Cyber crooks pounce on China quake relief fund

Cyber crooks pounce on China quake relief fund

Phishing sites appearing as the representative of Red Cross siphoned off quake relief funds

Friday, May 23, 2008

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Fraudsters know no compassion or empathy. Otherwise, these cyber criminals wouldn't have dared to make money from the tears of innocents.

According to international cyber security engine Websense, large chunk of online donations poured into China for earthquake relief from across the globe was siphoned off through phishing.

Cyber criminals made money on a devastating earthquake that claimed countless lives and inflicted terrible hardships across China.

The donations, made to Red Cross by compassionate souls, were stolen using six fraudulent accounts at four different banks. The phishing site posed as a representative of the Red Cross.

The link of the phishing website has disappeared following the alerts of security agencies. But it is feared that the hawks may still wreak havoc.

Websense believes the phishing site was hosted within China itself. However, it is difficult to say for how long the scam has been going on, and how much money has been stolen.

Phishing has become a major headache for cyber law experts worldwide.

Phishing means the fraudulent ways of obtaining personal information like passwords, credit card details or bank account numbers from surfers and using them for siphoning off funds and other ulterior motives.

This isn't the single case of fraud in China post-quake. Soon after the quake hit China, several fake SMSs pleading for money to be deposited in private accounts were circulated in mobile phones across the country.

One such SMS read: "My family was in the earthquake. Dad and mum urgently need money. Send whatever money you can. Deposit it in our friend's account."

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Internet has become a haven for unscrupulous elements to make money on disasters and natural calamities.

©CyberMedia News

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