Criminals kick off Japanese disaster scams at record speed

[Bluebear]

Criminals have jumped on Japan's twin earthquake and tsunami disasters at record speed, security experts said today. Scams range from links to fake anti-virus downloads and phony donation sites to classic online swindles that rely on greed. "What's surprising this time is how quickly they picked up on the news," said Chet Wisniewski, a security researcher with U.K.-based Sophos. "We knew were coming, but they started appearing in record-breaking time, less than three hours after the earthquake."...

Scammers are also flooding e-mail inboxes with messages asking recipients to donate money to relief efforts, said Eric Park, a Symantec researcher with the company's anti-spam team.

"This is very typical, especially with disasters, because they can ask for donations or pose as a legitimate charitable organization," said Park today.

Another Symantec researcher noted that other scams have appeared taking advantage of news of the earthquake and tsunami. "Symantec has observed a classic 419 message targeting the Japanese disaster," said researcher Samir Patil in a post to the company's security blog today. "The message is a bogus 'next of kin' story that purports to settle millions of dollars owing to an earthquake and tsunami victim."

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214518/Criminals_kick_off_Japanese_disaster_scams_at_record_speed

[LAGC]

1. Pieces of shit.

There are few things lower than those who take advantage of people's suffering to make a quick buck.

Sometimes I wish there really was a Hell and people like these are destined to go there.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. It takes a special kind of asshole to do such a thing...

:grr:

[Lucinda]

2. So far, I've only been hit with porn following a link.

Disgusting that people would make financial scams to take advantage of those wanting to help. We really see the best and worst of humanity at times like these.

[Kurovski]

4. Kick (nt)

[AsahinaKimi]

5. This was bound to happen..

However, www.globalgiving.org is for real, your donations are appreciated, I am sure.