Sadly, cold-hearted criminals are taking advantage of the covid pandemic to exploit people’s fear of the virus.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre in Canberra is warning Indigenous communities, including those on Groote, to watch out for opportunists trying to steal personal information, which can then be used to impersonate you and gain benefits in your name.

False covid-19 websites are designed to look legitimate or impersonate well-known organisations, making it difficult for individuals to detect.

Cybercriminals use them to install computer viruses onto people’s devices, such as banking Trojans or different variants of ransomware.

The criminals, known to police as “malicious actors”, are often based in Europe, Asia and Africa.