As we try to find our footing and ensure our physical and mental health during COVID-19, there is another virus rapidly spreading across the country. It threatens our informational health, and it’s hitting us in two key ways: through scams designed to get our personal information, and through straight-up disinformation—false information spread deliberately, designed to sow confusion, discord and fear.
The Federal Trade Commission lists things like phishing emails, ads claiming to sell at-home testing kits or COVID-19 cures, and robocalls as among the many ways that scammers are trying to get our personal information and our money.
Additionally, disinformation and conspiracy theories continue to run rampant across the internet; one study found that in March more than 46,000 posts on Twitter were linked to false information. In May, Twitter labeled two of President Trump’s tweets on mail-in voting with a fact-check disclaimer and a link to correct information. But not every social media post, or blog, or news story will have that clarification.
The situation has gotten so bad in Michigan, for example, that the state’s Attorney General just recently issued a consumer alert warning Michiganders about misinformation as many who are struggling financially turn to social media for information and assistance in obtaining unemployment benefits.
Raymond Holcomb, a retired FBI agent who serves on Buchanan’s COVID-19 Advisory Council, says that now is “prime time” for unscrupulous people to act in bad faith—whether they are from the U.S. or from anywhere else in the world.
“People are preying on fear and emotion like no other time,” says Holcomb, who is president of 1st Watch Global, a consulting firm that helps businesses find and mitigate risk. “The best ways to protect oneself from both types of attacks are to be vigilant and be skeptical.
“It’s so easy to jump on the first bit of information we can find when the world seems so uncertain,” he adds. “But now more than ever, it’s incumbent upon us to pay close attention, whether you’re seeing news that seems suspect, or you’ve received a suspicious looking email.”
Holcomb, whose expertise includes national security, offers the following tips to check the legitimacy of an email or piece of news:
Check the address. If you’ve received an email, hover your cursor over the sender’s address—you’ll often find its complete gibberish. The message itself may also be riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.
Check the link (but don’t click). Since stimulus checks have been issued, scammers have been able to get hold of about $558 of those funds per person, and nearly 1 in 5 fraud reports included imposters pretending to be the government. If the message includes a familiar-looking link, check for strange anomalies, such as YouTu.be. And remember: no branch of government will ever send you strange links to open or tell you to call an individual at a specific number.
Check the source. Where is this information coming from? The best resources for COVID-19 developments continue to be the CDC and World Health Organization, as well as your state’s Department of Health. If a communication seems suspect, cross reference with these sites. Other legitimate sources include the Federal Trade Commission, the IRS and the Department of Justice; they lay out current scams, highlight misinformation and provide advice on what to do to protect yourself as well.
Check the person. Be wary of online trolls–those with engineered personas meant to come off as average, everyday individuals–many from unfriendly nations, who target unwitting social media users. Use extreme caution when sharing any work or personal information with these individuals.
Check on older adults. Adults over 65 are about 34 percent more likely to have fallen victim to a scam, according to the Stanford Center on Longevity and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Investor Education Foundation. If you have an elderly friend or relative, warn them about scams and misinformation. Help them become more skeptical and more scam-savvy.
What steps do you take to protect yourself online?