Email scammers are taking advantage of coronavirus fears to impersonate health officials and trick people into giving up personal information

Filed under: News, World News, Crisis

• Security researchers have identified multiple phishing scams that aim to capitalize on people's fear of COVID-19, the disease caused by the Wuhan coronavirus.
• Scammers pose as authorities like the Centers for Disease Control or World Health Organization in order to trick people into handing over their personal information.
• The WHO has released an advisory warning people to avoid fraudulent emails about coronavirus.
• As the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak continues to rise, online scammers are using email phishing schemes in an attempt to profit on people's confusion and fear surrounding the virus.

Security researchers have identified multiple phishing scams in which attackers pose as authorities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization in emails, offering information about the virus in order to trick victims into downloading malicious software or handing over their login credentials.

Check the sender's email domain and see if it matches the website of the organization they say they work for. Then, check the URLs included in the email.

Don't trust login pages with unfamiliar URLs.

When in doubt, copy and paste URLs into your browser rather than clicking hyperlinks directly.

Don't give in to scams that make you feel pressured to act quickly.

If you already handed over sensitive information, change your passwords now.

Read more...

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• Security researchers have identified multiple phishing scams that aim to capitalize on people's fear of COVID-19, the disease caused by the Wuhan coronavirus.
• Scammers pose as authorities like the Centers for Disease Control or World Health Organization in order to trick people into handing over their personal information.
• The WHO has released an advisory warning people to avoid fraudulent emails about coronavirus.
• As the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak continues to rise, online scammers are using email phishing schemes in an attempt to profit on people's confusion and fear surrounding the virus.

Security researchers have identified multiple phishing scams in which attackers pose as authorities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization in emails, offering information about the virus in order to trick victims into downloading malicious software or handing over their login credentials.

Check the sender's email domain and see if it matches the website of the organization they say they work for. Then, check the URLs included in the email.

Don't trust login pages with unfamiliar URLs.

When in doubt, copy and paste URLs into your browser rather than clicking hyperlinks directly.

Don't give in to scams that make you feel pressured to act quickly.

If you already handed over sensitive information, change your passwords now.

Read more...