Beware of Tsunami Scams

We were all shocked and saddened by the tsunami disaster in Asia. Unfortunately, people's generous responses to this disaster are being taken advantage of by Internet scammers. Beware of requests for donations by email that have return addresses from hotmail, gmail, yahoo or other similar bulk email addresses. You should also be wary when you are asked to donate by paying to a bogus-sounding Paypal address.

Another scam involves loved ones of the missing being contacted by bogus "investigators". These investigators ask for money to do searches of areas hit by the tsunami. Contacting your embassy in the country affected as well as the Red Cross is more likely to produce results.

There is also a variation of the old "Nigerian letter scam", where someone emails you, asking for help in retrieving a large sum of money for one of the victims in exchange for a part of the fortune. This too is a scam, and should you find one of these emails in your inbox, delete it.

Tech Times recommends you ignore email donation requests and instead make your donations either in person at your local charity, or else stick to the well-known online charities. For our American friends, use the Google Tsunami Relief page and for a Canadian list, use the Canadian Internation Development Agency's Tsunami Disaster Response page.