CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Novel coronavirus, classified as (2019-nCoV) by the World Health Organization, has caused fear and scammers are trying to capitalize on those emotions.
Better Business Bureau staff want to help you avoid these scams.
The BBB says these scammers will use people's emotions and fears about the virus to buy items that are said to fight the virus, and that these scammers only are after your identity and your money.
They said folks should always do their research and make contact with them.
“Every epidemic, we see the reports come in on Scam Tracker and it's incredibly dishearting when people lose money," said BBB Regional Director Jason Meza. "Because, if they don't use their credit card or if they get duped out of money, they buy (from) a fraudulent website, it's really tough to get the money back. We just want people to step up and report what they see let others know, before they fall into a similar trap.”
The BBB also said another red flag is asking for your credit card information, social security or any other ID-sensitive information.
Staff wants you to protect yourself because once scammers have your money it can be very difficult to get back.
To report different scams follow this link.