COVID-19 scams have at least doubled in most states, a consumer protection group said on Tuesday.A report from the group, based on government data, highlighted the vast scope of a fast-growing criminal cottage industry - from phony stimulus-check offers to shopping scams and fake cures - preying on Americans already distressed by the pandemic and its economic fallout.Perhaps not surprisingly, the study found California, Florida, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania - the most populous of the 50 U.S.
states - to be the five most targeted by coronavirus scams in the country.Together they accounted for about a third of more than 150,000 instances of COVID-related fraud reported nationally by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from mid-March, when.