Beware of these coronavirus scams

Beware of these coronavirus scams

With every disaster there are scams. It's no different with the coronavirus pandemic. KTVU's Henry Lee spoke with Sgt. Ray Kelly with Alameda County Sheriff's Department on what to look out for.

OAKLAND, Calif. - With every disaster there are scams. It's no different with the coronavirus pandemic. 

"We're starting to see scams unfold here. It's not surprising. We were anticipating this," said Sgt. Ray Kelly with Alameda County Sheriff's Department. 

The scams run the gamut of claims of vaccines, fake charities to help victims to calls from help from relatives that end up being bogus. 

The sheriff's office stopped one such scheme in its tracks. 

"They were calling people and saying their loved one was headed to the hospital because they believed they had coronavirus," Kelly said. 

It was an age-old scam tailored to COVID-19. 

"During that drive, apparently they were driving erratically, they were involved in an accident and ultimatley got arrested for causing that accident," Kelly said. 

The ask was for $13,000 for bail. The would-be victim, an elderly woman, smelled a rat and called the sheriff's office. 

Be careful about phishing emails claiming to be from your local health department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the World Health Organization. 

"If they provided a Social Security number or a credit card that they could hold like a reservation to receive a vaccine for COVID-19..." Sgt. Tya Modeste said. 

There is no such vaccine for coronavirus at the moment, so those online offers of teas, essential oils and special lemons? Ignore them. 

"Whenever there's a critical incident, we'll have scammers come out of the woodwork and start making phone calls," said Modeste. 

District attorneys across the Bay Area are on the lookout for price gouging, where sellers unfairly raise the price of needed items. 

"It's mainly been foods, food-type items. It's been in grocery stores, some bigger stores, but we expect to see this in the construction service arena," said Kevin Dunleavy, Alameda County chief assistant district attorney. 

If you come across a coronavirus scam, contact local law enforcement or the Federal Trade Commission.