MENDOCINO Co., 6/9/20 — As if the coronavirus were not devastating enough on its own, scammers are impersonating COVID-19 contact tracers to extract private personal and financial information, warns California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
In a press release sent out yesterday, A.G. Becerra said that this fraud scheme “sickens the soul” and that, “Legitimate contact tracers will never ask for personal information such as your Social Security number or financial information.”
Contact tracing helps slow the spread of the virus by identifying people in contact with infected individuals. They will only ask you about medical symptoms and people you have been in contact with.
These scammers are said to be contacting Californians via phone, email, or text. The attorney general urges any victim or target of a COVID-related scam to file a complaint at www.oag.ca.gov/report.
Here is the original press release from the California Attorney General’s Office:
Monday, June 8, 2020
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov
SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today issued a consumer alert warning consumers about a new fraud scheme involving phony COVID-19 contact tracers. Contact tracing is an important tool to slow the spread of coronavirus. This tool helps local public health departments identify people who may have been in contact with a COVID-19 infected individual. Once informed, people can quickly take proper precautions. In this new fraud scheme, scam artists pretend to be contact tracers to trick Californians into divulging their private personal information such as Social Security numbers, financial information, or health insurance information. These scam artists are contacting Californians by phone, email, or text.
“Legitimate contact tracers will never ask for personal information such as your Social Security number or financial information. It sickens the soul that there are people out there who make it their business to scam you as most of us seek to band together to respond to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Attorney General Becerra. “I ask all Californians to be alert and protect your personal information. And if you see something, say something. We are working to track these imposters.”
To avoid falling victim to this scam, the California Department of Justice offers some tips and precautions:
- Real contact tracers will only ask you about your medical symptoms and the people you may have been in contact with.
- Real contact tracers will never ask for your Social Security number, financial or health insurance information.
- If someone claiming to be a contact tracer asks for any kind of financial information or tries to charge you money, it is a scam! Please report it.
If you believe you have been the victim or target of a scam related to COVID-19, please immediately file a complaint at www.oag.ca.gov/report .
This is my younger brother’s first article for Mendo Voice! We are all super proud of him for contributing to our local community. Go Miguel!
Political implications of the content aside, bravo to your brother for a well-written article. I give him a pass on his naivete, as I’m sure he’s sincerely trying to help people.
ALL “contact tracers” are scam artists. DO NOT open the door to any of them, “official” and unofficial. DO NOT answer their questions or “cooperate” in any way.
The government “leadership” has made clear by their active endorsement of the “Black Lives Matter” (sic) “protests”/rioting/insurrection that “social distancing orders” are a complete fraud. A confidence scheme peddled to us, and “compliance” demanded under the threat of force. Hundreds of “public health experts” are also on-record SUPPORTING the “protests” despite ZERO social distancing. You have been conned. Beyond measure.
If COVID-19 was, in any way, the threat it is claimed to be, government autocrats would have quickly shut down the “protests.” Instead, the “protests” are YET ANOTHER weapon against YOU.
Hi,
This is Melitta and I am a professional illustrator.
I was discouraged, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my approval, you should be aware that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s illicitly to use stolen images and it’s so filthy!
Check out this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my legal copyrights.
Download it right now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case000391/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=8019134237244
If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next several days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hello,
This is Melynda and I am a licensed photographer and illustrator.
I was confused, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your web-site. If you use a copyrighted image without my approval, you should be aware that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s unlawful to use stolen images and it’s so filthy!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to get evidence of my copyrights.
Download it right now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case000732/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=4425949478537
If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next few days, I’ll write a complaint on you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hello,
This is Melisha and I am a certified photographer and illustrator.
I was discouraged, to put it nicely, when I came across my images at your web-site. If you use a copyrighted image without my approval, you need to be aware that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s not legal to use stolen images and it’s so disgusting!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to get evidence of my copyrights.
Download it right now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case000732/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=2688796181793
If you don’t remove the images mentioned in the document above within the next few days, I’ll write a complaint on you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
There does not seem to be anything at the link you have attached, so I cannot address your concern. Please email at publisher@mendovoice.com to clarify what image you are referring to so we can address your question, thank you.
hello, publisher. i have verified that these comments are also phishing.
Hi there!
This is Melina and I am a professional illustrator.
I was baffled, to put it nicely, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my consent, you should know that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s against law to use stolen images and it’s so nasty!
Check out this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my legal copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case002901/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=2075522719299
If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next several days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hello,
This is Melanie and I am a professional photographer.
I was surprised, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my consent, you should know that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s unlawful to use stolen images and it’s so filthy!
Check out this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my legal copyrights.
Download it right now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case000491/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=8816939037541
If you don’t remove the images mentioned in the document above within the next several days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hello there!
This is Melisha and I am a experienced illustrator.
I was baffled, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your web-site. If you use a copyrighted image without my permission, you should be aware that you could be sued by the owner.
It’s against law to use stolen images and it’s so nasty!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to get evidence of my copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case00391/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=3077125192426
If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next few days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hi there!
This is Melissa and I am a licensed photographer and illustrator.
I was discouraged, to put it nicely, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my consent, you should know that you could be sued by the copyrigh owner.
It’s illicitly to use stolen images and it’s so filthy!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my legal copyrights.
Download it right now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case00733/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=1382438831736
If you don’t remove the images mentioned in the document above within the next several days, I’ll write a complaint on you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hello there!
This is Melika and I am a experienced illustrator.
I was surprised, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my consent, you should be aware that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s unlawful to use stolen images and it’s so disgusting!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my legal copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case00391/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=1513986123546
If you don’t remove the images mentioned in the document above within the next few days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hi there!
This is Melitta and I am a professional photographer and illustrator.
I was baffled, to put it nicely, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my approval, you must be aware that you could be sued by the owner.
It’s illicitly to use stolen images and it’s so mean!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/case00733/googledrive/share/downloads/file/storage?ID=4870524891337
If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next several days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Hello,
This is Melitta and I am a certified illustrator.
I was discouraged, frankly speaking, when I came across my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without my permission, you must be aware that you could be sued by the copyrigh owner.
It’s against law to use stolen images and it’s so filthy!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to obtain evidence of my copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/site/id002847203/googledrive/share/downloads/storage?FID=1796631613789
If you don’t delete the images mentioned in the document above within the next few days, I’ll write a complaint against you to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.
Ten of the above comments that appear to be complaints about copyright infringement are scammers trying to get readers to download a document, and you have helped them by proliferating the link. I suggest removing those comments. Helpful article addresses this particular scam: https://planetweb.ca/news/watch-out-scammers-and-their-convincing-emails/.
I tried emailing and Microsoft sent notification: CO1NAM04FT032.mail.protection.outlook.com gave this error:
Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable (S2017062302).
This email is suspicious as the imagery used came from website developing platform.
Nice website!
Hello there!
My name is Janet.
Your website or a website that your company hosts is infringing on a copyright protected images owned by me personally.
Check out this report with the URLs to my images you utilized at mendovoice.com and my earlier publications to get the proof of my copyrights.
Download it right now and check this out for yourself:
https://sites.google.com/view/f0j4v10vm40bn-4gnja13vm4/drive/d/shared/file/download?d=414543756041851641
I believe you have willfully violated my rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages of up to $130,000 as set-forth in Section 504 (c)(2) of the Digital millennium copyright act (”DMCA”) therein.
This letter is official notification. I seek the removal of the infringing materials described above. Please take note as a service provider, the DMCA demands you, to remove and/or deactivate access to the infringing data upon receipt of this particular letter. In case you don’t cease the utilization of the previously mentioned infringing content a legal action will be initiated against you.
I have a strong self-belief that utilization of the copyrighted materials referenced above as presumably violating is not authorized by the legal copyright proprietor, its agent, or the legislation.
I declare, under consequence of perjury, that the information in the letter is correct and that I am the legal copyright proprietor or am permitted to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is presumably infringed.
Best regards,
Janet Elms