By Emma Overton ’21
Editor-in-Chief and News Editor
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen— with 776,093 positive cases and 41,758 deaths recorded in the United States as of April 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—scammers are using the resulting disruption in our daily lives to defraud victims. As thousands of college students across the country have returned home and transitioned to online learning, scammers are targeting their email inboxes and Zoom meetings.
In a virtual press conference on April 2, FBI Chicago Special Agent and Public Affairs Officer Siobhan Johnson spoke about the ways that scammers and hackers are targeting all Americans, and how individuals and college students, in particular, can protect themselves online. Noting “even as society is shutting down, scammers are gearing up,” Johnson outlined the ways in which cybercriminals are taking advantage of online users. She explained that as of April 2, the FBI had received “well over 1,200 reports nationwide of COVID-19 related scams” and highlighted that scammers who first targeted medical facilities and law enforcement agencies are “now focusing on those who are working from home.”
Johnson further discussed scammers that are “reaching out via email and referencing COVID-19 to demand several thousand dollars via wire transfer or bitcoin.” She cautioned, “if a business contacts you regarding a debt and asks you to pay with a new or unusual method, be extremely wary. They may blame it on COVID-19 and tell you the banks are closed, [but] call [the business] before transferring any funds.”
Additionally, following the passage of a $2.2 trillion stimulus package by Congress, Economic Impact Payments of up to $1,200 were made available to many Americans. Johnson cautioned against scammers who are specifically attempting to defraud individuals out of their payments, noting, “you will not be contacted by email asking for your date of birth or Social Security number. Do not give out private information to anyone claiming that they need your bank or Social Security account numbers.”
Moreover, Johnson shared, “even if the email looks legitimate, be aware that companies could have been spoofed or that companies may have been hacked.” Further discussing scams via email, she noted that the hallmarks of scams include “rampant misspellings, the inclusion of a deadline, or requesting donations in gift cards. Legitimate businesses do not operate that way.”
Similarly, Lake Forest College Chief Information Officer Sean Riedel shared that “students should be wary of outreach that comes from an outside source or an unknown email address or text number . . . as always, if you receive an email that looks suspicious or you are directed to login to a non-Lake Forest site with your Lake Forest College username and password, please forward the message to the Help Desk at ithelp@lakeforest.edu so we can investigate and take appropriate action.”
Specifically, some email scams have offered vaccines or medications for the virus, although no known treatments exist for COVID-19, at this time. Senior Fenn Napier ’20 explained that his mother received an email from “someone labeled covidhealth@covid.com.” He shared, “I think they said they [had] a treatment verified by a doctor.”
Johnson also noted that as more college students are learning and working from home, hackers are using “legitimate-looking telework software to gain access to sensitive information.” In addition, scammers are “overload[ing] services to take them offline, and have disrupted videoconferences with pornographic images, hate images, and threatening language.”
Riedel shared that “there was one reported instance where unexpected participants joined a Zoom meeting that was in progress. The faculty member quickly assessed that the new participants were not part of the class and removed them from the meeting using Zoom’s in-meeting host controls.”
To combat the intrusion of hackers in Zoom meetings, Johnson advocated for hosts to use “password-protected Zoom links” and for presenters to use the waiting room feature on Zoom so “people cannot access the meeting until the host approves the person to be let in.”
At the close of the press conference, Johnson stated that individuals can do three things to protect themselves against scammers and hackers: “Do your research, report victimization, and spread the word to your friends and families.” Johnson noted that if an individual feels that they have fallen victim to a scam, to contact the Internet Crimes Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
Riedel further shared, “online security is a shared responsibility. [Information Technology Services] works hard to secure personally identifiable information and all accounts . . . [s]ecurity best practices are under constant review and implementation. At the same time, our Community members need to practice safe online behavior. It is important to take passwords seriously and to protect devices that have remembered passwords, and to avoid sharing information that could compromise one’s own or someone else’s identity or learning experience.”
However, despite the threat of COVID-19 related scams and hackers, Riedel noted, “it is important to know that ITS is committed to working with your professors and College support staff to make you succeed during this difficult time. Please send any online learning concern you have to ithelp@lakeforest.edu, and we will work with any College team necessary to help you.”
