Key facts:
Fraudulent e-mails looking to steal bitcoins, banking details and identity.Recommend to be alert to emails, websites, and applications related to the coronavirus.Times are hard in the middle of the pandemic coronavirus covid-19 that affects the planet, while the cyber fraudsters do not rest.According to allegations, are circulating spam mails that ask for donations in bitcoin to combat the coronavirus on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO). Chester Wisniewski, a consultant in computer security at Sophos Lab shared a screenshot of an email with a spammy and potentially dangerous that it is worth of the health crisis that impacts the world for a few months.
The scammers impersonating the @WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund are evolving. First samples seen on 16 March and have put a bit more spit and polish on the 18 March run. Please donate to the real fund here: https://t.co/MfggnADyKF pic.twitter.com/FVwbbSmN4e— Chester Wisniewski (@chetwisniewski) March 19, 2020
Explains Wisniewski that the e-mail speaks of a false economic fund backed by governments and specialized institutions, which aims to raise USD 675 million dollars to help the countries most in need to give an answer to the crisis of coronavirus during the upcoming month of April.Among the activities that they pretend to want to finance is the distribution of medical supplies to health workers, the acquisition of laboratory equipment, scientific dissemination and prevention, and the development of a vaccine for the disease.In an interview with the middle GlobalNews.ca, Wisniewski said he’s not only looking to steal bitcoins, but also identity data of the victims, as one of the emails has a link that diverts them to a website with a login form that asks for data to give you access to the fake page of the WHO.It also ensures that other e-mails include an attachment that appears to be an official government, but actually hides a virus that can infect your computer with a malware that will look for personal information, bank passwords and other sensitive data.The specialist recommends that you be alert to emails that have grammatical errors or typing, and advised to verify the integrity of web pages and link, in addition to maintaining computers and anti-virus software up to date, and change all your passwords if you notice any danger.The researcher also called on to make donations in legitimate sites, such as the Background Response to the Covid19, although this site does not can make donations in BTC.However, there are many initiatives that have emerged within the ecosystem of the cryptocurrencies to support the fight against this disease. Among them is the project (email protected), led by the University of Stanford, which puts the power of computational-heavy processing at the service of research and fight against diseases, so that mining cryptocurrencies with computers GPU or CPU can collaborate with this initiative.Similarly, The crowdfunding platform, Gitcoin announced that its next round of funding in Ethereum will include a space for projects in the area of health, category, created among other reasons to promote research and combat the coronavirus, and that will begin the next 23 marzo.De rest, it only remains to be alert to emails, web pages and fraudulent applications, such as those that have recently emerged to steal bitcoins through methods such as ransomware.