Hackers, scammers, and con-artists are going after your coronavirus stimulus checks. But you shouldn't worry about it because the government, specifically the IRS, now has a tracker in place to help prevent that.
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Your COVID-19 stimulus check could be stolen from you; But there's a tracker to prevent that
There are hundreds of domain names related to the $2 trillion stimulus package that have been registered over the past month alone, according to reports coming from Tessian.
The domain names, however, are being used for a variety of purposes. It appears that some might lead to educational websites, others offer consulting services, assisting in obtaining stimulus checks, or applying for business loans.
Be warned that some are not what they seem to be--especially too good to be true deals that you might see in those websites.
Tim Sadler, CEO of Tessian, said in a statement to Mashable that "Cybercriminals will always follow the money, and look for ways to take advantage of the fact people will be seeking more information or guidance on this scheme."
There are shady internet rackets that mainly use trending topics for their money-making schemes. For weeks, Google Trends data has shown that stimulus-related questions, as well as search queries, have been booming.
Scammers can use these domains to fool people possibly and portray their fake sites as an actual authority on the said stimulus package. They also use game search engines to promote their pages and improve the odds of people choosing their site over real ones.
Mashable even tried to search for websites with keywords such as "stimulus" and "COVID-19" in the URL, and it attempted to install a browser app upon loading. The site in question is only a single-page website that offers very little than a few paragraphs of copy-pasted material, and also has an email list sign up form. Fishy? Without question.
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Here's what you should know
There are a total of 673 non-governmental, stimulus-related domains registered between the dates of March 17 and April 13. There is still no telling what's legit or not.
The IRS has created a tracker to keep you informed if the site is indeed legit or not. You only need to click here.
Tessian discovered that there are over a quarter of stimulus-related domains offering resources from consultants, lawyers, and various experts. That doesn't mean that the site is legitimate.
A few of the registered domains have a "calculator tool" for people to be able to check their stimulus check eligibility. Be very careful using this tool because it requires you to personal input information like your salary and address.
Sadler warned users against this tool specifically. He also said, "Cybercriminals could use the information you shared to craft targeted phishing emails that include the 'results' of your assessment, tricking you into clicking on malicious links to steal money, credentials or installing malware onto your device."
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