COVID-19 has resulted in more than 400,000 scams, FTC says
CBSN
Criminals have carried out more than 400,000 scams related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began in 2020, according to a federal watchdog
The schemes range from fraudsters selling fake hand sanitizer and vaccination cards online to stealing individuals' personal information while pretending to help them set up funeral arrangements. In another common scam, fraudsters contact senior citizens to set up vaccine appointments for a fee. All told, Americans have lost almost $400 million from such activities, the Federal Trade Commission said. Janice Gach of Weston, Florida, said she was almost a victim of a vaccine appointment scam earlier this year. She told CBS News correspondent Chris Martinez that she gave her contact information to what she believed was her local health department to schedule an appointment for her shots.Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, agreeing to review a lower court decision that upended the mechanism for funding programs that provide communications services to rural areas, low-income communities and schools, libraries and hospitals.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company's west Texas flight facility.