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Maryland authorities seize domain name of bogus virus vaccine website

BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal authorities in Maryland have seized the domain name of a website accused of fraudulently offering to sell COVID-19 vaccines.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Maryland says “COVIDReliefSociety.org” is the 10th virus fraud-related domain name that it has seized since the pandemic began.

In a news release on Thursday, prosecutors say the website promised same-day delivery of COVID-19 vaccines anywhere in the world but actually collected visitors’ personal information to launch phishing attacks and deploy malware.

The site now bears a message that the federal government has seized it.

FBI shows increased hate crimes in Maryland.

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today. Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story indicated that Maryland police agencies failed to voluntarily report hate crime statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. All state police agencies report that information to the Maryland State Police, and the information is forwarded to the FBI. This story was updated Sept. 4. 
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