Threat Bulletin: Online Scammers Seeking to Exploit Haitian Earthquake

Threat Bulletin: Online Scammers Seeking to Exploit Haitian Earthquake

Cyber-scammers are quick to prey on people’s emotions with bogus e-mails and phony Web sites devised to steal what should have been charitable donations. We’re already seeing online scams crop up around the Haitian earthquake including spam e-mails soliciting donations, and poisoned search results that can infect computers with malware. More information may be found here on the Symantec blog: http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/419-style-scammers-seeking-exploit-appeal-donations-support-victims-haitian-earthquake

Symantec Security experts urge computer users to follow best practices to help stay safe online, and ensure donations and support reach the victims of this catastrophe and not the scammers.

Best Practices:

When donating to a charity online, always remember:

Avoid clicking on suspicious links in email or IM messages as these may be links to spoofed Web sites. Symantec security experts suggest typing Web addresses, such as those from a charitable organisation, directly into the browser rather than clicking on links within messages.

Never fill out forms in messages that ask for personal or financial information or passwords. A reputable charitable organisation is unlikely to ask for your personal details via e-mail. When in doubt, contact the organisation in question via an independent, trusted mechanism, such as a verified telephone number, or a known Internet address that you type into a new browser window (do not click or cut and paste from a link in the message).

Do let us know if you would like to speak to one of our security experts about how these scams work and what can be done to avoid them.

Media Contact:

Jasmin Athwal

Max Australia

+61 2 9954 3492

Jasmin.Athwal@maxaustralia.com.au