U.K based fraud detection firm, Cifas, warns investors on the skyrocketing cases of fraud involving Bitcoin payments and donations. The firm states the current program by the World Health Organization (WHO) to donate BTC directly to its wallet is one of the websites facing the highest cases of Bitcoin fraud.
According to the report, there has been an increasing case of phishing and Bitcoin-related fraud as the world adjusts to the CoronaVirus pandemic. The epidemic has seen a number of donation websites come up in a bid to fight the spread of the virus but fraudsters have taken up this opportunity to scam users off their money.
Cifas claims the WHO emailing and texting service have been cloned by fraudsters to ask for donations from unknowing citizens. Bitcoin scams boosted on the WHO plea, some asking users to send their donation to a BTC address not registered to WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Furthermore, fraudsters send users a “WHO-like” email using the address ([email protected]) to make the scam look more realistic. The detection firm asked users not to send any donations to suspicious-looking addresses but only to donate on the official WHO pages.
Notwithstanding, phishing scams have also graduated to target institutions and companies using Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) job retention scheme to scam people. In a statement released earlier in the week, HMRC urges everyone to be vigilant during this period. The statement further reads,
“Companies to beware of unsolicited emails, texts or phone calls that are requesting financial details or other sensitive information and claim to come from the HMRC or similar authorities.”
