Spammers use hurricane for financial gain
Scammers jump on Hurricane Katrina
/v3-uk/news/1959670/scammers-jump-hurricane-katrina
01 Sep 2005, Tom Sanders in California , V3
Scammers have launched websites and are sending out spam emails to attract donations intended for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that struck parts of the South East of America.
The SANS Internet Storm Centre said on its website that it has strong suspicions about Katrinahelp.com, Katrinarelief.com and Katrinacleanup.com.
The security centre has contacted the hosting companies of some of the suspect sites, but they refused to take the sites offline based on just a suspicion.
In one case, the website at Katrinahelp.com claimed to be offering web visitors the facility to make donations to the hurricane victims through the online payment provider PayPal.
But an apparent link to PayPal's website instead leads to a page hosted by the makers of katrinahelp.com. The service was set up to steal usernames and passwords.
Others are exploiting the disaster by registering domain names related to the hurricane and offering them for sale. The owners of Aboutkatrina.com and Katrinaphotos.com are asking $10,000.
The seller of the intentionally misspelled Katrinareleif.com predicts that the domain "will provide a pipeline of traffic for years to come" .
On eBay one domain broker tried to sell three domain names that referred to the disaster as "our tsunami" for $15,000. He promised to donate half of the sale price to the Red Cross. The listing (5804530844) has since been removed by eBay.
Hurrican Katrina tore across the Gulf Coast on Monday and flooded large parts of New Orleans. The hurricane crippled oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and nearby refineries, causing a peak in energy prices.
The city's mayor, Ray Nagin, has officially called for New Orleans to be " abandoned".
Donations to the disaster relief fund can be made through the American Red Cross here.
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
scammers jump on Katrina
You know the mayor of one of the towns that was totally devastated made a great statement. " Incidents like this brings out the best in most people and the worst in some. " He was speaking of armed looters coming into the cities and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. I think that this statement fits the scammers as well. Real low - life. But their day will come and it won't be pretty...
Posted by bambi brocco, 01 Sep 2005
Domain Value
This hurricane will enter the history, my kids will study about it, in 10 years!
One domain like that afford a lot o money ! but use the subject to steal money, and passwords is a vigarist thing ... katrina will eat your heads ... cyberpunks !
Posted by Fabio, 02 Sep 2005
Anything for a buck . . .
It's terrible that some people have no morals or values.
They're so selfish that they'll exploit anyone or anything for a dollar. This makes me angry--so many people in need and they don't care. Well, things have a way of evening out in life.
The scammers' families, homes and livelihoods will be taken away from them and guess what--others will just walk away. No one will help THEM.
Posted by Audrey J., 02 Sep 2005
Many more...
there are many more domain names for sale on E-Bay because of Hurricane Katrina as well as other "scammers", just search Hurricane Katrina at E-Bay's site.
Posted by Darrell, 07 Sep 2005