Coronavirus related fraud has increased by 400% in March, Manchester City Council reports, citing data from Action Fraud, which has received over 100 reports from victims who have lost nearly 1 million GBP.

Counties across the UK have also issued warnings about scams exploiting fears about the corona virus pandemic.

A wave of phishing text messages and emails are send daily by scammers who present themselves as representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the UK and who promise to send the names of coronavirus positive patients in the victims’ neighborhoods in exchange for bitcoins.

“Payment for a list of infected people in your area where you may be required to pay by bitcoin or asked to click on a link which delivers malware,” Pembrokeshire County Council said in its warning statement.

“COVID-19 related fraud has increased by 400% in March,” Manchester City Council notes, pointing out that “between 1 February 2020 and 18 March 2020, Action Fraud has received 105 reports from victims of COVID-19 related frauds, with losses totaling close to 970 000 GBP.”

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK also urges the public to “watch out for scams related to coronavirus,” warning that “these scams take many forms and could be about insurance policies, pensions transfers or high-return investment opportunities, including investments in crypto assets.”

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