Scammers love to take advantage of our fears, and the spread of a new disease like coronavirus is downright scary. As you strive to keep yourself and loved ones healthy, be sure to watch out for counterfeit face masks and other scams.
Here’s how this scam works: you want to buy a face mask to help protect yourself – or family – from coronavirus, but so many other people have the same idea. Masks are sold out in your local stores and even from top Amazon sellers, so you turn to purchasing a mask from an online shop you don’t know.
Unfortunately, phony online stores abound – especially when an item is in high demand. Some sites may take your money and send you low-quality or counterfeit masks. Others may never deliver anything all. In the worst cases, these sites are actually a way to steal your personal and credit card information, which opens you up to identity theft.
Face masks may be the first phony product to crop up in the coronavirus outbreak, but it’s likely not the last. During the Ebola outbreak, the promotion of unapproved and fraudulent remedies was so prevalent that the U.S. government advised consumers to steer clear of these drugs. It’s likely that scammers will use the coronavirus as another chance to market products falsely claiming to cure the disease.
Be savvy about product claims. While wearing a face mask may seem like an easy way to stop coronavirus from spreading, the Centers for Disease Control does not actually recommend it for the general public. Be sure to evaluate claims of any medical product before buying, and only buy from reputable stores and websites.
