Fake Tsunami Foundations
By Ashton Do
February 14, 2005

On December 26, 2004 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the Indian Ocean produced a massive tsunami that left more than 227,000 dead and countless thousands without a home. Widespread generosity following this tsunami has sparked the interest of hoaxers and con-artists hoping to cash in on the goodwill of those trying to help.

Days after the disaster, millions of mass-messages seeking donations wound up in e-mail inboxes worldwide. The messages contained fraudulent pleas from fictional survivors of the disaster and included instructions on how and where to transfer relief funds.

"The suspicious part about these e-mails," says Niraj Kaushik, the India head of an internet security service, "is that the bank account information included was from the Netherlands. How can that money benefit an Indonesian family who’s lost everything [in the tsunami]?"

The Indian government suggests donating to well-established organizations such as the American Red Cross or UNICEF, rather than questionable private individuals.

A less conspicuous but highly effective form of internet hoaxing is phishing, a trick con-artists use to mimic legitimate organizations. Phishers work by hosting identical duplicates of trusted websites to leech away money and personal information from those who aren't paying close attention.

Dozens of these counterfeit sites have been shut down to no avail-- the anonymous hoaxers still walk away with millions in misdirected donations. The FBI recently released a statement advising the American public to donate with caution.

However insensitive it may be to the tsunami victims, con-artists are scamming millions of dollars out of unsuspecting people on the internet. Nevertheless, American contributions lead the international outpour of relief in Southeast Asia by a surplus of over $1.2 billion. "The potential of that number leaves much to be desired," Kaushik remarks.

Not all hoaxes are monetary based. A London man was jailed for sending false e-mails to 35 families of British tourists missing after the tsunami. He allegedly posed as the British government and told these families that their loved ones were killed in the disaster, causing them an immense amount of emotional distress.

Despite the risks and hurdles involved with being generous, there will always be people in need of help. For more information on how to safely contribute, visit the American Red Cross online at http://www.redcross.org.

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Ways to avoid fraud:

• Enter web addresses manually instead of clicking on links that could lead to fake sites
• Make sure that the website is secure when entering sensitive information; the web address will start with https:// rather than http://
• Only donate to well known and established organizations
• Do not respond to plea-related e-mails