The US Justice Department has recently shut down a fake COVID-19 vaccine website, which was stealing visitors’ data and personal information.

Indeed, on the outside, the website called ‘freevaccinecovax.org’ looked like it was a biotechnology company working on the vaccine but it was found out that the site was used by cybercriminals for fraud, phishing attacks, and deployment of malware.

The website apparently possessed an IP address originating from Russia and featured the logos of many well-known healthcare organizations to make it looked reliable and trustworthy. It would ask visitors to share information with them through a downloadable PDF file. The Justice Department reported that the scam was uncovered by the HSI Intellectual Property Rights Center and the HSI Cyber Crimes Center.

Thankfully, the website has now be seized and completely shut down by the federal government.

However, it was reported that this site is only one among many that have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic. Cybercriminals are using people’s fears and desire to get safe to profit illegally from the pandemic and spreading malware and scams.

The US government is providing freely the vaccine for COVID-19 so it warned against any website offering the vaccine for sale.