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Due to the ongoing situation surrounding COVID-19 (the coronavirus), below are some articles containing information on coronavirus scams and advice on how to protect yourself from them.
Coronavirus-related fraud reports increased by 400% in March
Action Fraud have reported a huge spike in coronavirus related scams in March. The majority of the reports have been related to online shopping scams, with ticket fraud, romance fraud, charity fraud and lender loan fraud also being reported. more
Councils are warning people about doorstep scams and cold callers
Council are warning people that criminals are pretending to be health officials or offering to pick up food and deliver medicines. Criminals are also selling fake face masks and hand sanitisers, say the Local Government Association - with hand sanitiser containing an ingredient banned for human use being seized in Birmingham. more
Online coronavirus scams identified and explained
Malwarebytes have pulled together a useful overview of coronavirus-related scams that are being seen on the internet. They discovered multiple email scams that attempt to use the fear and confusion surrounding the coronavirus to steal personal and financial information from consumers. more
Pension savers are at higher risk amids the coronavirus crisis warn MPs
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pension Scams have released new research which says pension savers face a greater risk of being targeted by criminals amidst the coronavirus crisis. more
Below is our fortnightly Scam Alert:
Doorstep Scams
Sussex rogue trader Nathan Lee jailed over overcharging
28th July 2020
A criminal charged an elderly woman £6,500 for a job that was only worth £50.
Nathan Lee deceived the pensioner when he knocked on the door to convince her that her roof was 'dangerous'.
He demanded the huge sum for the repairs and put the woman in fear that her room would collapse if work was not carried out. more
Hospice charity warns of fake fundraiser doorstep scams
4th August 2020
Residents from across Birmingham have been warned to stay vigilant after a woman claiming to work for a city hospice charity visited several houses to fraudulently collect money. more
Telephone Scams
30th July 2020
Four people have been arrested as part of an investigation into a suspected multi-million pound phone scam targeting UK taxpayers.
HMRC said two men and two women had been arrested and questioned on suspicion of money laundering offences, with property searches yielding £10,000 in cash alongside computers and mobile phones. more
Twitter hack: Staff tricked by phone spear-phishing scam
31st July 2020
The unprecedented hacking of celebrity Twitter accounts last month was caused by human error and a spear-phishing attack on Twitter employees, the company has confirmed. more
Online Scams
New Netflix phishing scam uncovered
29th July 2020
Security analysts have uncovered a dangerous and highly convincing new Netflix phishing scam, capable of evading traditional email security software.
Identified by researchers at Armorblox, the phishing email masquerades as a billing error alert, pressing the victim to update their payment details within 24 hours or have their Netflix subscription voided. more
29th July 2020
The warning comes after Action Fraud received over 1,000 reports within 24 hours on 20th July 2020 about emails claiming to be from PayPal. The emails state the recipient’s account has been “limited” as a result of a policy violation. more
31st July 2020
A new phishing campaign that tries to steal users' Office 365 login credentials by tricking them into accepting a new Terms of Use and Privacy Policy has been discovered by researchers at the Cofense Phishing Defense Center (PDC). more
