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Scammers Riding the Gustav Wave 140

Posted by kdawson from the check-your-charity dept.
ruphus13 sends in a sad tale of online scammers hoping to reap rewards from the misery in Gustav's wake. They have been busy registering likely-sounding domains and setting up phishing attacks and other ruses. While not all the domains were malicious in intent, several of them were listed on eBay for sale. Donors beware. From the article: "Nearly 100 domains related to Hurricane Gustav have been registered in the past 48 hours, security experts said Sunday, some of which may be used by bogus charity and relief scams after the storm strikes the US Gulf Coast. According to television station KTAL in Shreveport, LA, the office of Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has warned residents of Gustav phishing attacks already in progress ... numerous domains containing the word 'gustav,' 'charity,' 'hurricane,' and 'relief' had been recently registered."
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Scammers Riding the Gustav Wave More

Scammers Riding the Gustav Wave

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  • I really wish we could shoot them (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vilgefortz ( 1225810 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:07AM (#24840951)
    This preying on other people's tragedy is despicable. Why not mug elderly women on the streets too, it is all dollars, after all!

    • Re:I really wish we could shoot them (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Macthorpe ( 960048 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:12AM (#24841001) Journal

      Why not mug elderly women on the streets too, it is all dollars, after all!

      I know that's kind of a rhetorical question, but it's because it's very, very easy to detach yourself from the victim of your crime if you never even have to look them in the eye while you rob them.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by morgan_greywolf ( 835522 )

        I know that's kind of a rhetorical question, but it's because it's very, very easy to detach yourself from the victim of your crime if you never even have to look them in the eye while you rob them.

        Hence the reason you should always mug elderly women by putting a gun between their shoulder blades.

      • Eye, singular? You mugging pirates?

        Seriously, though, I don't know if I'd say it's "very, very easy to detach yourself" - maybe..._easier_ to detach yourself?

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by Sobrique ( 543255 )
          It's not that hard to pretend those words on the screen are just that, and not really people at all.

          In fact I'm doing that right now. I know you're all bots, and there's a really complicated rule system for how Karma is gained and lost, based upon keywords and context of a post. But I'll figure it out one day, and ALL my posts will be +5 Troll. Oh yes.

        • It's a matter of perspective, and I do tend to view things from the perspective of a misanthropic arse. In another life, maybe I would be registering domain names to scam people - luckily for me and my conscience, I'm good people ;)

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Cro Magnon ( 467622 )

        Who needs to look them in the eye(s)? Just bonk them on the head from behind. Just make sure you knock them out with the first blow, or they'll pulverize you with their walking stick.

    • Now you're talking! (Score:5, Funny)

      by bigtallmofo ( 695287 ) * on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:13AM (#24841009)
      Why not mug elderly women on the streets too

      Why not combine them? Mug elderly women who are victims of Hurricane Gustav! They're more likely to be carrying a larger percentage of their worldly possessions as they flee.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by ZeroFactorial ( 1025676 )

        They're more likely to be carrying a larger percentage of their worldly possessions as they flee.

        Sweet!! More polydent, depends, and preparation-H than I could ever have dreamed of owning!

        Retirement, here I come!!!

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      As a biologist, sometimes I get the feeling that ripping off money from idiots is as regular a process as a species filling a given ecological niche. It maximises the use of ressources (money) between a given idiot and the dumpster.

      • I don't know if "idiots" is fair.. These people are trying to donate to charity and are being taken advantage of; to some people it'd probably be pretty surprising that they need to watch out for this sort of thing.

        • Re:I really wish we could shoot them (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Mister Whirly ( 964219 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @10:38AM (#24844243) Homepage
          If you have zero ability to determine whether or not a charity is authentic or not, you should definitely NOT be giving any money to charities. So I think "idiots" is a fair term. It is admirable that they want to help, but giving money to fake charities doesn't help the actual victims. If someone believes in the absolute goodwill of all mankind, sooner or later they too will be the victim of someone taking advantage of that fact. Besides, a real charity should have no problem being asked to verify it's authenticity.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Fred_A ( 10934 )

            If you have zero ability to determine whether or not a charity is authentic or not, you should definitely NOT be giving any money to charities.

            Does a charity only serving one person make it less authentic ?

            Maybe that person is in need ? Or else he/she wouldn't go through the bother of setting up that elaborate thing.

            • There is no such thing as a charity serving one person. One person asking for charity is called a "panhandler".
              If they are truly in need, they should "bother with setting up that elaborate thing". Sometimes you have to do things that are a little work to receive a payoff. Just expecting a handout and for everyone to believe your need is legitimate without wanting to verify that fact is highly dubious.

      • As a biologist, sometimes I get the feeling that ripping off money from idiots is as regular a process as a species filling a given ecological niche. It maximises the use of ressources (money) between a given idiot and the dumpster.

        Yes, parasites are quite common in nature. The accepted procedure for dealing with them involves either poisoning, drowning, or swatting them, and possibly eating them afterwards if you're not too picky. Destroying their ability to continue their kind also works, but takes a gene

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yvanhoe ( 564877 )
      The correct metaphor would be more asking for money in the street while pretending to use this for relief. That is still illegal, but I do not feel really sorry for people who fall for that.

    • This preying on other people's tragedy is despicable. Why not mug elderly women on the streets too, it is all dollars, after all!

      Because that runs the risk of being beaten up by some random do-gooder, the elderly woman's dog, or the elderly woman herself, and getting escorted to the prison afterwards. Scamming is less risky.

  • I'm sure their motives are pure... (Score:5, Informative)

    by bigtallmofo ( 695287 ) * on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:11AM (#24840987)
    Just look at this guy:

    http://www.computerworld.com/comments/comment/view/9113918/250642 [computerworld.com]

    Hi,

    I registered the following domains:

    gustavcharities.org
    gustavcharities.com
    gustavcharity.org
    gustavcharity.com
    gustavdonation.com
    gustavdonation.org
    gustavdonations.org
    gustavfund.org
    gustavrelieffund.com

    I registered these domains (proactively) to keep them OUT of the scammer's hands.
    So, he registers domains like Microsoft registers "defensive" patents. With no motive of profit and solely for the public good. Now if we could only manage to register the infinite remaining possible Gustav domains (ex: gustav-donations.org), we should be all set.

    • Re:I'm sure their motives are pure... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by eebra82 ( 907996 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:30AM (#24841147) Homepage

      Now if we could only manage to register the infinite remaining possible Gustav domains (ex: gustav-donations.org), we should be all set.

      Ultimately, it's not so much about scammers' methods but rather the fact that people give money to questionable organizations. Every time I've donated money, I've always done it through well known organizations.

      • Which makes me wonder why ICANN doesn't require any significant ID verification for domain registration. I know there's reasons not to (you can mention them below if you like), but it would make life a lot easier in a lot of ways if new registrations had to verify their identity before the domain would go live. At least prosecuting fraud would be easier. And if a registrar didn't do their homework properly they could just lose their license. Hmm

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • After this storm (Gustav)...I will "donate" these domains to them or any other legitimate organization...dedicated to helping with the problems of this coming hurricane gustav.

        You might want to check out the link before commenting next time. (Oh wait, this is /.)

    • I'm sure his tactic of selling the domains to the highest bidder will keep them out of the hands of evil wealthy industriali...... heyyyyy wait a minute!

  • Beatup and FUD.. again (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:19AM (#24841041)
    The TFA does not mention any sites that are being used for phishing. Instead it talks about how phishing sites were set up in the wake of Katrina, and that the sites being registered now may be destined for phishing. Talk about FUD.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by OzPeter ( 195038 )
      Replying to myself. Even the summary that kdawson quotes uses the word may. Apparently reading comprehension is not required at /.

    • Re:Beatup and FUD.. again (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Smallpond ( 221300 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:25AM (#24841105) Homepage Journal

      Actually, I think it's good for news organizations to report proactively instead of waiting for what they know is going to happen and then just interviewing a bunch of victims. Getting information out there now may prevent some scams from working.

      Anyway, I would think twice about sending money to a charity with a site on Road Runner:

      http://toolbar.netcraft.com/stats/hosters [netcraft.com]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by OzPeter ( 195038 )
        I agree that news organisations should report things as being likely (Ie look out for those nasty scammers that may come out of the woodwork) . But my point is that the story received a beat-up/FUD makeover between being posted on computerworld and posted here

  • I think the Feds should be first to contribute (Score:4, Insightful)

    by crovira ( 10242 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:21AM (#24841065) Homepage

    and that scamming the Feds should be an offense punishable with LONG prison terms.

    The opportunity-cost benefit analysis (C-B A) has to changed from the current
      "low cost, low risk but profitable" C-B A into a
      "low-cost but high risk, profitable" C-B A.

    That will immediately provide jobs for people in the civil service who will have nothing better to do than to seek out and destroy spammers.

    That should in turn shake out anybody who isn't a real criminal while making sure that any scam/spam you do get is punishable. (Spam is a lot less attractive is its going to net the spammer 15 to 20 years in some hell-hole prison, say Guantanamo?)

    • STOP (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Shivetya ( 243324 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:51AM (#24841347) Homepage Journal

      I am so tired of people always screaming for long prison terms. The priorities people have make me sad. It used to be that murder and rape were considered the worst crimes yet your bound to get less time for these than many of the new crimes that we invent. When you can take a life and get less time than for taking their money the society you live in has a serious problem.

      funny how many of the people who will complain about computer crime are all for having the government take stuff from other people.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I still think murder and rape are the worst crimes, and am in fact willing to put a murderer in a cell (no TV, no AC, I could perhaps be pursuaded to allow them books) for a length of time equal to the time that the person they killed spends dead. That said, I recall a statistic somewhere, wish I could find some type of link, that said that something like 0.2% of the population commits almost all the violent crimes (armed robbery, murder, muggings, rapes, etc), and I think as a society we should be willing
      • A good person trying to donate to victoms of a disaster, and they're pocketing the money. I agree that a 10 year would be acceptable for scamming people like this.

        But then, if it counts for anything, I also think murder and rape should be either life in prison or death a sentence.

      • t used to be that murder and rape were considered the worst crimes yet your bound to get less time for these than many of the new crimes that we invent.

        I wouldn't say it has always been that way. In Dante's Inferno, written in the 15th century, Dante has placed fraudsters and theives in a lower ring of hell than violent criminals like murderers.

  • All the good names are taken (Score:5, Funny)

    by sakdoctor ( 1087155 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:21AM (#24841071) Homepage

    Are you having problems finding good gustav scam domains? Try taking a page out of the web 2.0 book. Here are a few to get you started:

    yougustav.com
    mygustav.com
    gustavr.com

  • New domains should be much more expensive (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ghoti ( 60903 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @07:24AM (#24841091) Homepage

    If new domains cost $100 each, there would be a deterrent for people to just go out and register a few dozen. Renewals could then be even cheaper than now. But I guess the registrars are making good money with all those bogus crap domains, so they have no incentive to turn this off. The domain system is seriously broken (including that idiotic "domain tasting").

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

      i have an idea that would prolly piss off lots of people but would reduce domain troubles: Get rid of the TLDs. That would end any sort of WhiteHouse.gov vs. WhiteHouse.com issues. It would end Company.com vs Company.org/net, where the latter is a site for praising or hating Company. If we need a TLD to differentiate what packets go to what country, make them all .us. Use trademarks and such to determine who gets to keep the name.

      OR

      If you're going to have a .org you have to send in paperwork showing you a

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by xonar ( 1069832 )
        I agree with your second idea, this is how I assumed the internet worked before I learned otherwise.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by eln ( 21727 )

          They never went that far as far as I know, but they did use to at least make some attempt to make sure your domain was in the proper TLD. Obviously commercial enterprises were not allowed to set up .org addresses, for example. These days, it's entirely profit driven, so there's no longer any incentive to even attempt to enforce the original purpose of the TLDs.

      • You want .com? Send us a copy of your business license.

        How to handle businesses in completely unrelated industries with the same name?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

          www.Integrated-Software and www.Integrated-Engines

          Is there a national registry for company names? My guess would be that there should be a list at the federal level, if only for tax IDs. If there is such a list, does anyone here know if they deconflict company names? "Hey Steve, there's already a company named Apple, Inc."

          (further off the subject, but in line with the tangent)
          And while i'm thinking about it, is there a grand list of band names? Sometimes bands will come up with the same name in the US a

      • How about people read the fucking address bar? Imagine that, rudimentary verification of identity before handing over money.

        The blame for this doesn't entirely rest with the scammers, but with the victims too. I don't find myself sympathising a great deal. Like spam, scams only exist because people are credulous enough to fall for them. Some people are assholes and others imbeciles, and we need more that are neither. Babying the morons will not help this. I'd be happy to kick scammers one in the gr

      • If you're going to have a .org you have to send in paperwork showing you are a registered NPO. You want .com? Send us a copy of your business license.

        Except .org isn't and wasn't ever intended for the exclusive use of non-profit organizations. And you have a business without a business license.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

          Hmph. So we've been totally lied to by our album covers. Strange that we'd have differences, but not tie distinctions to them. The mil, gov and edu TLDs seem to be better controlled.

          Is it legal to have a business without a license? Perhaps i'm assuming too much with the word license.

          (off to wikipedia to learn more about the TLDs)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Skater ( 41976 )

        So how would a website for enthusiasts of, say, underwater basket weaving fall into your domain scheme? Would a couple people have to pony up to create a true-non-profit organization just so they can share ideas with an easily-remembered domain name?

    • I agree that the domain system is broken, but charging more money for an initial registration isn't good. The great thing at the moment is that anyone can register a domain for buying as opposed to leasing). Registrars and name registries (ICANN, Nominet, etc) should also have more power to immediately terminate scam domains.

      • Registrars and name registries (ICANN, Nominet, etc) should also have more power to immediately terminate scam domains.

        I'm sure they have that power already, but why would they terminate their biggest customers?

  • If something significant happens - be it an event selling out, a disaster, etc.. there is always someone exploiting it. It's part of the concept of capitalism and it shouldn't be at all surprising.

    (Kind of like when you follow a kdawson article link and it turns out it's another weak piece full of vague opinions, by "experts").

  • With all the Federal money they'll get to help recover I think those folks will be just fine if I keep my money. I mean, they had a warning.

  • How about some good news? I could use it. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BenEnglishAtHome ( 449670 ) on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @08:09AM (#24841539)

    I'm pretty stressed at the moment so I've been looking for good news. I found something that cheered my heart in the oddest place - Walmart. There are lots of good reasons to hate on Walmart but when I joined the early-morning throngs last Saturday on one last trip to Walmart for supplies in case the storm headed our way, I saw something that made me oddly and disproportianately happy.

    My local Walmart had moved a bunch of carts right to the front of the store loaded with flashlights. With a hurricane coming, you can get USD$5 for *any* piece-o-crap flashlight. These were just very basic 2 D-cell plastic lights and as I approached them, I wondered just how overpriced they would be, especially since they included batteries.

    They were 50 cents. Two for a buck.

    OK, it's not much, but it brought a smile to my face. This morning, I think I'd rather dwell on things like that instead of marveling, again, at how my greedy and dishonest fellow humans are finding yet more ways to pervert a wonderful communications channel into a gauntlet of scammers.

    • What COULD be done about the scams? Imagine these headlines on /.

      New law requires government approval to register URL
      Yeah, that'd go over well.

      Proposed law states the government can take any URL legaly from a person at will
      Imagine what that thread would look like...

      Or maybe if it wasn't the government...
      Domain service begins taking back URLs to anything it finds offensive
      Maybe with a link to some sad story of how a website got taken down in error.

      It's either let someone take controll, or l

    • Re-evaluate (Score:4, Informative)

      by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Tuesday September 02, 2008 @11:10AM (#24844917) Homepage Journal

      There are lots of good reasons to hate on Walmart ... They were 50 cents. Two for a buck.

      Hrm, seems you've found them to be behaving ethically. Wal*Mart was also the only company with the logistics to get relief supplies in after Katrina (the Southern Baptists being the other bright spot). And they're associated with small business growth [coyoteblog.com].

      AFAICT, the good reasons to hate on Wal*Mart are if you're in direct competition with them or are a union organizer. It's true that they source to China for goods, but that's only because our Government has made our goods uncompetitive. If US goods are cheaper they source here.

      • Going on to another bright spot from Wal-Mart. There was an "illegal" (as in massive animal abuse) puppy mill in the area that was broken up, and the local Wal-Mart, Target, and one other store (can't think for the life of me who the third was) donated a huge amount of food and supplies to the shelter that was going to be holding the ridiculous number of dogs in the short term (plan being to redistribute them between shelters some, and hopefully adopt at least some of them off before they have to euthanize

      • It's true that they source to China for goods, but that's only because our Government has made our goods uncompetitive. If US goods are cheaper they source here.

        Perhaps you should immigrate to China where you can fully appreciate the standard of living that goes along with the manufacturing of those cheap goods.

        • Perhaps you should immigrate to China where you can fully appreciate the standard of living that goes along with the manufacturing of those cheap goods.

          Is it not true that Chinese factory workers have a higher standard of living than non-factory workers? Consider the alternative - close the iPod factories and send the person back to picking rice. We've seen this progression in the US already, it leads to a higher standard of living for all. No doubt the Chinese will eventually price themselves out of the

      • Hrm, seems you've found them to be behaving ethically...

        AFAICT, the good reasons to hate on Wal*Mart are if you're in direct competition with them or are a union organizer.

        Walmart tends to behave ethically towards the public that walks in the door and gives them money. The company also tends to support community causes that get them some positive press.

        However, Walmart tends to be severely unethical in the way they treat employees and suppliers. The off-the-clock work scandals and other forms of emp

        • The place would be a hell of a lot better for the community, overall, if the employees were able to force some basic changes in benefits and work practices. Realistically, that means those employees need a union.

          I wish people would just learn to stick up for themselves. We have such low unemployment in this country that it's really a good option to leave a bad job. I'd encourage anybody working in bad conditions to get out. Self-esteem is too scarce. That said, I'd wouldn't force somebody to leave a job

          • But I can't blame them for getting a good short-term deal and losing out on that relationship any more than I can blame the producer for

            Generally, that's not what happens - suppliers don't, at least initially, agree to bad contracts. What happens is that Walmart negotiates good but tough contracts. Then, at renewal, they do the same for a bigger portion of the supplier's ability to produce. Eventually, they write a contract that is profitable for the supplier but sucks up so much of the suppliers capaci

  • Even when you make a donation to a "proper" fund, is it a scam? I know a guy who used to organise some "charity" work in the city. He told me if you place the people in the right spots you can make a mint. I said to him, so... do people have to donate money, can't they donate other things too, like food etc? He just laughed.

    So, in these turbulent times, how to spot a fake charity? For the cause of Gustav, one that doesn't accept food or clothing and only money. Tell them 'flat out saving myself buddy'.

  • After reading the title, I imagined the scammers literally surfing on the stormy waves. Most of us could tolerate their deaths, I guess.

  • I ran some of these through our SiteTruth system [sitetruth.com] to get legitimacy ratings. None of them rate very high.

    • boredatgustavus.net No website - not rated.
    • contributegustav.org Redirector - not rated - redirects to "braf.org"
    • braf.org Found in Open Directory, has business address, no ads. Turns out to be Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which has a 3-star rating in Charity Navigator [charitynavigator.org] and a writeup in Wikipedia, so they're legitimate.
    • contributiongustav.org redirects to "braf.org"
    • donategustav.org redirects to "

    • boredatgustavus.net

      I would have to wonder about that one, considering that there is a local college in the area called Gustavus Adolphus which is typically just called "Gustavus". That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that domain name. There's a decent good chance that this one is going to be some site set up by some bored college kids rather than some kind of scam site.

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