On June 15 it will become compulsory to cover your face while travelling on public transport in the UK. The increased worldwide demand for face masks, and all forms of PPE, has created a lucrative market for fraudsters looking to make a quick profit. Here are 4 ways in which scammers are seeking to profit from people’s fears and how you can protect yourself.
Fraudsters are creating fake websites of reputable brands to offer face masks. They often use scam ads, which appear in search engine results or on websites, and include false or misleading claims about masks. The aim of the fraudsters is to obtain payment and bank details from trusting customers.
Google has acknowledged the problem and said “we’ve seen opportunistic advertisers try to run an unprecedented number of these ads on our platforms. We have a dedicated task force working to combat this issue and have removed millions of ads.”
How to protect yourself:
Police in the USA, Philippines and Malaysia have reported that fraudsters have used social media, such as Facebook Marketplace, to scam people looking for face masks. The model is always the same with people ordering and paying for the masks which they never receive. The seller would then disappear, and buyers were no longer able to contact them.
How to protect yourself:
Emails reporting to offer face masks are circulating, I know I’ve received plenty.
The emails are written to look like genuine marketing emails from reputable companies. They are scams seeking to trick buyers into paying money for goods that don’t materialise, or to obtain your personal information
How to protect yourself:
The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) has been warning about the sale of fake and defective masks since the start of the coronavirus crisis.
Police in London seized more than half a million face masks, which fell apart during inspection and had fake safety markings, while in Germany police broke up a lucrative scheme selling FFP2 masks with fake safety certificates. In California 2 men were arrested after trying to sell $4 million of face masks from manufacturer 3M face masks that didn’t exist, they’d just put fake 3M labels on empty boxes!
How to protect yourself:
One other way to protect yourself from scammers is to, of course, make your own mask.
