Tue, May 20 2008 6:52 Don

Natural Disasters and Phishing Scams

In the past, US-CERT has received reports of an increased number of phishing scams that take advantage of natural disasters. Due to recent natural disasters, US-CERT would like to remind users to remain cautious when receiving unsolicited email that could be a potential phishing scam.

Phishing scams may appear as requests for donations from a charitable organization asking users to click on a link that will take them to a fraudulent website that appears to be a legitimate charity. The users are then asked to provide personal information that can further expose them to future compromises.

Users are encouraged to take the following measures to protect themselves from this type of phishing scam:

  • Do not follow unsolicited web links received in email messages.
  • Review the Federal Trade Commission's Charity Checklist.
  • Verify the legitimacy of the email by contacting the organization directly through a trusted contact number. Trusted contact information can be found on the Better Business Bureau National Charity Report Index.
For additional information regarding phishing, US-CERT recommends reading the following documents:
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