F.I.U. Advises of Risks of COVID-19 Related Scams
The Financial Intelligence Unit is advising the public to be aware of the increased risk of COVID-19 related fraudulent activities. In its advisory, the F.I.U. notes that there has been an increase in different types of scams capitalizing on COVID-19 and the changes in the way we live and conduct business. Deputy Director of the F.I.U., Leni Ysaguirre McGann outlines some of the online methods being employed by fraudsters, how it can affect you and what you can do about it.
On the Phone: Leni Ysaguirre McGann, Deputy Director, F.I.U.
“There are criminal elements that try to exploit the changes in behaviors and some of the ways they would do this is phishing scams which aren’t new but of course there is the element now where they use the guise COVID-19 pandemic to obtain the information and access to your data. Some examples of this through emails where you may receive emails that claim to provide reliable statistics or information about COVID-19 cases, hotspots globally. So, that is one of the ways in line with other things that we have been seeing or that has been noted globally in terms of cyber crime would be online shopping. There are lots more online shopping or business people who are looking for masks, PPEs, or other necessities such as hand sanitizers to put in place within their offices, businesses to ensure that their staff and personnel are protected. So, with the shortage that is going on and persons searching for these types of products, there are elements out there and persons purporting to sell these products. You might reach so far as to actually pay and no product is actually shipped or delivered and so these are some of the things that have been noted in online shopping. One of the things I also want to highlight is the increase in ransom ware attacks, as well, and this is especially prevalent for persons working from home. Their office or employer’s network may be susceptible to ransom ware attacks; you are working at home and your wifi network may not be as secured as what is in place in your office. So, what I would say is to look at domain names to ensure that when you are dealing with anybody via email communication you check to verify that the domain they are emailing you from is the same as the known businesses website – that is a tell-tale sign. Look at the language they use; does it sound professional? Are there little indiscretions about the way that they speak or talk that makes you think this doesn’t sound too authentic? In terms of protecting your network or employer’s network from any online attacks; you want to ensure, or businesses want to ensure that they are constantly backing up their files in the event that they unfortunately become the victim of ransom ware, you have very good updates to restore your information and update your computer system frequently and have the most updated anti-virus as well.”
