The Ginp Banking Trojan is not a new way of scamming users into giving up credit card details, however, the latest version apparently capitalizes on COVID-19 anxiety. Recently, security researchers at Kaspersky revealed that the Ginp Trojan works by asking a user for a small payment via credit card, and in return the user is supposed to receive information about individuals infected with COVID-19 in the user’s area. Of course, this is a scam, and once a user enters the credit card data, it’s in the hands of the scammers. Kapersky reported that the scammers didn’t even bother to charge the small amount to the credit card.

The scam is designed to capitalize on our search for information about COVID-19 and to lure users into thinking that, in exchange for a small credit card charge, this program will provide some peace of mind about COVID-19 infections in the user’s area. We all know that giving credit card information to scammers could lead to unwanted charges and potentially to identity theft. We must stay vigilant and obtain information on COVID-19 from reliable government and news sources. The Federal Trade Commission has a lot of great information on its website about avoiding COVID-19 scams.

As my mother used to say, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.