Cyber scams target donations for Japan

MANILA, Philippines—In the wake of devastation and misery come the fraudsters and scam artists.

It’s all very well to want to be generous but exercise some discernment or you could end up losing your money to cybercriminals or your computer to a crippling virus instead of helping the suffering Japanese.

Following the powerful earthquake and tsunami that triggered a worsening nuclear crisis in Japan’s northeastern coast, a number of websites posing as legitimate charity sites have popped up, soliciting donations from gullible Internet users, according to experts from the antivirus firm, Trend Micro.

These websites are using the name of international organizations like the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the Red Cross to urge people to deposit money into specific bank accounts or send donations through online payment methods like Paypal, said Myla Pilao, director of Trend Micro’s core technology marketing.

“[But] the money does not reach these charities and instead end up in the pockets of scammers,” warned Pilao.

Suspicious websites could make the unwary vulnerable to identity theft as they also ask for credit card and personal information, she added.

Dubious appeals

Trend Micro cited a dubious appeal supposedly by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, circulating via e-mail, urging corporate organizations, nongovernment agencies, government officials, celebrities and other individuals to donate at least a dollar.

“Your one cent or one dollar counts at this critical time for the children and citizens of Japan and whatever support you rendered will be rewarded by God,” according to the e-mail, a copy of which was sent to the Inquirer on Friday.

The hoax e-mail asked for interested donors to indicate their full name, phone number and e-mail address.

It also said that once donors have sent the needed information, the agency would supposedly contact them for instructions as to how they can make the donation through Paypal and Western Union.

Fake links and virusesM

Aside from being wary of fraudulent charity websites, Internet users are also advised to be careful when clicking on Japan tsunami-related links on the web-based search engine Google, video-sharing website YouTube and the hugely popular social networking site Facebook.

“You may unknowingly download fake programs and viruses onto your computer or worse lose your money or mobile phone load to scammers posing as donation sites for the Japan earthquake disaster,” cautioned Pilao.

The antivirus company showed various suspicious links of videos of the ferocious tsunami that wiped out communities, roads, agricultural lands and killed thousands of people on March 11.

But these Internet links could plant fake antivirus programs in your computer or allow scammers to use his or her Facebook account to flood other accounts with ‘spam messages,’” said Pilao.

“These fake sites can also ask you for your mobile phone numbers which they then sign up for ‘premier’ services like ringtones and subscriptions that use up your load,” she said.

Go direct

She advised Internet-users who would like to donate to the victims in Japan to go directly to recognized charities for information.

“Get information directly from the charity… don’t deposit into accounts given to you by text or e-mail and do not pass unconfirmed text or Twitter messages but instead go direct to official news websites,” Pilao said.