Folks will do anything to get a buck.
Don't know if this is true or not, but if it is, it's damn pathetic.
From: USAMITC AdminSvcs
Subject: Tsunami Fraud Alert
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
FBI NATIONAL PRESS OFFICE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(202) 324-3691
JANUARY 5, 2005
TSUNAMI DISASTER RELIEF FRAUD ALERT
Washington, D.C. - The FBI today is alerting the public to
a variety of scams currently being facilitated online involving the
solicitation of additional relief funds for the victims of the recent
Tsunami disaster. The FBI, through the Internet Crime Complaint
Center (IC3), has received reports of websites being established
purportedly to assist with collection and relief efforts. Complaints
submitted to the IC3 have identified several schemes that involve both
unsolicited in-coming emails (SPAM), as well as reports of responses
to posted email addresses, to assist for a fee, in locating loved ones
who may have been a victim of the disaster. A fraudulent relief
donation website has also been detected containing an imbedded Trojan
exploit which can infect the user's computer with a virus if accessed.
The FBI, in conjunction with domestic with international law
enforcement and industry partners, take seriously these egregious
actions and are resolved to aggressively pursuing those who would
attempt to victimize philanthropic individuals.
The IC3 is cautioning citizens against participating in this type of
on-line correspondence. Consistent with previous guidance on
incidents of Phishing/Spoofing and Identity Theft, when considering
on-line options for providing funding to this relief effort consumers
should consider the following:
Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming emails.
Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or
foreign government officials asking for help in placing large sums of
money in overseas bank accounts.
To ensure that contributions to U.S. based non-profit organizations
are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charities
and aid organizations websites, as opposed to following a link to
another site.
Attempt to verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations by
utilizing various Internet based resources which may assist in
confirming the existence of the organization as well as its non-profit
status.
Be leery of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas
in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open
attachments from know senders.
Several variations of this scam are currently in circulation. Anyone
who has received an email referencing the above information or anyone
who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify
the IC3 via the website,
www.ic3.gov._________________