Coronavirus In North Alabama: Jay Town

Marie Waxel spoke with U.S. Attorney Jay Town about scams and cons connected to coronavirus.

>> dan shaffer: one of the big financial issues people are talking about are scams and cons connected to coronavirus.

It's a big focus for u.s. attorney jay town.

Earlier today waay 31 news anchor marie waxel asked him what you need to look out for.

>> jay, thank you so much for joining us.

>> hi, marie.

Good to see you.

>> so i wanted to talk to you, let's jump right into it.

Coronavirus, we've seen it from the very beginning.

A lot of unfortunately people are out there tries just to take advantage of people's good nature and the uncertainty of the situation.

We're dealing with an uptick of frauds and scammers out there trying to get your money, especially now with this stimulus checks.

>> yeah.

I mean, we will bring the justice -- those fractions of human beings among us who prey on our better angels during this pandemic.

People are desperate.

People are stuck at home on their devices.

They are in need of goods, whether it's ppe or advil.

And buying it online is there are too many fraud centers and scheme artists out there that we ro tracking.

We are aware that this was going to be an issue.

So the department of justice very proactively formed task forces around what we expected to happen, which it did happen.

And is happening here in alabama.

It's happening all around the country.

And so i've designated a coronavirus coordinator who coordinates with all of the other united states attorneys in the country and justice in washington so that we have full ap aprice sal and full aperture in alabama and across the nation to anticipate them and recognize them when we get those calls into the disaster fraud hot line or tips line with the fbi.

So it's -- the frauds are numerous.

You can imagine most of them.

But again, these fractions of human beings will be brought to justice.

>> so you're dealing with those preying on -- all of us really in our most vulnerable states.

But you're also dealing with others that are preying on children as they're spending more time online.

You're dealing with an increase in predators online, an increase in domestic violence.

Let's talk a little bit about that if we can.

>> yeah, unfortunately we expected that as well regarding domestic violence.

When people are shut in, i wrote an op-ed last week that department withwelt with this issue and how concerned i am and the department is we all believe ourselves, most of us believe ourselves sheltered in a safe space.

But victims of domestic awe beus, of child abuse, of domestic violence, they're sheltered in a crime scene too often with those who are their abusers.

And so we have seen an uptick in those calls.

Those calls for service either the 911 or from the tips hot lines.

We have lost seen -- we're taking great care to exercise all of this personal hygiene for ourselves and our families.

We have to take the same care to exercise digital hygiene as well.

And that cyber hygiene will pay off but what we're seeing is, you know, while our children are on these device, gaming, ipads where they're distance learning, whatever it might be, child predators and online links we're seeing on the dark net, the internet, things are starting to triple, quadruple in the amount of links that are available and the types of predatory behavior we are seeing.

Without getting too specific, we just really as parents have to take responsibility for what our children are viewing on those devices.

>> talking about we may see less traffic on the roadways, but really law enforcement across the state, across the country have really stepped up their game.

Not only protecting themselves and their fellow officers but they really are dealing with a lot right now and responding to these predators out there and then potential scams. >> yeah.

You know, a lot of heroes have come to the forward during this pandemic, whether it's first responders, medical providers.

I personally have new found pro respect for teachers.

But my mom is a retired teacher.

Distance learning to the respect i've been involved in it, has been a challenge.

There are a number of people delivering our mail and packages and keeping us fed.

It's amazing the number of people that are taking care of us as a society right now.

But just keep in mind that law enforcement has always been a dangerous job.

They have always been our heroes.

And whether it's covid-19 or ms-13, law enforcement has always been a dangerous business.

It was dangerous before his pandemic.

It will be dangerous long after we forget about it.

Let's take care to remember that.

Let's appreciate everybody among us but be sure that we understand that law enforcement, they're getting -- people are firing -- people are coughing on them pretending to have covid-19 and everything in between.

Disrespect that they are shown is appalling in this country and around this state.

We all need to remember that as we come out of this pandemic.

>> all right.

And just before we run out of time here, jay, got a question.

The u.s. attorney recommended a possible constitutional rights violations.

Do you plan on looking into that?

>> the attorney jennifer happens?

>> yeah, the attorney general.

>> is that what you're asking?

>> yes.

Yeah, no, we're not only looking into it but we're well aware of the universe of things that we need to be on the look out for and we're steadily get that information daily.

>> okay.

Perfect.

All right.

U.s. attorney for the northern district, jay town, thank you so much for