Scammers and hackers have been having a field day during the coronavirus pandemic, taking advantage of the general public’s fear surrounding the virus in order to extort them for money. Their latest attempt? Informing people that they are being fined for breaking quarantine, even when they weren’t in quarantine to begin with.
The Verge reported on Friday that one of its employees received an email supposedly from the federal government informing them that they had left their home three times during the previous day and would therefore be fined $59 for breaking quarantine. They were given a link to follow that looked legit but ended up redirecting to a scam website.
While fining people would probably be a highly effective measure for making sure they remain in quarantine, it’s not something that the government is doing. And they’re probably not keeping track of how many times you leave your house each day, either.
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