FBI warns public of tsunami relief scams

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning the public of unscrupulous tsunami relief drives being initiated in cyberspace.

The Department of the Interior agency yesterday sent a media release on the recent proliferation of donation scams on the Internet.

The FBI specifically said its Internet Crime Complaint Center received several reports of websites and e-mails professing to assist with the collection of tsunami donations and relief efforts.

One of the complaints submitted to the FBI involve e-mail spams that offer services for a fee in locating loved ones who may have been victims of the disaster.

A fraudulent relief donation website has also been detected containing an embedded Trojan exploit, a virus infected site that can ruin hard drives and delete files, the FBI said.

The FBI cautions residents and nonresidents against these types of hoaxes in line with disaster relief drives.

The media release also stated that the following should be considered on responding to online relief donation drives:

-Don’t respond to any unsolicited emails

-Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or foreign government officials seeking help to place large sums of money in overseas bank accounts

-Go directly to recognized charities and aid organizations websites. Sites that linked to another site should be considered too. This will ensure contributions are forwarded to rightful agencies.

-Verify legitimacy of non-profit organizations by using various internet based resources to confirm existence of the organization as well as its non-profit status

-Don’t open e-mails claiming with pictures of disaster areas. This might have a virus attached that can definitely harm your computer.

The FBI also reminded the public that variations of tsunami donation and relief scams are currently in circulation and the public should be extra cautious of opening emails or visiting websites.

Those who have been lured and fooled by the said fraudulence may notify Internet Crime Complaint Center via their website, www.ic3.gov.

In a related story, the donation drive of the Indian community on Saipan ended Monday night.

Mustafa Shakir, the proponent of the relief drive, said that they would meet on Saturday at the Taste of India Restaurant located at Paseo de Marianas, Garapan, to discuss how to forward the donations they have received for past last two weeks.

Shakir also said they are now waiting for other donations from Tinian. For more information, contact Shakir at tel. no. 483-2254. (Marconi Calindas)