This specific scam no longer appears to be active but we are leaving it up for information purposes and because this method of misrepresentation will likley arise again in the future.

Warning Issued By the Federal Bureau of Investigation.............

Don’t be scammed.
Why should we be surprised? Criminals are using email and websites to siphon charitable contributions for tsunami victims into their own pockets.
What kind of schemes?

1. False websites have been established that pretend to be legitimate relief organizations asking for donations—one of which contains an imbedded Trojan exploit that can infect your computer with a virus if accessed.
2. Unsolicited incoming emails (SPAM) that offer, for a fee, to locate loved ones who may have been a disaster victim.
3. Unsolicited emails requesting that money be deposited in overseas banks to support the tsunami relief effort.
4. Unsolicited emails which seek personal or financial information in an effort to retrieve large amounts of inheritance funds tied up in relation to the tsunami disaster.

How do we know about these schemes?
Because they’re being reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

What are we doing about it?
With our partners in industry and in domestic and international law enforcement, we are aggressively pursuing those attempting to victimize philanthropic individuals.

What can YOU do about it?
The IC3 has good advice, consistent with previous advice on incidents of Phishing/Spoofing and Identity Theft.

If you’re considering on-line options for providing funding to this relief effort:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming emails.
• 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 to U.S. 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.

Try to verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations (e.g., use Internet-based resources to help confirm the existence of the organization and its non-profit status).
Be leery of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.

Several variations of this scam are currently in circulation. Anyone who has received an email referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via the website, www.ic3.gov .

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