User:Cheezejack/sandbox/COVID-19 scams

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COVID-19 fraud, also known as coronavirus fraud, is a type of telecommunications fraud and scam that use anything related to the COVID-19 virus (usually related to coronavirus vaccines) to intimidate the victim and usually benefit from it. The scam typically targets citizens of the United States, but scams have been reported in other countries such as Canada. The FTC has reported over 175,000 COVID-19 related reports about fraud, identity theft, and other consumer protection problems.

Initiation
Most of the coronavirus fraud that occurs begins with an email, text message, or a robocall.

Reports
From January 1, 2020 until April 15, 2020 there were supposedly 18,235 reports of COVID-19 fraud in the United States according to the FTC.

Losses
According to the FTC, from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to April 30, 2020 there were US$13.44M lost in total due to coronavirus fraud.