Businesses across the US should be on high alert as COVID-19 scams[1] increase across phone and online sites. The novel coronavirus can provide an opportunity for fraudsters to exploit online users.
Emails or online offers could advertise products that claim to reduce the risk of catching the virus or provide tests, treatments, or even cures. They might even be messages trying to update you on the coronavirus situation or offer a refund or product.
On March 16, many Americans started staying home to curb the spread of COVID-19. One immediate consequence of social distancing has been to strain enterprise contact centers.
New York-based call verification company Next Caller[2] has been tracking what is happening inside some of the US's enterprises. It has noticed that while there was a temporary wane in call volumes coming into call centers during the week of March 23 to March 30, call volumes and high-risk calls are on the rise.
The number of high-risk calls spiked at almost 30% on average, and skewing even higher for financial institutions (up to 41%). It seems that fraudster activity is steadily escalating, exploiting COVID-19 to attack the enterprise and American businesses.
To supplement its own data, Next Caller studied over 1,000 Americans to see the impact that fraud is having[3] on them as bad actors ratchet up their attacks. The findings show that almost one in three Americans (32%) say that they believe they have already been targeted by fraud or scams related to COVID-19.
People are scared and looking to protect themselves and their families, but they aren't just afraid of getting sick. On top of concerns over health, 52% of Americans say that they are more concerned about being victimized by fraud