VERY IMPORTANT

Since COVID-19 first emerged as a worldwide threat Proofpoint has been tracking a significant spike in the number of email and SMS messaging attacks using various COVID-19 themes. In the last 14 days, Proofpoint’s Cloudmark team have observed a significant spike in the number of SMS spam messages containing COVID-19-related content. The SMS attacks began by offering lures to prepare recipients for the pandemic – offering masks, survival guides, “Netflix premium” subscriptions and other offerings. It is interesting to note that in the last two days the SMS attacks are slowly shifting from offering lures to prepare recipients for the pandemic to now offering lures around compensation, loans and other financial supports.