Security News > 2020 > March > Europol: Criminals Exploit Virus Crisis as Fresh Opportunity
Criminals are preying on a fearful public and disrupting the provision of medical care during the coronavirus pandemic by selling counterfeit products, impersonating health workers and hacking computers as many citizens do their jobs online at home, European law enforcement agency Europol said Friday.
"Criminals have quickly seized the opportunities to exploit the crisis by adapting their modes of operation or developing new criminal activities," Europol Executive Director, Catherine de Bolle said in a statement.
Europol noted the transfer of 6.6 million euros by a European company to another in Singapore to buy face masks and alcohol gels, widely used now for cleaning hands to protect from the coronavirus.
Criminals also lurk at the doorways of private homes as hundreds of millions of people across Europe are confined under government orders to slow the spread of the virus.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted recently that increased time online, for work or to while away days and weeks of confinement, means that criminals "Exploit our concerns about the coronavirus."