Monthly Archives: May 2020

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU WARNS: COUNTERFEIT COUPONS

The Better Busines Bureau (BBB) has issued a consumer alert to warn consumers about counterfeit coupons. Counterfeit coupons, along with counterfeit tickets, are not new but in an insidious twist counterfeiters are using counterfeit coupons to steal personal information.

The fakes are often found on Facebook and are used to steal your identity and/or download malware. Among the most frequently distributed fake coupons are: Bath & Body Works, Costco, Aldi, Starbucks, Trade Joe’s. The coupons offer a bonus and free merchandise for sharing the link on social media. The link takes the consumer to a third-party website that asks for personal information to get the coupon while downloading viruses or malware.

COUNTERFEIT N95 MASKS

On Monday, May 5 Inside Edition ran a short piece on counterfeit N95 masks. It was an undercover sting of a guy with a van in New York City calling the few shops that are open and offering to sell them N95 masks in bulk. Part of the pitch is that the masks were ‘manufactured in China.’ The news reporter for Inside Edition working with a camera crew in a van called the vendor and when he arrived spooked him by questioning him about the masks while filming him.

It wasn’t much of a story, however, Inside Edition, ran a much better story that is available on YouTube: “Coronavirus Crackdowns: Authorities Seize Masks, Fake Tests,” dated March 19, 2020, about authorities in Europe policing the underground market for N95 masks. The second part of the story deals with fake Coronavirus test kits.