Los Angeles California.- Authorities fired alerts to a new wave of fraud that uses as a hook to the dangerous outbreak of the coronavirus, that by Saturday afternoon he had already infected more than 22,000 Americans.
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For example, scammers are creating internet pages to offer mouth guards, disinfectants and other products to protect themselves from disease, but they are only looking to steal from online shoppers.
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) warned that earlier this month they detected at least seven vendors of products that promised to treat or prevent coronavirus. The truth is that governments are still trying to make a cure.
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They offered teas, essence oils and colloidal silver (whose most common use is to disinfect water, fruits and vegetables). Neither of these products was endorsed by the federal government, so distributors received letters from the FTC and the FDA asking them to make the appropriate corrections.
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“The FDA says there are no currently approved vaccines, drugs, or research products available to treat or prevent the virus,” says Colleen Tressler, FTC consumer education specialist, on an agency blog.
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Companies under the scrutiny are Vital Silver, Aromatherapy Ltd, N-ergetics, GuruNanda, Vivify Holistic, Clinic, Herbal Amy LLC, and The Jim Baker Show. They all made changes to their advertising methods.
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Shipments that do not arrive
Furthermore, the federal government immediately revealed that it had detected online marketers trying to trick consumers offering cleaning products, household items and materials for medical use.
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“You make your order, but your shipment never arrives”, warned Tressler, an FTC specialist. “Anyone can establish an online store under almost any name, including scammers,” he added.
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Trying to show themselves as a reliable dealer, fraudsters use fake social media posts, text messages, emails and any other online tool, alerts the Federal Trade Commission.
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To verify that it is a legitimate seller, this agency recommends doing an internet search by entering the name, phone number and email of the person or company in question, adding these words: review (commentary), complaint (complaint) and scam (fraud).
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Amid ongoing FTC investigations of covid-19-related fraud, the Customs and Border Control (FTC) Office detected a shipment containing false tests to detect the coronavirus, which arrived at the Los Angeles airport. They shipped it from the UK.
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CBP officers seized suspected counterfeit COVID-19 test kits. At-home COVID-19 test kits found online are fake. Authorized testing for COVID-19 is conducted in verified state & amp; local public health labs across the US.
Read more: https://t.co/U9hdERABkN pic.twitter.com/WeYKQfq3ES& mdash; CBP (@CBP) March 14, 2020
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The seizure occurred on March 12. The merchandise was in a box containing “vials of purified water” worth $ 196. Upon further review, federal agents found that there were also vials filled with a white liquid and labeled as ‘Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)’ Y ‘Virus1 Test Kit’.
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“Smugglers constantly try to take advantage of consumers by disguising their illicit products as legitimate shipments,” said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, director of CBP at the Los Angeles airport.
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Sale of products at high costs
Xavier Becerra, California attorney general, reported Friday that he sent letters to major online vendors (including Amazon, Craigslist, eBay, Facebook, OfferUp, Overstock, Shopify and Walmart) Calling on them to intensify their efforts to prevent outside vendors raise costss of mouth guards, disinfectants and toilet paper.
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According to the state attorney, many platforms were until recently “Flooded” with Potentially illegal posts priced higher than the main distributor.
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“Price increases during a time of national emergency it is not only shameful, it is illegal ”, Becerra said in a statement. “Large online markets have a responsibility to the public to take immediate and vigorous steps to remove predatory behavior – which they know is illegal – from their platforms,” the official added.
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The California District Attorney’s Office asks victims of this fraud to file a complaint at this link.
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Violators would face sentences of until one year in prison and a $ 10,000 fine.
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False emails from health officials
For its part, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office alerted this Friday that it has observed an increase in emails pretending to have been sent by officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Through those emails, criminals try “Install a virus on your electronic device (cell phone, tablet or computer) and steal your information, which includes passwords and user names ”, indicates the angelina prosecution.
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The agency advises confirm authenticity from companies, charities, or individuals submitting information about the coronavirus. In addition, it recommends verifying that those emails come from a legitimate internet page.
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A common illegal activity during tragedies is invent charitable entities who use names similar to those of authentic organizations. To avoid falling into the trap, it is recommended to research the addresses and internet pages of any foundation that is asking for donations on the internet.
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The FTC has already detected prerecorded automated calls that are promoting fraudulent treatments for the coronavirus and offers to work at home. Criminals take advantage of more and more states establishing executive orders to “stay home” due to covid-19.
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