Crooks tricked German health authorities to spend $ 16 million on non-existent face masks, taking advantage of the need for medical masks because of the Corona pandemic.
The business insider website reported that a group of fraudsters of various nationalities tried to trick the German authorities through fake email addresses and a cloned website to deliver more than $ 16 million to receive face masks that did not exist during the past month.
But, this week, INTERPOL announced the arrest of fraud-related suspects, and investigations are underway across Europe.
Initially, German health authorities set aside $ 16 million for two buyers in mid-March to purchase millions of face masks, as the country entered into a closing period to slow the spread of the Coronavirus.
Buyers have identified a Spanish-based company that sells masks, and have contacted company email addresses.
The company turned out to be real, but the site was a fake clone created by scammers, and German buyers were in touch with email addresses that were hacked by cyber crooks.
Those arrested in this case have no connection with the medical equipment industry, they were simply among the scammers who saw an opportunity with the COVID-19 outbreak, said German Interpol Secretary-General Jürgen Stock in a statement.
The suspects are alleged to have asked German buyers to pay $ 1.6 million as a down payment for 1.5 million masks, and victims of this fraud paid this amount, but they realized that they were being duped when they received a message on the supposed day of delivery, where the fraudsters demanded another urgent payment of more than 950 one thousand dollars.
After buyers alerted the authorities, the $ 1.6 million transaction was blocked and INTERPOL tracked down recipients, who were planning to direct payments via the United Kingdom to a bank account in Nigeria.
They have revised their sales plans to take advantage of tense supply chains and make huge profits, and INTERPOL will continue to work on this issue and many others of this type, Stock added.
The incident is a prime example of the growing trend of scammers using fake email messages and misleading websites related to the Corona Virus to take advantage of the health agencies ’desperation.
According to Microsoft, every country on earth has been subjected to a cyber-related cyberattack, and most frauds take the form of phishing attacks, where fraudsters use fake e-mail messages or websites to deceive victims.
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