Thermometer guns are scammers’ new weapon during coronavirus shortages

Victims reportedly lost as much as hundreds of dollars trying to buy infrared thermometers online, even as some people question their accuracy in screenings

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A member of China’s militia arm of the armed forces uses a digital thermometer to take a driver's temperature at a highway tollgate in Wuhan on January 23. (Picture: Chinatopix)

Published: 5:00am, 10 Mar 2020Updated: 5:29am, 10 Mar 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

First it was face masks. Now thermometer guns – infrared thermometers pointed at your forehead – are becoming the latest cash cow for China’s internet fraudsters.

The victims live in different cities, but they all tell similar stories.

In Nanjing, authorities say a man surnamed Tan wired 200,000 yuan (US$28,000) online to a person he met on a trading platform for used goods. He never received the infrared thermometers he was promised. In Shenzhen, police say someone surnamed Yuan paid about 60,000 yuan (US$8,640) to an alleged vendor on WeChat, only to get a package of snacks and trash instead of the thermometer guns he expected.

Similar cases have also been reported in Sichuan, Hangzhou, Xinjiang and Hubei province, where the capital city of Wuhan is the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. In one case, losses reportedly amounted to a staggering 3 million yuan (US$431,600).

The incidents occurred over the past few weeks and mirror scams that popped up around the country during the epidemic, preying on people desperate to get face masks amid dwindling supplies. Just like face masks, demand for thermometer guns has swelled with the spread of the deadly coronavirus, as places from grocery stores to workplaces adopt the device to screen people for fevers.

“Nowadays, without a thermometer gun, factories don’t even dare start working,” one person wrote on Weibo. “Yesterday even my ear thermometer at home was borrowed by a friend.”