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President of BBB NE Florida warns against scams during pandemic

The most common scams are mask, pets and employment.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Were you scammed in 2020 during the pandemic? The Better Business Bureau says scammers were taking full advantage of consumers during the lock down.

The BBB tracks the median amount of money someone lost from a COVID-19 related scam. In the U.S. and Canada, the average was $88 per scam in 2020. 

President of the BBB Northeast Florida, Tom Stephens says the scams are mainly online. 

“A lot of online stuff, a lot of fake emails, a lot of fake text, and a lot of fake websites," said Stephens. 

The most common scams are masks, pets and employment.

“The government is not going to call you, text you, or email you about either a vaccine or an economic emergency payment, said Stephens. 

“That is never going to happen! first of all the deo would never send you a specific email with claim information integrated in the email," said unemployment expert, Vanessa Brito. 

The BBB says women are at the highest risk for scams and people ages 35 to 54 year old’s are easily influenced to fall for fraud.

“Probably one red flag is that if they won’t take a credit card. they want you to use a gift card or some type of payment that can’t be reversed and can’t be canceled," said Stephens. 

Stephens, says another tip to dodging scammers is not to answer unknown texts and emails that try to get you to access a link.

“Once you give that scammer the numbers off the back of those gift cards or iTunes card or something like that. That money’s gone," said Stephens. 

    

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