Scammers have launched websites and are sending out spam emails to attract donations intended for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that struck parts of the South East of America.
The SANS Internet Storm Centre said on its website that it has strong suspicions about Katrinahelp.com, Katrinarelief.com and Katrinacleanup.com.
The security centre has contacted the hosting companies of some of the suspect sites, but they refused to take the sites offline based on just a suspicion.
In one case, the website at Katrinahelp.com claimed to be offering web visitors the facility to make donations to the hurricane victims through the online payment provider PayPal.
But an apparent link to PayPal's website instead leads to a page hosted by the makers of katrinahelp.com. The service was set up to steal usernames and passwords.
Others are exploiting the disaster by registering domain names related to the hurricane and offering them for sale. The owners of Aboutkatrina.com and Katrinaphotos.com are asking $10,000.
The seller of the intentionally misspelled Katrinareleif.com predicts that the domain "will provide a pipeline of traffic for years to come" .
read more
Linear Mode
