Hundreds of internet domains allegedly used for online coronavirus scams have been broken up by federal law enforcement authorities, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.
As of April 21, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center had received 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.
The websites used domain names including words such as “covid19,” or “coronavirus.”
»COMPLETE COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS
Some of the websites disrupted included a fraudulent effort to collect donations for the American Red Cross and websites spoofing government programs and organizations to trick people into entering personal details such as banking information.
The IRS and FBI have also identified fraudulent websites designed to look like legitimate places to apply for coronavirus stimulus checks.
The Justice Department is also working to provide COVID-19-related training and technical assistance in other countries through the International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property program.
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