UK police arrest tsunami donations hacker

The Metropolitan Police has arrested a 28 year-old man from east London over alleged attempts to hack into the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) tsunami donations website.

The alleged attempt took place on new year's eve and was identified and blocked by BT, which runs the site's secure payment system. Police arrested the man in London's Bishopsgate and stated that they are currently examining his computer equipment for evidence.

"The Met would like to stress that the DEC website continues to be secure," the police said in a statement.

"The security systems in place meant that this attempted breach was identified and blocked very quickly."

The man, who has not been named, was released on bail after questioning at Belgravia police station. He will return in early February.

A tsunami email hoaxer was recently sentenced to six months in jail for sending emails to relatives of those missing in the Asian tsunami, after a spate of online frauds exploited the disaster. Donations via SMS have already raised more than £1m for the appeal.