Essential oils curing Covid, miracle drugs, anti-Covid air purifier, apartment decontamination, paid travel certificate, home vaccination ... Far from reducing fraudulent actions, the pandemic has stimulated the creativity of scammers of all kinds .
The latter exploit "
the fear and uncertainty linked to Covid-19 to attack innocent citizens who are only seeking to protect their health and that of their loved ones,
" the secretary general of Interpol reported in March 2020 Jürgen Stock.
Read also: Financial scams: the AMF and the national police strengthen their cooperation
The procedure is generally well known: the crooks ask their prey to communicate their personal and banking data in order to obtain a false refund.
But today, these classics have been replaced by scams that offer to get fake drugs or fake vaccines against Covid-19.
The vaccination scam
The vaccination scam is particularly popular with criminals: it allows them to go directly to people isolated by confinement and to carry out spotting to commit theft.
Although home vaccinations are prohibited, crooks call their victims to "
confirm
" an appointment at their home.
They present themselves as dependent on a ministry and simply ask their prey to "re-
specify
" their address.
Other crooks still prefer to pass themselves off, always by telephone, as a hospital employee: they claim that one of their interlocutor's relatives has contracted the coronavirus and that the latter must absolutely pay for his medical treatment in making a transfer.
“
There are more and more vaccination scams in our sector of Pas-de-Calais.
With health measures, it is easier to abuse the weakness of the elderly,
”confirms
the mayor of Houdain Isabelle Levent-Ruckebusch
in
Figaro
.
Isolated and being the first to be affected by vaccines, seniors are indeed the ideal prey.
“
These people are so hoping for a vaccine that they find it normal to come to them.
And then, as they are isolated, they feel lonely and are happy when someone comes to their house.
We have warned the Regional Health Agency (ARS), and soon hope for the publication of a national press release for a clear reminder of the rules on vaccination for the elderly,
”says the elected official.
The boon of online commerce
In April 2020, Senator Mathieu Darnaud had already reported to the Ministry of the Interior an upsurge in Internet scams since the appearance of Covid-19.
“
These can be online platforms offering surgical masks, sale of drugs, diagnostic tests, fake money pools offered on social networks, calls from people claiming to be in the state services to decontaminate them. private housing, even false road checks carried out by individuals posing as plainclothes police officers and asking for the payment in cash of the fines drawn up,
”explains the senator in a letter published in the Official Journal of the Senate.
Read also: Online scams have exploded since confinement
Asked by
Le Figaro
about these “
Covid scams
” online, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), indicates to observe, one year after the start of the epidemic, “
a rapid increase
"Of this type of scams:"
some sell consumer products, including honey, ensuring that it cures the Covid, and others offer counterfeit, such as fake screening kits
. "
The same echo from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), which points out that certain sites offer to fill out an online form in order to "
invest in a field related to Covid
".
However, behind, "
there is no company or association, the goal is simply to hook possible victims on anything else, which may have no connection with the epidemic
".
Others still do without form and simply offer to participate in a Leetchi fund to support caregivers, "
while the money collected is not intended for them at all
".
Alerted by these deceptive marketing practices, Interpol points out in a statement that "
anyone who is considering purchasing medical supplies over the Internet should take the time to verify that they are dealing with a legitimate and trustworthy company, as they risk losing money to unscrupulous criminals
”. To mitigate the vulnerability of individuals to Covid scams, several members of the public authority, including the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of the Interior, the DGPN, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers and the National Commission for l 'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), have published, as part of the creation of a "
task force to fight against fraud and scams in the context of Covid-19
", a guide aimed at alerting to the various scams related to Covid.
