US-CERT is warning of an increase in phishing and other fraud sites related to the hurricane season. They have already received reports of malicious activity associated with Tropical Storm Ernesto including 17 ernesto-related domain names registered by one person.

These emails and websites claim to be from legitimate charitable organizations and ask for donations to "aid the victims". Some of the sites merely steal the donations. Others use your personal information to either max out your credit card, empty your bank account or set up fraudulent accounts using your stolen identity.

As you may remember from last year, there were an unprecedented number of frauds set up within hours of Hurricane Katrina’s strike. Two of the most egregious turned out to be fronts for a white-supremacist group. Many of the scammers looked at the standard storm-naming conventions and started registering fraudulent "charity" sites a year ago – long before the current storm season even started.

  • Treat all requests for donation with caution. Never follow the “convenient” link in an unsolicited email. If you want to go to the website, retype the URL into your browser’s address line by hand.
  • Take the time to research the charity before making your donation. Make sure you know who’s really getting your money.
  • Report fraudulent or suspicious “charities” to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Leave a Reply