WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th March, 2021) The US seized control of and disabled a fraudulent website that purported to sell an approved antibody treatment for COVID-19 but only collected personal information while providing non-functioning links to the manufacturer, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
"The website was fraudulent and instead appears to have been used to collect the personal information of individuals visiting the site, in order to use the information for nefarious purposes, including fraud, phishing attacks, and/or deployment of malware. Individuals visiting the site now will see a message that the site has been seized by the Federal government and be redirected to another site for additional information," the release said.
The website "usaregenermedicals.com" purported to sell REGEN-COV2, an antibody cocktail that was approved in November 2020 for emergency use in treating COVID-19. The approval came shortly after the medicine was successfully used to treat former President Donald Trump.
An investigation by the Department of Homeland found that the seized website displayed the name, address, and trademarked logos for Regeneron, as well as links or buttons that also appear on the official Regeneron website. The links were not functional on the fake website, according to the release.
The release noted that four other fake websites marketing COVID-19 related websites had previously been seized by the federal government.
