Emailed Pleas For Donations For Japan Earthquake Relief May Be A Scam-Truth!

Emailed Pleas For Donations For Japan Earthquake Relief May Be A Scam-Truth!

 
Summary of eRumor:
Scammers may be sending out cleverly disguised emails with a plea for compassion to help victims of devastated Japan.
The Truth:
 
With the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we’re all watching with concern the developments that are unfolding there.
Unfortunately, there are scammers who always emerge to take advantage of a disaster like this.
If you receive emails from relief organizations asking you to donate money to help the victims, do not respond to them even if they are from an organization you ordinarily know and trust.
The reason is that the scammers create phony emails that look convincing, that look like they are from the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army or other organization but in reality the emails don’t route your donation to any legitimate organization but rather to a site erected by the scammers.
The result is that they not only get your money but they also now have your credit card information, which is their main goal.
Here is what TruthOrFiction.com recommends:
If you receive an email soliciting funds for disaster victims, do not reply to it or click any links in the email but rather go directly to that organization’s official web site and make your donation there. Better yet, if they have a toll-free phone number for you to call and make a donation, that will be even safer. If you don’t know the web site, use Google or some other search engine to find it. Just Google “International Red Cross” or “Salvation Army” or “World Vision,” or whatever the name of the organization is. If you’re not sure of an organization offered in the email it will be safer to ignore it. It might be a fake group created by crooks.

Be advised that the fake emails will look very authentic including links or email addresses that look legitimate, but if you click any of those links in a scammer’s message, they won’t go to the actual web site of the organization they are pretending to be.
The victims of this disaster deserve our help and support and you deserve to have your contribution give safely.
updated 03-15-2011