US Losses From Coronavirus-Related Fraud Nears $100 Million As Scams Spike During Economy's Downturn

U.S. losses from coronavirus-related fraud have reached nearly $100 million since March, a report from consumer protection organization Social Catfish said Tuesday. The report gathered fraud statistics from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

There have been more than 150,000 reports of fraud since March, FTC statistics show, with California, Florida, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania the five most targeted states. There were an especially high number of fraud reports relating to online shopping and travel.

Social Catfish said scammers are seeking to capitalize on the desperation of Americans amid an economic downturn.

“Scammers realize the desperation of most Americans and pretend to reach out a hand to people with supplies they don’t really have, such as stimulus money or essential grocery items,” the group said. “This is why stimulus check scams and coronavirus shopping scams have spread across the United States.”

Most of the online shopping reports likely involve customers ordering products that never arrive. Some scammers could be setting up fake online stores in order to make money off victims.

According to a blog post from the AARP, scammers will send out calls or emails and pose as government agencies, using the word “stimulus” to entice victims. The scammers will then ask for personal information like Social Security numbers in order to steal the victim’s valuable personal information.

Scammers may also tell victims in a text that they won a large dollar amount of groceries from Costco. Victims are asked to give their personal information to receive the groceries, but the goods never show up. The scammer then uses this information to commit identity theft.