Corona crisis: Beware of fraudsters
Florian Tiefenböck studied human medicine at the LMU Munich. In March 2014, he joined as a student and has supported the editorial team with medical articles ever since. After receiving his medical license and practical work in internal medicine at the University Hospital Augsburg, he has been a permanent member of the team since December 2019 and, among other things, ensures the medical quality of the tools.
More posts by Florian Tiefenböck All content is checked by medical journalists.The spread of the coronavirus unsettles many people. Criminals are now exploiting this fear more and more. Grandchildren's tricks, counterfeit drugs, alleged corona tests or phishing emails - the scams used by fraudsters are diverse. Find out what these are and how you can protect yourself here!
The grandchildren's trick
Similar reports keep coming from all over Germany: criminals pretend to be relatives. They claim to have contracted the novel coronavirus and now need money for treatment.
You can find out more about this and how you can recognize such fraudsters in the article "Police warns of corona tricksters".
Wrong corona tests on the doorstep
Fraudsters go from house to house and try to sell alleged corona tests, some of which are completely overpriced. They usually pretend to be employees of the health department or doctors. However, this rip-off does not give a correct test result.
The police emphasize: Under no circumstances do corona tests take place unannounced at the front door!
In some cases, the criminals also disguise themselves to get into the apartment. Or they use the sale of the false corona tests as a distraction in order to steal valuables from the apartment unnoticed.
You can protect yourself from the criminal scams with the following tips from the police:
- Make sure who is standing in front of the front door before you open the door - for example through the peephole or the window!
- Always have your (service) ID shown!
- If in doubt, contact the authorities or the police!
- If the door is still open, don't give out any money! Speak loudly and call for help if necessary!
- Do not let strangers into your apartment!
- Report attempted fraud - even if you have successfully got rid of the fraudsters!
Cyber attacks
Criminals are also resourceful on the Internet. For example, they send alleged Corona tips by email, but there is malware in the attachment. Some messages - so-called phishing emails - also disguise themselves as official emails, for example from the bank. You then ask for personal and sensitive data (bank details, passwords, etc.) to be entered.
Never pass on banking login data.
As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, the Federal Criminal Police Office also warns of a so-called "Corona card". This is supposed to show all cases of infection in real time. In fact, however, it leads to a website that spies on passwords, among other things.
Don't fall for private individuals
The consumer advice center warns of completely overpriced drugstore items or groceries on the Internet. The same obligations do not apply to private providers as to commercial entrepreneurs. They are not subject to official food control. The buyers can therefore not be sure whether the goods are flawless and will arrive.
Ineffective drugs, disinfectants or breathing masks
Fraudsters also exploit the fear of not being able to buy important products anymore. For example, they offer disinfectants, protective clothing and breathing masks at high prices. Sometimes they create a deceptively real online shop for this. However, the goods are ineffective or do not reach the buyer.
The consumer advice center gives the following tips on how to identify fake shops:
- Conspicuous Internet address (does the address match the content? Does the address look like another? Is it missing "https" or is it extended, for example ".de.com")
- Payment in advance only
- Excessively cheap goods
- The shop offers goods that are out of stock everywhere else
- No or fake seal (by clicking on the seal you can check whether it is genuine)
- No or only positive and very good customer reviews
- Bad German and grammatical errors
- Imprint, terms and conditions and data protection declaration are missing or incomplete or incomprehensible
- No contact options
Europol seizes counterfeit drugs
The European police authority Europol seized a total of 4.4 million counterfeit coronavirus drugs in a large-scale operation at the beginning of March. Several criminal groups were smashed and over 120 people were arrested. They also removed 2,500 dangerous Internet links that stole important data from users under the pretext of the Corona crisis.
