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ACMA Threats People of Fake Charity Scams

Through unsolicited e-mails, spammers are making huge money during the fundraising and charity efforts on helping flood victims of Queensland as revealed by Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), a communication watchdog of Australia as reported by computerworld on January 19, 2011

ACMA has notably identified several scams in the form of email, phone, and SMS seeking assistance for donations.

As reported by ACMA, one of the spam emails even took the name of government while appealing sympathy. The message informs about an appeal launched by the Queensland Government for helping flood-affected Queenslanders. Through participation in the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal, people can really help flood-affected families who are ruined and lost every hope in life.

Moreover, the message also apologize people on behalf of Queensland Government for the limitations of the mail as it cannot accept goods or services and only claims for financial donations by this mail.

The forged email bearing the name Peter Green was addressed to a staff with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal as revealed by ACMA on its official website.

The agency has notified general public to susceptibly become obnoxious towards unexpected request in message with a disgraceful vocabulary and misspelled words from unknown phone numbers and email addresses asking for money transfers.

In another regulatory, the Australian Competition and Commission (ACCC) is also warning consumers of similar threats and asking them to check authenticity of charity websites prior to donation to the flood victims in central and southeast Queensland.

Even in the past, cyber crooks are known to have taken undue advantage of people and play with their emotions especially after disastrous events, reports ACCC in a statement published by computerworld on January 19, 2011. Similar scams emerged in the recent past following the earthquake crisis in 2010 and the Victorian bushfires of 2009.

In a recommendation, both the ACMA and the ACCC has urged consumers to keep mum and not to hit or respond any link or messages from an unfamiliar source. Rather Australians can forward the messages and inform ACMA and the ACCC about the same.

Related article: ACMA Unleashes SpamMATTERS - the New anti-spam Button

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