The Italian financial authority, CONSOB also has warned the public that the coronavirus pandemic provides scammers with a suitable opportunity for spreading false or misleading information with the purpose of taking an unfair profit out of the fears related to disease.

CONSOB also warns that such attempts are usually managed through Internet and that “scams may assume variable features and they could involve, among other things, the offer - through promotional material and the provision of fake news - of non-existent stocks or bonds of imaginary companies alleged as taking initiatives for the containment or the cure of the coronavirus or with relation to the offer of alleged high-yield investment opportunities in various contexts, including trading of alleged virtual currencies linked to the spread and lethality features of viral contagion (such as "Coronacoin")“.

Earlier this month county councils throughout the UK reported that coronavirus related fraud has increased by 400% in March, with victims being stinged with nearly 1 million GBP. The local Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also warned of an emerging trend of scam brokers, which use social media like Instagram and Facebook, luring investors with lucrative offers of fast and easy returns.

Similar warning against the alarming rate at which corona virus related scams have flooded the markets, preying on the fear, uncertainty, and doubt has been issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the U.S., while an IT security company reported a new form of scam where criminals send extortion e-mails to victims, threatening to infect their families with coronavirus unless they pay 4000 USD in digital currencies.