Covid-19: WARNING: Criminals pretending to be WHO officials want your money

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that criminals are posing as members of the organisation to steal money and sensitive information.

Scam artists are attempting to take advantage of the Covid-19 emergency through phishing emails and calls for funding.

Cybercriminals use emergencies such as Covid-19 to coax victims into making decisions quickly.

Also read: Mkhize warns this may be ‘calm before the storm’ as he announces he’s Covid-19 negative

Always take the time to think about a request for your personal information or money.

Phishing emails that appear to be from WHO will ask the victims to:

• Give sensitive information, such as usernames or passwords.
• Click a malicious link.
• Open a malicious attachment.

Using this method, criminals can install malware or steal sensitive information.

Also read: Infographic: To wear or not to wear? The Covid-19 mask quandary unpacked

How to prevent phishing:

• Verify the sender by checking their email address.
• Make sure the sender has an email address such as ‘person@who.int’.
• If there is anything other than ‘who.int’ after the ‘@’ symbol, this sender is not from WHO.

For example, WHO does not send emails from addresses ending in ‘@who.com’ , ‘@who.org’ or ‘@who-safety.org’.

Check the link before you click.

Make sure the link starts with ‘https://www.who.int’.  Better still, navigate to the WHO website directly, by typing ‘https://www.who.int’ into your browser.

Also read: Ignoring lockdown? Fines explained

The World Health Organisation will:

• Never ask for a username or password to access safety information.
• Never email attachments not asked for.
• Never ask anyone to visit a link outside of www.who.int.
• Never charge money to apply for a job, register for a conference, or reserve a hotel.
• Never conduct lotteries or offer prizes, grants, certificates or funding through email.

The only call for donations WHO has issued is the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Any other appeal for funding or donations that appears to be from WHO is a scam.

Report a scam to WHO.

Dear reader,

As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.

Also follow us on: