(Bloomberg) -- As the threat of a coronavirus increases in the U.K., scammers are introducing it as a ploy to defraud unsuspecting people, the police said.
The frauds range from fake sellers of protective face masks that are never delivered to coronavirus-themed phishing attacks, with criminals often pretending to represent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization, the City of London police said in a statement on Friday.
The scammers offer the recipient of the phishing email a list of people infected with Covid-19 in their area, the police said. The link that is included leads to a malicious website or requests a Bitcoin payment, they said.
The suspected frauds remain limited, with so far only 21 reports since February. But victims have reported a total of 800,000 pounds ($1 million) in losses, the police said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in London at fwild@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser
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