Homo homini lupus.
'I have the cure': slew of US scammers seek to capitalize on coronavirus fear
As the coronavirus pandemic surged across America, Keith Middlebrook turned to his thousands of social followers and announced he’d found a solution.
“Yes, I’ve created the cure that shuts down the Covid-19,” claimed the 53-year-old California actor in a YouTube video released in mid-March.
He boasted of inventing a miracle treatment that “makes the cells from the coronavirus detach, release and die within 48 hours”, later offering anyone who invested $300,000 a guaranteed return of $30m.
Middlebrook’s claims were completely bogus.
But the actor, who’d had bit parts in Marvel movies such as Iron Man 2 and Thor and amassed a decent online fanbase, had his videos viewed by nearly 2 million people, according to the FBI agents who later arrested him.
Investigators say Middlebrook is one of many alleged scamsters coming out of the woodwork to prey on the public’s fears about a virus with no known treatments, vaccines or cures.
Fraudsters and price-gougers are targeting everyone from elderly citizens seeking hand sanitizer to government officials procuring hospital supplies.
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