Scammers are claiming to be able to provide a list of COVID-positive residents in their area for an undisclosed sum of bitcoin and are faking legitimacy by posing as the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
U.K residents are being warned against scammers claiming to offer information on locals infected with coronavirus for payments in bitcoin.
Local councils from the counties of Pembrokeshire, Manchester and Norfolk have issued warnings to local residents against scams using the COVID-19 outbreak to exploit fear and uncertainty through text messages and emails posing as an official health organisation.
The warnings come soon after U.K’s Financial Conduct Authority warned investors that scammers may attempt to take advantage of the global pandemic crisis.
The warning was delivered on the same day the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic with more than 350,000 infected at the time.
There’s also been a flurry of text messages posing as «UKGOV» – anapparent mimic of the official Gov.uk domain – offering a payment of £458 ($558) to all residents as part of its promise to battle COVID-19 and directing them to a malicious website via a text message link.
An alert from Action Fraud, the U.K.’s national fraud and crime reporting center, revealed 21 reports of fraud relating to the deadly coronavirus with victim losses totaling over £800,000 since February, according to government websites.
Out of the 21 reports, 10 were lodged by victims that had attempted to purchase face masks from deceitful sellers. One victim reported losing over £15,000 when they purchased face masks in bulk that were never delivered, echoing behavior in the U.S. from fake merchants.
Action Fraud has also received multiple reports about COVID-19 related phishing emails attempting to fool people into opening malicious attachments or revealing sensitive financial information.
Bitcoin, Gold Spike as Fed Unveils Unlimited Coronavirus Stimulus Package
Bitcoin’s (BTC) price shot up along with gold and stock futures after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a quantitative easing package with no upper limit to support the economy amid the coronavirus crisis.Immediately after the 12:00 UTC announcement, bitcoin jumped from $5,860 to $6,628 in an hour, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. Gold, a classic safe-haven asset, rose from $1,494 to $1,524 over the same time frame.
The Fed’s announcment indicates it is taking stronger actions, including open-ended asset purchases, to support the flow of credit to households and businesses.
«The Federal Reserve will continue to purchase Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning and effective transmission of monetary policy to broader financial conditions,» the central bank said.
Essentially, the Fed now stands ready to expand its bond purchases as required. The central bank’s balance sheet hit a record $4.7 trillion last week.
With the Fed going all-in to support the economy, sentiment on Wall Street turned positive alongside the uptick in bitcoin and gold. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which were down nearly 900 points during the European hours, are now reporting a 400-point gain.
The foreign exchange market reacted to the Fed’s new QE effort by offering the greenback. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against majors, fell from 102.80 to 101.70 following the central bank’s announcement.
Bitcoin’s move higher along with gold is likely to revive the safe-haven narrative but it will be interesting to see if the positive correlation persists.
Both gold and bitcoin have fallen sharply over the last two weeks, reviving memories of the 2008 crash when the yellow metal had declined by 30 percent from $1,030 to $680 from March to October before decoupling in November. Gold went on to hit record highs above $1,900 per ounce in September 2011.
«History doesn’t repeat itself but given the deluge of fiscal and monetary stimulus, incoming bitcoin bulls are hoping that it will rhyme,» said crypto derivate research firm Skew Market in its daily update.
At press time, bitcoin is trading at $6,383 – a 5.14 percent gain on a 24-hour basis.
