The Department of Justice said it has "disrupted" hundreds of COVID-19 scams. 

As of April 21, DOJ said, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center had checked out more than 3,600 complaints about such alleged scams, including sites that advertised fake vaccines and cures and bogus charities. 

Related: Hill Pushes DOJ to Go After COVID-19 Roboscammers

Among the specific sites it cited were:  

1. "An illicit website pretending to solicit and collect donations to the American Red Cross for COVID-19 relief efforts. 

2. "Fraudulent websites that spoofed government programs and organizations to trick American citizens into entering personally identifiable information, including banking details. 

3. "Websites of legitimate companies and services that were used to facilitate the distribution or control of malicious software." 

DOJ has referred legitimate complaints to the companies managing or hosting the domains, many of which it said have taken down those domains. 

Related: The Latest News on COVID-19 and the Communications Industry

“The department will continue to collaborate with our law enforcement and private sector partners to combat online COVID-19 related crime,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a statement. “We commend the responsible internet companies that are taking swift action to prevent their resources from being used to exploit this pandemic.” 

The FBI offered up some tips for avoiding online COVID-19 scams, including 1) paying close attention to the addresses offering information on COVID-19 services or products since they can often differ only slightly from the real one, for example, cdc.com or cdc.org instead of cdc.gov, and 2) ignore all offers of a vaccine, cure or treatment. 

A bipartisan quartet of House Energy & Commerce Committee members have called on the Federal Trade Commission to be increasingly vigilant in cracking down on COVID-19-related scams. 

That came in a letter from House E&C chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.), and Consumer Protection Subcommittee chair Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). 

“As the United States faces the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, reports of scams and frauds are rampant," they wrote. "Hoax text message campaigns and scam robocalls are offering free home testing kits, promoting bogus cures, and selling health insurance.”

They cited the checks being sent out as part of the CARES Act coronavirus aid package, and reports scammers are already trying to get hold of them or trying to get personal information by saying they need it to send out the checks or get the money out faster.  

“Right now, Americans are fearful of both the spread of the deadly virus and the financial instability that has come with the pandemic," they wrote. "We passed the CARES Act to help Americans in these hard times,” the four said. “We urge you to ensure that the FTC uses all its tools, including its law enforcement tools and coordination with State attorneys general, to take action against scammers and fraudsters that are trying to steal from vulnerable Americans.” 

The letter came Friday, the same day that the FCC and Federal Trade Commission jointly warned a number of companies against facilitating scam COVID-19 robocalls.