Dishonesty In Times Of Disaster

[GeorgeK]

Regrettably during these times of disaster, there are always those who will seek to fraud the public.

The latest scam is an email that appears to be sent directly from the Red Cross requesting donations for the victims of hurricane Katrina.

The site appears very authentic, including the "secure" symbol at the right corner of the page.

However, the origin of the site has been traced to Brazil.

The Red Cross has stated that it never directly solicits funds from donors and that it would never directly send emails to anyone requesting assistance.

Should you receive such an email, please DO NOT respond.

Marsha L. Hassell
Congressional and Public Affairs
SPAWAR SYSTEMS CENTER, Charleston

[Grumpy]

Thanks for the info.

[DABhand]

As a general rule, users must remember this..


1. Banks, organisations would never ask you directly over email for donations..

2. If you receive an email, right click on it in the list (if using outlook express) and click message properties, then properties box again in new window.

Check the return address. Does it match the organisation the email is supposedly from? If not then a good chance its fake and bogus.

3. There is lots of things you can do to report these emails asking for money, send them to interpol (www.interpol.org)