With every dark cloud comes a silver lining – or at least that’s how the old and oft-repeated expression goes. Said less often though, no less true, is the inverse corollary: For every silver lining, there is a dark cloud somewhere. A less sunny aphorism, to be sure, but one that is unfortunately applicable this week as two pieces of good news – the circulation of a vaccine for COVID-19 and signs of life in a stimulus deal out of Washington before Congress breaks for the holidays – are spotlighting the dark clouds accompanying them.
Fraudsters, according to PYMNTS data, were already enjoying a banner year in 2020 as the world went online and the forces of fraud rapidly followed. But fraud never sleeps, nor does it take holiday vacations or stop looking for creative ways to turn society’s good news into an opportunity for personal gain. And with stimulus and vaccination developments floating around in the public discourse, there are two new attractive and potentially lucrative targets for schemers looking to go out with a bang in 2020, so to speak.
The “stimulus” scams are already out there, reports NBC News. The IRS and a coalition of state tax agencies and tax industry officials are warning individuals that fraudulent text messages are circulating promising people a way to access their $1,200 direct deposit with a link to “complete the last step to finalize the transaction.” The link then takes the victim to an imitation IRS site that harvests personal and financial details, including consumers’ bank account information.
“Criminals are relentlessly using COVID-19 and economic impact payments as cover to try to trick taxpayers out of their money or identities,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement. “This scam is a new twist on those we’ve been seeing much of this year.”
The IRS is encouraging consumers to screenshot these fraudulent texts and email them to the agency at phishing@irs.gov.
Stimulus scams have been running all year, as have COVID-connected attempts to heist consumers’ funds. As of September 2020, the FTC reported that there had been $145 million in pandemic-related scams.
“While people are scared about their health and finances, con artists are having a field day,” Lucy Baker, a consumer program associate at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, told CNBC.
“We all need to be on our guard. Before you click, pause first. Do your research and ask yourself if that website, email, text, direct message or call is legit. Be wary of handing over your money or personal information.”
And it seems that advice may be doubly true, as consumer advocates believe a wave of COVID-19 vaccine scams is about to crest. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau both issued alerts warning people to watch out for phony messages alluding to access to a vaccine. The FTC marked $201.26 million in coronavirus-related fraud this year and 38,792 cases of identity theft.
“COVID-19 has been very good for scammers,” Troy Baker, BBB educational foundation director, noted in a statement. “Scammers are very good at taking whatever the big news of the day is, the big happening, and adapting what they’re doing to that. If someone typically uses a Social Security phone scam, they might now modify that to say, ‘this is the Social Security Administration, this is how we’re going to get you signed up so you can get your COVID-19 vaccine.’”
Baker said that to avoid getting ripped off, it’s important to stay informed, as these types of scams generally rely on consumer ignorance. If there isn’t a lot of data out there about when and where they can get the vaccine, Baker said the scammers can “fill in those gaps in a way that rips you off.”
“Anybody who calls, emails or text messages you asking for money, asking for gift cards, asking for wire transfers – that is a scam,” he noted. “You can’t jump the line, you can’t pay to be put in line, that’s not how the process is going to work.”
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