Spammers Exploiting Haiti Disaster

In a sickening but unfortunately not surprising move, spammers and scammers have quickly moved to exploit the tragic earthquake in Haiti. Security experts say spam messages claiming to be fundraising pleas have begun hitting the web. Some of the spams come with the subject line “Help The Children in Haiti-Donate Today” and claim to come from musician Wyclef Jean’s charity Yele Haiti. Others claim to be collecting money on behalf of the Red Cross, Unicef and Doctors Without Borders and urge the recipients to send money to an office in the Philippines via Western Union. Another campaign claims to be from the “Haitian Disaster Response Agency”.

In addition at least 64 new websites have popped up since the earthquake, all with the word Haiti in them and with variations of words like quake, relief, and disaster. Experts say the amount of Haiti related spam and scams is expected to rise. It’s an old technique. Spammers and scammers use the hot topics of the day to both poison search results and get people’s attention with their spam. Last year everything from the H1N1 crisis to Michael Jackson’s death was exploited.

To protect yourself and your company, don’t give to any charity that you aren’t familiar with, asks you to send your donation via Western Union, or sends fundraising pleas via spam. When searching for news and information on the disaster, stick to familiar websites. If your company would like to do more to help, contact charities such as the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Unicef  directly and ask what they need.

If you want to help, you can text the word HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross. All 4 major US cell providers have agreed to wave any messaging fees, and the donation will appear on your next phone bill.