New COVID Scam Involves Relief Money, Gloucester Twp. Police Warn

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Gloucester Township police are warning the public to be on the lookout for coronavirus-related scams that have been circulating.

One of the newer scams is related to the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion plan recently approved by the federal government to help those who are struggling financially amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As a municipality, Gloucester Township will receive $7,632,602.18 in federal funding. Read more here: Gloucester Township To See $7.6M From $1.9 Trillion COVID Package

Individually, Gloucester Township residents will begin seeing payments made directly to their bank accounts or by checks or debit cards they will receive in the mail.

Police are warning residents to be on the lookout for the following signs of a scam:

• The government will never ask residents to pay anything up front to get this money.
• The government will not call/text/email/DM residents to ask for their Social Security, bank account, or credit card number. Anyone who does is a scammer.
• Nobody legit will ever tell residents to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency, or wire transfer through companies.

Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had logged about 369,000 consumer complaints related to the coronavirus and stimulus payments, 69% of them involving fraud or identity theft. Victims have reported losing nearly $358 million, with a median loss of $322, police said.

“Fraudsters are using the full suite of scam tools: phishing emails and texts, bogus social media posts, robocalls, impostor schemes and more, and closely following the headlines, adapting their messages and tactics as new medical and economic issues arise,” police said in a statement.

More information on coronavirus-related scams and how to detect them can be found on the AARP website.

Relief comes as Camden County reports a slight increase in the number of new coronavirus cases. On Monday, county officials reported 441 new cases between Saturday and Monday. Trace investigations are underway in all new cases.

“We are continuing to see a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases after a sustained decrease since the end of January,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. “While we are continuing to roll out vaccinations as quickly as possible, this virus is still a serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of our community. Please continue to take appropriate precautions to protect yourself and others. We are in the final stages of this fight, but the battle is not over.”

As of Monday, there have been 41,818 cases of the coronavirus and 1,113 deaths countywide since the pandemic began more than one year ago. There have been 4,991 cases in Gloucester Township.