Scammers Want Your Information and Money

Any good scam, electronic or otherwise, works best when the victim is outside of their normal patterns of life.  A phishing scam has been circulating that claims that you have been exposed to Covid-19 through “a colleague/friend/family member”.  You are asked to print a form attached to the message, which appears to be pre-populated with all your relevant information, and take the printed form to the nearest emergency clinic.  

If the thought that you have been exposed to COVID-19 doesn’t upset you, the idea that your personal information has been magically entered in the form probably should.  Either way, when you open the attachment, an Excel spreadsheet, you are asked to ‘Enable Content’.  Doing so downloads malware which will do its best to collect all the information possible from your computer, potentially including passwords for online accounts, and send the information back to its controller.

In general, if you receive email that immediately appeals to fear, anger, or any other powerful emotion, be wary.  Contact the organization claiming to send the message to you and check out the claims.  Any legitimate message like this should include contact information other than an email return address.  You can also find contact information from the official websites of any organization that is contacting you.  

If you get email with an attachment that you are not expecting, be cautious.  Don't click on an attachment before you know it is legitimate.  Find a way to check the validity of the email before opening the attachment.  

If you receive any email that asks for money or a donation, spend time to check out the sender before sending any money.  Sometimes this may come in the form of people collecting money to help doctors and nurses on the front lines.  Sometimes, scammers may claim to be a hospital caring for a sick relative of yours and asking for you to help cover their hospital expenses.  

Scammers are everywhere, and they are working hard to trick you and get your information and money.  Following your intuition, checking out messages, and being cautious may prevent a big headache.  

Links for more information:

If you want Covid-19 information, try these:

NIH - https://www.nih.gov/health-information/coronavirus

CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html

Maryland Department of Health - https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

Virginia Department of Health - http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/