Coronavirus stimulus check scams, infamous hacker charged and more

Coronavirus stimulus check scams

Don’t give out your PayPal account information, Social Security number, bank account number or other personally identifiable information (PII) if someone claims any of this is essential to sign you up for a coronavirus pandemic U.S. stimulus check, according to a USA Today article.

The FBI, state attorneys general offices and other agencies are alerting Americans that phone calls, texts or emails asking for PII to be eligible for federal payments aren’t legitimate, according to the article.

The scammers demand that potential victims provide PayPal, bank account or other financial information to receive stimulus checks from the U.S. federal economic-relief package. Ignore and delete such texts or emails, and never click on links from these messages to avoid malware downloads.

See Coronavirus stimulus check scams are out to swindle you out of $1,200: What you need to know, by Susan Tompor, USA Today, March 29.