Scammers Abusing Charity Name for Collecting Funds

Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay (Canada) has warned the public about a bogus e-mail circulating on the Internet. The Chairman of the Board, Andrew Campbell, said that the phony mails claim to be coming from Habitat for Humanity International, as per the news published by tbnewswatch.com on March 8, 2010.

The mail is aimed at exploiting the Haiti crisis and asks for private details as part of a fake paid work offer. The scam e-mail is designed to dupe participants into giving funds and/or private details to unlawful individuals.

The scam mail addresses the recipients as "Prospective Employee". It says that their organization has an outstanding heritage and it now requires assistance in its charity program. The e-mail further said that by providing their help, recipients could earn an average of $500-$1000 a week, which could be as much as $5000 in a month. The income is tax free and will depend on the activeness of the person.

Moreover, the mail also assures people that they would not be asked to pay any fees straightaway and this would not put any impact on their present job income or disability payments in any way and they can easily work from home. To apply for the job, the mail asks the recipient to provide personal details like full name, complete address, email id, phone number, etc.

Security experts clarified that this type of e-mail scam is usually called phishing. It aims at user's private details and then uses it for unlawful purposes. Usually, such kinds of mails try to trick the recipient in the name of a reputed charity, or in many cases, they are designed to appear like originating from a financial institution. The security experts opined that recipients should immediately delete such an e-mail without replying.

The security experts also informed that the scam was first reported in the first week of March 2010 in Toronto, and has since propagated all over the country.

It is learnt that Haiti earthquake, since the first day itself, has been used as bait by scammers worldwide. The security experts added that scammers are abusing the Haiti crisis by asking for funds in the name of legitimate charities and sometimes by using the name of a fake charity.

Related article: Scammers Exploit Tax System Resulting in ID Theft

» SPAMfighter News - 15-03-2010

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