Tsunami scamming begins

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jan 6, 2005

FBI warns donors of tsunami disaster relief fraud

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued an alert warning those who wish to donate to tsunami disaster relief funds that they may be targeted by Trojan exploits and 419 scams.

The FBI has reported that bogus websites have already been set up that masquerade as legitimate relief organizations asking for donations. At least one of these websites contains an imbedded Trojan exploit.

In other scams, those who have made online appeals for information about friends and relatives still missing following the tsunami have been targeted by unsolicited emails that offer to locate loved ones - for a fee.

Of course, '419ers' never miss a trick, and the FBI has reported unsolicited emails in circulation which seek personal or financial information in an effort to retrieve large amounts of inheritance funds tied up in relation to the tsunami disaster, as well as emails requesting that money be deposited in overseas banks to support the tsunami relief effort.

A list of legitimate websites for online donations to the tsunami disaster appeal can be found at http://www.google.com/tsunami_relief.html.

Alternatively (in the UK) donations can be made to the Disasters Emergency Committee, the umbrella organization for charities providing relief http://www.dec.org.uk/.

Posted on 6 January 2005 by Virus Bulletin

 Tags

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.