part of the internet that is not indexed by Google or other search engines, are advertising hacking tools capitalizing on coronavirus fears.
“The end result is more malicious tools in more wrong hands during this unique period of time, which puts us all more at security risk during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Yaniv Balmas, head of cyber research at Check Point, said.
Working from home leaves businesses vulnerable
Experts have also warned that the increase in working from home may put some companies at higher risk for cyber-attacks.
Home security networks may have fewer firewalls and protections than corporate networks, said Chris Hazelton, the director of security at the cyber firm Lookout. Combined with the risk from the rise in phishing links and other new threats, businesses are at more risk than ever.
“Working from home or online education programs are not new,” Hazelton said. “However, a large, immediate migration of people from enterprise and university networks that are closely monitored and secured, to largely unmonitored and often unsecure home wifi networks, creates a very large target of opportunity for cybercriminals.”
Price gouging and fake health products
These exploits come in addition to the ever-present issue of price gouging. Companies including Amazon, Etsy and Walmart have struggled to prevent “bad actors” from raising prices on goods like hand sanitizer and face masks as the virus spreads.
The US attorney general, William Barr, alerted US attorneys around the US in a memo on Monday to focus attention in the coming weeks on these kinds of scams.
“The pandemic is dangerous enough without wrongdoers seeking to profit from public panic and this sort of conduct cannot be tolerated,” Barr wrote. “It is essential that the Department of Justice remain vigilant in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting wrongdoing related to the crisis.”
Barr added that despite increased shutdowns due to the virus, the justice department would continue to prosecute such crimes.
On Tuesday, the US senators Mark Warner and Richard Blumenthal urged the FTC to crack down on Google for running ads for protective masks during the crisis, violating its own policy prohibiting content that capitalizes on sensitive events during a shortage of the masks.
Alex Jones, a noted rightwing conspiracy theorist, was issued a cease-and-desist order by the New York state attorney general over false claims that diet supplements and toothpaste sold on his website could be used to fight the coronavirus.
The FTC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have jointly issued warning letters to seven sellers of unapproved and misbranded products, claiming they can treat or prevent the coronavirus. The companies’ products include teas, essential oils, and colloidal silver.
The FDA says there are no approved vaccines, drugs or investigational products currently available to treat or prevent the virus and all products advertised as such will be targeted.