Scammers Riding the Gustav Wave

ruphus13 sends in a sad tale of online scammers hoping to reap rewards from the misery in Gustav's wake. They have been busy registering likely-sounding domains and setting up phishing attacks and other ruses. While not all the domains were malicious in intent, several of them were listed on eBay for sale. Donors beware. From the article: "Nearly 100 domains related to Hurricane Gustav have been registered in the past 48 hours, security experts said Sunday, some of which may be used by bogus charity and relief scams after the storm strikes the US Gulf Coast. According to television station KTAL in Shreveport, LA, the office of Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has warned residents of Gustav phishing attacks already in progress ... numerous domains containing the word 'gustav,' 'charity,' 'hurricane,' and 'relief' had been recently registered."

Comments

I really wish we could shoot them

[vilgefortz]

This preying on other people's tragedy is despicable. Why not mug elderly women on the streets too, it is all dollars, after all!

Re:One valid domain

[zippthorne]

Uh.. why not just give directly to the Red Cross, then? It's not like they don't have a website.

It has the advantage that if so many people send money for the storm that they have way more money than they know what to do with, the remainder can go for preparing for the next disaster.*

*Please don't stipulate that they can't do this. The cryogenic blood storage facilities they wanted to build with the surplus 9/11 money would have been extremely useful for future disasters, especially considering the razor thin surplus of blood and it's short viability with current storage techniques. But because of the shortsighted specificity of a huge number of people's altruism, that money was instead used to make a few financially well off people who suffered a tragic loss even more financially well off.

Re:New domains should be much more expensive

[AP31R0N]

i have an idea that would prolly piss off lots of people but would reduce domain troubles: Get rid of the TLDs. That would end any sort of WhiteHouse.gov vs. WhiteHouse.com issues. It would end Company.com vs Company.org/net, where the latter is a site for praising or hating Company. If we need a TLD to differentiate what packets go to what country, make them all .us. Use trademarks and such to determine who gets to keep the name.

OR

If you're going to have a .org you have to send in paperwork showing you are a registered NPO. You want .com? Send us a copy of your business license.

Why I don't like the Red Cross either

[elrous0]

My father and grandfather were career military and despised the Red Cross. And I can't say I'm too thrilled with them myself. When my grandfather was in Korea, they showed up with donuts and coffee for the soldiers--or rather they showed up SELLING donuts and coffee to soldiers (no money, no coffee G.I.!). They were also supposed to provide "family services" to G.I.'s and their families when I was a kid (they were supposed to do things like help contact G.I.'s in the field when there was a family emergency). But, in the experience of my father and other soldiers, they refused to do anything of the sort (if you called them, they would just give you the runaround). "We help the soldiers" looked great on their fundraising posters, but in practice they either did nothing or charged for what they did do (my grandfather called them a "vending contractor without a contract").

Combine that with the fact that they deliberately obscure the fact they they charge hospitals at the full market rate for their donated blood (most people think their donated blood is just given free to hospitals, that's why they donate to the Red Cross rather than directly) and you can see why I'm VERY wary of recommending that people give to the Red Cross for anything. I personally think they're little more than a government-sanctioned charity scam.