New VA Coronavirus Task Force To Investigate Fraud Claims

VIRGINIA — Virginia law enforcement officials have teamed up with federal prosecutors and the FBI to create the Virginia Coronavirus Fraud Task Force, a partnership that will investigate and prosecute fraud related to the new coronavirus, or COVID-19. The task force will include assistant U.S. attorneys from the eastern and western districts of Virginia as well as FBI and Virginia State Police officials.

The task force will review and investigate all credible leads of fraud associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Federal prosecutors from the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia will meet and confer with their agency counterparts from the FBI and Virginia State Police on a regular basis to prioritize cases and surge resources where needed.

“Exploiting a global pandemic for financial gain is not only morally reprehensible, it is likely criminal,” Thomas T. Cullen, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said Friday in a statement. “Federal prosecutors in Virginia are working closely with the FBI and the Virginia State Police to identify individuals who are engaging in coronavirus fraud, in its various forms, and preying on vulnerable populations."

Cullen said the task force will use "all available tools and statutes to put bad actors in federal prison."

The task force is recommending that the public not open attachments or click on links from senders they do not recognize; verify that information being shared actually originates from a legitimate source; do not share your logins, banking information or other personal information in response to an email; and only visit websites that you have manually typed their domains into your browser.

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Virginians who belive they have been a victim of an Internet scam or want to report suspicious activity should visit the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin G. Cooke will serve as the COVID-19 Fraud Coordinator. Assistant United States Attorney Michael Baudinet will serve as the COVID-19 Fraud Coordinator for the Western District of Virginia.

Some examples of coronavirus scams include:

• Treatment scams: Scammers are offering to sell fake cures, vaccines and advice on unproven treatments for coronavirus.
• Supply scams: Scammers are creating fake shops, websites, social media accounts and email addresses claiming to sell medical supplies currently in high demand, such as surgical masks. When consumers attempt to purchase supplies through these channels, fraudsters pocket the money and never provide the promised supplies.
• Provider scams: Scammers are also contacting people by phone and email, pretending to be doctors and hospitals that have treated a friend or relative for the coronavirus and demanding payment for that treatment.
• Charity scams: Scammers are soliciting donations for individuals, groups and areas affected by the coronavirus.
• Phishing scams: Scammers posing as national and global health authorities, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are sending phishing emails designed to trick recipients into downloading malware or providing personal identifying and financial information.
• App scams: Scammers are also creating and manipulating mobile apps designed to track the spread of the coronavirus to insert malware that will compromise users’ devices and personal information.
• Investment scams: Scammers are offering online promotions on various platforms, including social media, claiming that the products or services of publicly traded companies can prevent, detect, or cure the coronavirus, and that the stock of these companies will dramatically increase in value as a result. These promotions are often styled as "research reports," make predictions of a specific "target price," and relate to microcap stocks, or low-priced stocks issued by the smallest of companies with limited publicly available information.
• Price-gouging scams: Individuals and businesses may sell essential goods, like hand sanitizer, for significantly higher prices than in a non-emergency setting. It is legally considered price gouging when the price of one of these products increases more than 20 percent its price one week prior to an emergency declaration from Virginia.

Virginians who believe they have been victim of fraud, or need more information about the coronavirus should visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/covid-19-fraud.