Scamdemic Series: Online Phishing Scams Flourish During Coronavirus Pandemic

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Welcome to the first installment of our new Scamdemic Series.  Each week I am going to deep dive into one type of scam making the rounds during the global Covid-19 pandemic. We’ll talk about how the scam works, who scammers are targeting, and how to avoid becoming a victim.

First up, we’re going to talk about phishing—and no I’m not referring to how fans of the psychedelic jam-rock band Phish zealously ponder the meaning behind the band’s set list choices or wax nostalgic about the first time they saw drummer Jon Fishman’s vacuum solo. Phishing scamsters are way more of a problem. 

What Phishing Scams Are

Phishing scams are emails, texts, spam, phone calls or websites disguised to look or sound like they are legitimate or trustworthy. In reality, cybercriminals are behind these scams and they are designed to trick you into giving up your personal and private information.

According to a cnbc.com article, coronavirus-related robotext scams are becoming more difficult to decipher. “It starts with a text purportedly from the Internal Revenue Service asking to confirm information for a stimulus payment through a link,” the article says. Clicking on the provided link takes you to an authentic looking IRS webpage where you are asked to enter your name, contact information and Social Security number.  Once the scammers have all the information they need, you are rerouted to the real IRS website where you may remain unaware that you were phished out of your sensitive information.

Scammers can be very nuanced in the use of phishing attacks. Understanding that a large segment of the population relies on home delivery of goods during the pandemic, scammers have designed emails and texts purporting to provide information on the delivery of packages. In this version of the scam a customer, eager to know the status of a package, may not think twice about opening an email claiming to come from FedEx. But by clicking on the link, a customer may inadvertently provide his or her personal information to a scammer or download malware. 

In mid-March, emails claiming to be from the World Health Organization (WHO), a leading health organization in the fight against the coronavirus, were sent out to the unsuspecting public. The emails included various attachments providing guidelines and recommendations for protecting against Covid-19 and staying safe during the pandemic. The real purpose of these emails was to lure recipients into downloading malicious attachments, including an invasive keylogger called Agent Tesla capable of stealing passwords, logging keystrokes, and capturing screen and video from your device.

The above cases are just a few examples of the phishing scam scene today. And, unfortunately, phishing scams come in many different shapes and sizes. In reality, they are only limited by the imagination of the scammer.  What is worse, the coronavirus pandemic has seemingly opened the phishing scam floodgates. In an April 16, 2020, Google announced that in one week they saw 18 million daily malware and phishing emails related to Covid-19. This is in addition to the more than 240 million coronavirus-related spam messages sent to users on a daily basis. Luckily, Google says they have security protocols in place that “block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware from reaching our users.”

Still, there are measures you can take to further protect yourself from these bad actors.

What You Can Do

Screenshot of the smishing scam Rocky received while working on this piece.

Educate yourself on the latest tactics used by scammers: The more aware you are of how scammers operate and the current type of scams they are engaging in, the greater the chances you will recognize a phishing scam coming your way.

Personal experience can back this up. At the time of writing this post, I was sent a phishing text (known as smishing) thanking me for the purchase of a $469.97 product. Admittedly, there was a strong impulse to find out, as quickly as possible, what it was all about and click the conveniently provided link. The scammers behind this text were banking on the shock of seeing the dollar amount to spur me into taking some misguided action. I might not have been able to resist the urge to click on the link if I wasn’t familiar with some of the techniques used by scammers. Instead, I calmly verified directly with my bank if any unauthorized payments had been made. When I was assured none had, I simply deleted the text and moved on with my day.   

Be vigilant and pay attention: Treat texts and emails you receive from unknown sources as potentially suspicious,  especially if they are unsolicited. If you receive a suspicious email/text, do not reply, open any attachments or click on any links. Instead, contact the business or organization directly and verify with them that they sent you the email/text. If the email or text is from an unknown source, think hard before going further and clicking on any links. The best course of action may be to delete these types of communications. If you want to respond to an unsolicited email, you can rely on websites like CheckPhish—a free url scanner that verifies whether the site is known for phishing—before performing any call to action.

Take note of the language used in emails and texts. Emails that are purportedly from a reputable business but are overly friendly should raise some flags. If they begin with: “Hello Mate” or “Hi User!” steer clear of them—they are likely scam communications. Egregious grammatical and spelling errors are also a strong sign a scammer is working behind the scenes to dupe you into divulging sensitive information.  

Up Next

In the next blog post, we will look at how scammers have set their sights on your government coronavirus relief payments. For many, stimulus checks represent a lifeline in times of economic uncertainty but for cybercriminals they are just another opportunity to enrich themselves at your expense.

Psychology of Fraud: Mental Triggers That Leave Us Vulnerable to Scams

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John Gentile and Lorn Leitman met in the Army Reserves in the early 1970s and quickly became best friends. After their military service, Gentile graduated from medical school and established a successful chiropractic business in South Florida. Mr. Leitman became a licensed attorney and CPA. For almost four decades they strengthened the bonds that were formed during their Army days—they traveled together, called themselves brothers; Gentile even became a godfather to Leitman’s daughter.

In 2012, this storied friendship came to a bitter end when Leitman received a 17.5-year prison sentence for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors, including Gentile, of a total of $4 million dollars.  

Mr. Gentile’s ordeal was in many respects similar to the experiences suffered by other victims of fraud. Yet, a pervasive misconception about financial fraud victims is that they are most often elderly, naïve, greedy, passive, socially isolated or uneducated people—when in fact, research suggests the opposite. The truth is that fraudsters and scammers target all people, regardless of their demographics.

In fact, having a brain makes you a good candidate for being scammed because the human brain is wired for persuasion. Humanity’s susceptibility to persuasion, like much of our behavior, is a product of evolution. From an anthropological perspective, the ability to be persuaded was a biological necessity required in order to get a group of individuals to act in the interest of the collective. In exchange for giving up a strongly held opinion, a tribe member would receive protection and inclusion into the tribe. In addition, there are a series of human tendencies and needs—our belief in the goodness of others, the desire to please, the need to be cooperative, our affinity for and willingness to believe in stories, etc.—that, if satisfied or met, can be exploited by skillful and unethical individuals. 

Here are some of the mental mechanisms by which our brains can expose us to scams.

But I’m Too Smart

Believing that you are incapable of falling for a scam leaves you in a highly vulnerable position because your guards are already down. Social scientists call it the “illusion of invulnerability”—the belief that you are free from a danger because of a perceived advantage or a false sense of optimism. The invulnerability illusion was illustrated in a Better Business Bureau study that found that younger and educated people—more so than elderly people—were more susceptible to scams because they never expected to be targeted. In the study, which surveyed more than 2,000 adults, 69% of victims were under the age of 45, and 78% had a college or graduate degree. 

The Need to Please

We supposedly live in an age of cynicism and selfishness. The nightly news airs a string of negative and sensationalized stories, Facebook can be a blackhole of toxicity and the neighbor rants about how there is no decency anymore. But the fact is that most people are nice. Not only are people nice but they are driven by a need to be generous and giving, especially when others have been generous to them. This need for reciprocity can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of a con artist.  

For example, if someone were to offer you a lucrative investment opportunity you may, in turn, see it as an act of goodwill. In exchange, you may be pressed into listening to a sales pitch or, worse yet, into making a misguided financial commitment.

The Captive Audience

Through storytelling, early man was able to build community and maintain social order. And even today, when we hear a compelling story, our brain becomes measurably more engaged. When this happens, the neurochemical oxytocin is synthesized in the brain, causing us to develop and associate trust with the storyteller. In movies, this causes us to identify and feel for the characters, but the same principle applies in interpersonal relationships. This is known among neuroscientists as the “you seem trustworthy” signal, and research suggests that “emotionally engaging narratives” inspire prosocial, cooperative behavior in response. Con artists who are good performers or storytellers have an easier time connecting with victims, and victims are prewired to emotionally respond, identify and empathize with them.

A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

Humans are social creatures that enjoy spending their time with people who share the same values, passions, beliefs and worldviews. The problem arises when you automatically regard everyone within your group as having the same goodwill and intention as you do.  

Scammers regularly target religious communities—aptly termed “affinity frauds” by law enforcement—because they can easily exploit the trust level that exists between members. Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated the biggest investment fraud in history, stealing close to $65 billion dollars from investors, was able to gain the trust of the Jewish community by exploiting his Jewish affiliations. 

In the case of Dr. John Gentile, the chiropractor and Army veteran, he relied on his close relationship with Leitman and never properly vetted the financial investments he was offered. Gentile saw in Leitman a like-minded individual. It never occurred to Gentile that his friend (and fellow veteran) was capable of scamming him.

F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out)

People are generally afraid of missing out on a “good thing.” And if a “good thing” is available in limited quantities or for a short period of time, people tend to want it even more. Fear of missing out can be a driving force behind many ill-advised financial decisions. Con artists can present opportunities in ways that make it hard for an investor to decline. Scammers may say that the offer must be accepted after the pitch or that there is a cap on the number of investors and that swift action must be taken before it’s too late. In the end, the victim concludes that the opportunity is too good to miss out on without properly verifying the offer.

In Conclusion

By no means an exhaustive look at the way the mind can sometimes make it easier to fall for scams, this post can help with recognizing some of the cognitive pitfalls that can make anyone vulnerable. It is important to remember that if you have been defrauded it is not because of a shortcoming on your part. Naturally, the emotional toll of falling for a scam can be tough to overcome. But it helps to remember that anyone is susceptible to financial fraud—even the best and the brightest. 

Up Next!

Check back for more white-collar crime and fraud news, including the the biggest cons capitalizing on the global Covid-19 pandemic today, and how to spot one when when you see it.

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