On April 6, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a Customer Advisory, alerting the public to a proliferation of fraudulent schemes aiming to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic. Such frauds may involve claims that an individual can earn unrealistically large sums of money from working at home but then later require the payment of “fees” or “taxes” to access those supposed earnings. Often, these claims are issued by unregistered brokers that use social media and messaging applications to target out-of-work individuals and involve sales of binary options, foreign exchange programs and cryptocurrencies. The public should remain cautious and vigilant with respect to these types of claims, and individuals can submit tips or complaints regarding suspicious activities or information to the CFTC via a toll-free hotline (866-366-2382) or online (click here for more details).

The advisory is available here.