Hello and greetings. I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is the great majority of us are pulling together to flatten the curve of the coronavirus and take care of each other. The bad news is that there are always those who try to take advantage of a crisis for their own benefit. I’m here to warn you about those people today. Be aware of these and other scams that are now making the rounds.
Don’t fall for fake products and cures: There is currently no cure and vaccines take a long time to develop. Ignore anyone who offers to sell you a cure.
Don’t try to invest in bogus stocks for products that will cure or detect the virus.
Don’t be frightened by callers threatening power shut offs for non-payment. PG&E has a moratorium on power shut offs. Your electricity is safe.
Don’t give your personal information to health professional impersonators. Keep your account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information out of the hands of unscrupulous people pretending to be doctors, nurses, etc.
Be on the lookout for online phishing schemes: These attacks, called resemble email from organizations that look legitimate. Many will contain the word covid or cornovirus in the senders email address. When you click on an email or download a file, you could get a program on your computer that could either use your computer’s internet connection to spread more malware, or dig into your personal information.
Just as you are using an abundance of caution to avoid the coronavirus, use an abundance of caution to avoid those who would use the current crisis to steal your money or personal information.
Until next we blog, stay informed, stay involved and stay strong Paso Robles!