As fear of the novel coronavirus continues to grow, the Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to beware of a growing number of scams designed to prey upon that fear.
“We’re very concerned about it because whenever there's an emergency like this or a crisis the scammers are there to steal money from people and the irony is we’re warning people to avoid emails that tell you they've got a cure for the coronavirus and if you click on some of these links you’re going to infect you own computer with a virus,” said Dick Eppstein, president of the Better Business Bureau of Northwestern Ohio and Southeastern Michigan.
Already, the BBB has sent out warnings about counterfeit goods being sold on web sites that promise to provide face masks, surgical masks, vaccines, and cures to counter the coronavirus.
The organization said what is provided are low-quality or counterfeit masks, or the online site is a fake one designed to steal credit card information.
The BBB said that during the Ebola scare in 2014, the number of unapproved and fraudulent drugs and remedies that were being promoted was so high the federal government weighed in and advised consumers to steer well clear of such hoaxes.
“Already, we’ve seen several people advertising facemasks that are supposed to be like an N95 [medical] mask and we’ve heard of people spending hundreds of dollars to order it and the website is fake,” Mr. Eppstein said. “The people have lost their money while trying to get these facemasks. The local stores don’t have them.”
Mr. Eppstein said the Federal Trade Commission recently went after seven people, including former evangelist Jim Bakker, for advertising products that falsely alleged to cure the coronavirus.
“There’s no evidence that anything like this works,” Mr. Eppstein said. “But we know there are pop-ups and clickbaits out there claiming to have vaccines for the virus, which is not true because there is no vaccine out there. ... Common sense tells you that If there were a breakthrough, you wouldn’t get it from some ad or popup. You’d get it from the authorities.”
The BBB also is warning about a proliferation of fake charities seeking donations to help care for people who have the coronavirus.
As of Feb. 1, the organization observed the registration of numerous domain names containing the word “coronavirus” in their application.
“The majority of new domains include a combination of the words ‘help,’ ‘relief,’ ‘victims,’ and ‘recover.’ Most appear currently under development,” the BBB warned in a February newsletter.
“There are legitimate charities and there are bad guys,” Mr. Eppstein said. “After 9/11 we saw over 200 charities that popped up out of nowhere claiming to help victims of the 9/11 attack. We saw charities claiming to help victims and, frankly, after people gave them money, they disappeared.”
To avoid such online scams, the Center for Internet Security suggests consumers never reveal personal information in an email or website, never visit untrusted or unfamiliar websites, and be wary of potentially fake websites that may use a variation in spelling or a different domain name (e.g., .com vs. .org).
First Published March 12, 2020, 10:47 a.m.
