Security News > 2020 > May > Scammers target COVID-19 CARES Act relief scheme

Beyond regular unemployment payouts, benefits are coming with an extra $600 per week for out-of-work Americans during the pandemic, plus the one-time $1,200 payment eligible adults are receiving under the CARES Act.

It's pulling off large-scale fraud against multiple state unemployment insurance programs, exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic with fraudulent unemployment and CARES Act claims.

The West African gang has run a range of scams over its 10+ year history, including unemployment fraud, social security fraud, disaster relief fraud, and student aid fraud, as detailed in a report ACID published about the group in June 2019.

ACID researchers have found evidence that the cybergang has also been involved in previous attacks targeting CARES Act payments, as well as new scams targeting Hawaii unemployment benefits.

To set the stage for its attacks, the group used this ignore-the-dots feature to set up dozens of accounts on state unemployment sites and on the Internal Revenue Service site that's used to process CARES Act payments for people who don't file taxes.

News URL

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/05/21/scammers-target-covid-19-cares-act-relief-scheme/