TORONTO - Spam experts are warning of email scams related to Haiti's earthquake disaster.
Dylan Morrs of Symantec says the spam emails were first reported within about 24 hours of the massive quake. Most masquerade as legitimate pleas for donations from aid groups and resemble Nigerian letter scams.
Morrs says the spam messages are unsophisticated and usually involve requests to send personal information to an email address or fax number.
He says Haiti-related spam was expected, and scammers often tap into the most talked about current events to snare victims.
"It's a general scammer tactic to use a current event to kind of pique human interest and get someone to open that email. And they'll use whatever they can in the subject line," he said from San Francisco in a telephone interview.
"We'll probably see (Haiti-related subject lines) . . . used in product pitches, scams, you'll see it in pornography (ads), you'll see it probably everywhere."
One spam email provided by Symantec has the subject line "HELP THE CHILDREN IN HAITI ... DONATE TODAY" and purports to come from the "chief coordinator" of Yele Haiti, a Haitian charitable foundation founded by musician Wyclef Jean.
It also claims to be collecting funds in conjunction with Unicef, Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.
"We are asking those interested to 'HEALING THE WORLD' have any amounts they have in their capasity sent to our regional coordinator accounting officers in the Philippines using western union," the email reads, typos and all. Another email claims to come from the Haiti Disaster Response Agency. A post office box address at the Hotel Montana in Port-Au-Prince is given along with other contact information and plea for assistance.
Morrs says it's difficult to gauge how many scams are circulating, although they're a small percentage of legitimate emails about Haiti's earthquake.
