Vircom Warns About Tsunami Aid Scams
Email fraudsters bilk tragedy victims out of much-needed financial donations
Montreal (PRWEB) January 16, 2005
Vircom Inc., developer of Modus™ secure email management solutions, warns email users about fraudulent donation requests for victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis of December 26, 2004.
"We have seen an alarming number of fraudulent emails requesting money for survivors," said Marc Chouinard, head of Vircom's SpamBuster team. "The best way to avoid a scam is to donate directly through a well-known organization rather than forwarding money to an address or bank account provided in an unsolicited email."
To help people avoid being defrauded, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), established jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), offers this advice on avoiding relief-effort email scams:
Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming emails;
Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or foreign government officials asking for help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts;
To ensure that contributions to U. S.-based non-profit organizations are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charities and aid organizations websites, as opposed to following a link to another site;
Try to verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations (e. g., use Internet-based resources to help confirm the existence of the organization and its non-profit status);
Be leery of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
Anyone interested in sending a financial contribution to help tsunami victims should donate directly through a reputable international aid organization, such as those listed below:
AmeriCares: 800-486-HELP, www. americares. org
Red Cross International Response Fund: 800-HELP NOW, www. redcross. org
Canadian Red Cross, 800-418-1111, www. redcross. ca
Catholic Relief Services: 800-736-3467, www. catholicrelief. org
Direct Relief International: 805-964-4767, www. directrelief. org
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres: 888-392-0392, www. doctorswithoutborders. org
International Medical Corps: 800-481-4462, www. imcworldwide. org
International Orthodox Christian Charities Middle East Crisis Response: 877-803-4622, www. iocc. org
Mercy Corps: 800-852-2100, www. mercycorps. org
Operation USA: 800-678-7255, www. opusa. org
The International Rescue Committee: 212-551-3000, www. theirc. org
World Vision: 888-511-6589, www. worldvision. org
About Vircom
Montreal-based Vircom is a leading developer of secure email management and authentication solutions for the demanding needs of Internet Service Providers, the real estate industry, corporations and healthcare facilities. Vircom's mature Modus™ secure email management technology incorporates over 10 years of industry expertise, making it a powerful driving force in the defense against spam and email-borne fraud. Rated "Best Windows-based Anti-Spam Solution" by Network Computing and named a "2004 Recommended" product by SC Magazine, Modus has gained important industry recognition, including a record-breaking five-award distinction from Windows IT Pro magazine.
Vircom is also the developer of VOP Radius, a full-featured all-in-one RADIUS server that supports the latest RFCs, vendor specific attributes, NAS templates and has a multitude of preconfigured settings.
Important note to media:
Tsunami email scams gathered by Vircom's SpamBuster Team
Are available in whole or in part for publication.
Please contact Vircom to receive a sample tsunami email scam or for comments
François Bourdeau
Director of Marketing
Phone: 514.845.1666 x256
Francois. bourdeau@vircom. com
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