[iwar] [fc:E-Mail.Scam.Preys.on.Relief.Donors]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-23 08:01:41


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:E-Mail.Scam.Preys.on.Relief.Donors]
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E-Mail Scam Preys on Relief Donors 
By Jacqueline L Salmon, Washington Post, 10/22/2001
<a href="http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171343.html">http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171343.html>

The subject line of the e-mail pleads, "Your support is needed." 
When the message is opened, a window with the familiar logo of the Red
Cross and photos of wide-eyed children pop up. It appears to be a
donation request from the three largest fundraisers for the Sept. 11
terrorism relief effort: the American Red Cross, the United Way of New
York City and the New York Community Trust. 
"Your contribution will be used to help respond to the immediate and
long-term needs of the victims," the form reads. "Please, donate now." 
Contributors are asked to type in their name, address, credit card
number and other personal information and to send the form on to its
digitized charitable destination. 
It's easy. It's also a scam. 
None of the big three - the Red Cross, the United Way or the New York
Community Trust - is soliciting Sept. 11 funds via e-mail, officials
have confirmed, nor are they receiving any money contributed in such a
manner. 
Rather, the e-mails sent to an unknown number of recipients in recent
days are the latest Web scam, using the Internet to illegally carve off
a chunk of the hundreds of millions of dollars that Americans and others
have been pouring into various Sept. 11 relief funds. 
More than $1 billion has been collected by bona fide organizations,
perhaps as much as a fourth of it through online giving, officials say. 
In the aftermath of the terrorist assaults, a slew of Web sites popped
up seeking contributions to causes that include the families of dead or
injured firefighters, children orphaned by the tragedy and pets left
homeless. Some were legitimate appeals, others were not - and recipients
were often left on their own to figure out which was the case. 
The latest bogus appeal came to the attention of Red Cross officials
Thursday morning, when their online security company alerted them to it.
Calls started coming in from puzzled recipients of the e-mail wondering
whether it was for real. 
"It's extremely deceptive," said Phil Zepeda, director of online media
for the Red Cross, "and it preys on innocent people looking to make a
very significant donation to national disaster relief, which is sad." 
Point-and-click giving has taken off since the Sept. 11 disaster. Donors
like not having to write a check and hunt for a stamp or take the time
to call a hot line number and give over the telephone. 
Many charities and other nonprofit groups like online giving because
it's fast, easy and inexpensive. They don't have to set up lavish
fundraising events. They can reduce their dependence on telemarketers
and their dinnertime pitches. And they may not have to invest in
direct-mail letters, which in these anthrax-anxious times may never be
opened. 
Online donating even got a boost from President Bush, who shortly after
the attacks urged Americans to do their donating at the Web site
libertyunites.org, a joint venture of AOL Time Warner, Amazon.com, Cisco
Systems and other high-tech organizations. 
The results have been astounding, organizers say. The site reports that
it has received $104 million. 
Overall estimates vary, but online contributions appear to account for
15 percent to 25 percent of the more than $1 billion given to the relief
effort, according to fundraisers and others who study philanthropy. 
The Red Cross says $60 million of the $450 million it has received has
come via the Internet. The day of the attacks, almost 250,000 users
swamped the organization's Web site at redcross.org - compared with
about 21,000 on a normal day - nearly shutting it down. 
The United Way has received at least $12 million online, while the
ePhilanthropy Foundation counts at least $124.8 million in donations
from an estimated 575,000 people since Sept. 11. 
The AOL Time Warner Foundation - which is funneling credit card
donations to charities registered on its helping.org Web site -
estimates that online giving has soared from 2 percent of its total
before the events of Sept. 11 to 16 percent now. 
Small organizations have noticed a similar spike. 
Before Sept. 11, firefighters in Tacoma, Wash., were pulling in moderate
online contributions on their site at firedonations.com, which went up
in July. But since Sept. 11, when Yahoo linked to the site, more than $6
million has gushed in. 
Kathy Bushkin, president of the AOL Time Warner Foundation, thinks the
trend will result in "a new generation of donors" - younger and suddenly
more interested in philanthropic endeavors. "People who were motivated
to be generous now have learned how easy it is," she said. 
Everyone agrees that Sept. 11 was the turning point for online giving.
Before this year, the most that any one charity had raised online was
$2.7 million, which occurred in 1999 in response to the Kosovo refugee
crisis, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. 
"People had to get comfortable with the concept, and this crisis has
pushed folks over the hump," said Elizabeth Boris, director of the
Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. 
But the recent scams are revealing the dark side of online giving. As
easy as it is for donors to proffer money over the Internet, it's just
as easy for scam artists to set up fake Web sites and e-mail messages to
lure donors. 
The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a joint venture of the FBI and the
National White Collar Crime Center, has received thousands of complaints
about possibly fraudulent online appeals, said a spokeswoman, who added
that the FBI is investigating. She declined to give details. 
The scams worry those who support online donating. 
"We've been working so hard to establish online giving as a credible way
for people to support organizations," said Theodore R. Hart, chief
executive of the ePhilanthropy Foundation. "Those who are intent on
defrauding the public are no less despicable than the terrorists that
have hit our country." 
The Internet Fraud Complaint Center recommends that donors obtain Web
site addresses separately instead of linking to them from e-mail
messages. Web sites such as give.org list nonprofit organizations that
have been approved by the Internal Revenue Service. If in doubt,
organizers suggest contacting the charity by telephone. If donors
suspect fraud, they should contact their credit card company.

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