1/20/2005  Internet scammers have pounced on the outpouring of good will toward the victims of the Asian tsunami in their latest scheme to con people out of their money.  Fake fund-raising messages have landed in the e-mail boxes of Internet users across the world since Dec. 26. Some of the messages appear to be direct appeals from the survivors; others are made to look as if they came from the organizations assisting the victims.

The FBI, in conjunction with domestic and international law enforcement, are taking serious actions and are resolved to aggressively pursuing those who would attempt to victimize philanthropic individuals.  To date they are investigating 133 sites.  A Pennsylvanian man has admitted sending more than 800,000 e-mails purporting to be from a charity appealing for funds for victims of the Asian tsunami—funds that would instead have ended up in his PayPal account.

The need for help is great and there are numerous legitimate relief organizations.  By taking swift action against these scammers and informing the public we can further provide the much needed help.  Former presidents, President Bush and President Clinton, have joined together with the USA Freedom Corps to encourage Americans to support humanitarian organizations that are conducting relief operations.  To help alleviate some of the questions regarding validity of relief funds the USA Freedom Corps website has explicitly stated:

Do not send contributions to the White House, USA Freedom Corps, or to the offices of former President George H.W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton.  USA Freedom Corps is NOT soliciting direct donations in any form. USA Freedom Corps is merely providing information to visitors to its website regarding organizations that are providing aid to earthquake and tsunami victims so that visitors may contribute directly to those organizations.  Do not respond to e-mails soliciting donations that appear to be from USA Freedom Corps. Such emails are not authorized. Neither USA Freedom Corps, nor anyone acting with authority on its behalf, is sending these e-mails.

Also the IC3 are cautioning citizens when using on-line correspondence. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). They have stated: When considering on-line options for providing funding to this relief effort consumers should consider the following:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming e-mails.
• Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or foreign government officials asking for help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.
• To ensure that contributions are US based non-profit organizations are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charities and aid organizations websites, as opposed to following a link to another site.
• Attempt to verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations by utilizing various Internet based resources which may assist in confirming the existence of the organization as well as its non-profit status.
• Be leery of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from know senders.

Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 at www.ic3.gov/.