Читать книгу The Essential Pandemic Survival Guide - Tim MacWelch - Страница 19

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Fraudsters and criminals won’t pass up an opportunity to take advantage of those who are scared and vulnerable

during a pandemic, so keep these things on your radar.

REJECT SNAKE OIL REMEDIES While there’s a lot to be said for natural products that support healing and boost your immune system, there are plenty of questionable “cures” on the market everyday (and more during a disease outbreak). A “pocket full of posies” didn’t help anyone survive the Black Death in medieval Europe, but thanks to a great marketing team and a catchy jingle, everyone wanted to buy useless flowers in the 1300s. Today, products promising to “cure” any disease should be considered suspect (unless it’s an officially recognized vaccine or drug, and even then, do your

homework before you bite).

AVOID STRANGER DANGER No real representative from the

CDC is going to come to your door during a pandemic.

Unfortunately, criminals have been appearing at peoples’ doors and claiming that they are from a health organization, only to barge into the house for a home invasion style of robbery. Face it, none of us are going to have the “President of the CDC” banging on our doors at 10 o’clock at night. In simple terms, don’t answer the door for anyone during a

pandemic, unless you’re certain you can trust them.

DEFEND YOUR DATA Hey friend, wanna buy some brand-new extra strength coronavirus test kits? How about we speed up the delivery of your stimulus check? We’ll just need your mother’s maiden name and the last four of your social to proceed. And maybe your bank account information and a credit card as well. It’s a sad state of affairs, but even when we’re not in a crisis setting, we are inundated with phony phone calls, emails and texts from scammers. Never provide personal information to anyone via email, text or over the

phone. The identity you save may be your own!

DON’T GET SCAMMED