Department of Justice Announces Disruption of Hundreds of COVID-19 Scams

Work by federal law enforcement and private sector partners has resulted in the disruption of several hundred online COVID-19 scams in the last few weeks. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been prioritizing the investigation of COVID-19 related crimes and fraudulent activity in an attempt to combat criminals looking to take advantage of the situation.

According to a DOJ release, as of April 21, 2020, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received and reviewed more than 3,600 complaints related to COVID-19 scams, many of which operated from websites that advertised fake vaccines and cures, operated fraudulent charity drives, delivered malware, or hosted various other types of scams. These websites often utilized domain names that contained words such as “covid19,” or “coronavirus.”  In some cases, the fraudulent sites claimed to be run by or affiliated with public health organizations or agencies.

Some of the websites removed for fraudulent activity include:

●        An illicit website pretending to solicit and collect donations to the American Red Cross for COVID-19 relief efforts.

●        Fraudulent websites that spoofed government programs and organizations to trick American citizens into entering personally identifiable information, including banking details.

●        Websites of legitimate companies and services that were used to facilitate the distribution or control of malicious software.

Fraudsters have attempted to take advantage of government actions to fuel their schemes. In one example, shortly after the IRS notified the public of where they could apply for the COVID-19 related stimulus payments, the FBI identified a number of similar IRS stimulus payment domains popping up on the internet. The DOJ explains, these “look-alike domains” are often indicative of future phishing schemes. The FBI alerted numerous domain registries and registrars to the existence of these look-alike URLs.

“The FBI is proud to work alongside our federal law enforcement and private sector partners to protect the American public from COVID-19 related scams during these difficult times,” said FBI Executive Assistant Director Terry Wade.  “We believe our collaborative efforts are the key to quickly reducing the threat from COVID-19 scams while allowing the American public to focus on protecting themselves and their families from this pandemic.”