18 March 2020
COVID-19 scams
CERT NZ is reporting a global increase in reports of cyber criminals using the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic as an opportunity to carry out online scams and malicious cyber activity.
Reports include opportunistic attempts to use the COVID-19 pandemic to trick people to:
- download malware from COVID-19 maps, or
- enter their details into phishing websites.
Scams include text messages that have links claiming to direct people to testing facilities; phishing emails with infected attachments are circulating; and fake coronavirus maps encourage you to download an application that is malware.
You can avoid these scams by getting COVID-19 information from only your regular news sites and official government websites.
CERT NZ advises the following:
- Be sceptical of advice that doesn’t come from official sources, particularly if it's been sent to you unexpectedly.
- Protect your passwords and login credentials, don’t enter these into any websites relating to the COVID-19 virus.
- Keep your devices up-to-date.
- Keep your anti-virus up to date and run regular checks.
- Report suspected malware or phishing attempts to CERT NZ.
Read more about this alert here.