Coronavirus stimulus check scams, infamous hacker charged and more

Coronavirus stimulus check scams

Don’t give out your PayPal account information, Social Security number, bank account number or other personally identifiable information (PII) if someone claims any of this is essential to sign you up for a coronavirus pandemic U.S. stimulus check, according to a USA Today article.

The FBI, state attorneys general offices and other agencies are alerting Americans that phone calls, texts or emails asking for PII to be eligible for federal payments aren’t legitimate, according to the article.

The scammers demand that potential victims provide PayPal, bank account or other financial information to receive stimulus checks from the U.S. federal economic-relief package. Ignore and delete such texts or emails, and never click on links from these messages to avoid malware downloads.

See Coronavirus stimulus check scams are out to swindle you out of $1,200: What you need to know, by Susan Tompor, USA Today, March 29.

Infamous hacker charged

Investigators have charged at least 25 people involved in a credit card fraud ring that included notorious hacker Alexey Stroganov, otherwise known as “Flint,” according to Russia busts card fraud ring that included an infamous hacker, by Jon Fingas, engadget, March 28.

According to the article, a Krebs on Security source said Stroganov apparently had a stake in “almost every major [card] hack” in the past 10 years and sent “hundreds of millions of dollars” through the seized cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. The article states that cybercrime discussion forum members believe Stroganov and crew were arrested because they targeted people within Russia.

Georgia man attempts to fraudulently capitalize on pandemic

U.S. federal prosecutors have criminally charged Erik Santos, 49, of Braselton, Georgia, for allegedly conspiring to defraud federal and private health care benefit programs “by submitting fraudulent testing claims” for coronavirus and genetic cancer screenings, according to Feds charge Georgia man with billing for fraudulent COVID-19, cancer testing claims, by Dan Mangan, CNBC, March 30.

According to the article, Santos was charged with one count of conspiring to violate the U.S. Anti-Kickback Statute, and a single count of conspiring to commit health care fraud. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of both counts.

Santos’ alleged “scheme aimed to submit more than $1.1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare,” according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey.