PHUKET, Thailand (24 Jan 2005) -- One month after Asia's tsunami disaster triggered a global outpouring of compassion, a seamy side of human nature is emerging as fraudsters and profiteers scramble to make money out of misery. Grotesque pictures of drowning victims are being sold as souvenirs in the heavily damaged Thai resort of Phuket and bogus donation websites have been set up in various countries to divert aid from the mouths of survivors to the pockets of scam artists. Technology and financial companies have issued warnings against websites using the tsunami crisis as cover for "phishing" expeditions through which unsuspecting donors are tricked into divulging confidential details that allow hackers into their bank accounts. "Sadly, we have identified numerous phishing Web sites that are trying to take advantage of people's compassion -- but we are working with federal law enforcement to shut them down," said Sergio Pinon, senior vice president for security and risk services at US-based payments firm MasterCard International. "By clearing out the scam artists, we hope people will continue to donate to legitimate relief efforts. However, we recommend that people do so by directly making their donations on the official Web sites of the relief agencies instead of responding to unsolicited e-mails." In Phuket, a necro-souvenir industry has mushroomed from the ruins. Tsunami horror scenes on VCDs, T-shirts and gory pictures of bloated corpses floating in the sea are being snapped up by local residents and tourists alike. Todd Ames, an assistant professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore, said that "unfortunately, some people are attracted to the macabre, it's very tragic." "Some people do buy these things out of curiosity, to satisfy some questions they have about what happened," he said. As for the vendors, he said: "I can only assume that it's because they've been devastated economically." "In the midst of such horrible devastation, people will turn to anything to support their families or themselves," he said. The infamous Nigerian scam artists have also made an appearance, according to Trend Micro, a network anti-virus and Internet security firm based in Tokyo. It said Nigerian "phishers" have posed as a Singapore charity and sent e-mails asking donors to fork out 100 US dollars each to help feed two million tsunami survivors. Trend Micro warned Internet users to be careful when using search engines to locate relief organizations' Web sites, and urged them to refrain from forwarding solicitation e-mails without first verifying their authenticity. People should type Web addresses of relief groups manually instead of just clicking on links provided in e-mails, it said. | | Two women look at pictures of the aftermath of the tsunami showing grisly pictures of corpses at a photo shop in Phuket. One month after Asia's tsunami disaster triggered a global outpouring of compassion, a seamy side of human nature is emerging as fraudsters and profiteers scramble to make money out of misery. (AFP/Peter Parks) Law enforcement agencies ranging from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to the South African police have also warned the public against donation scams. Mastercard International has a tip for consumers: watch out for solicitation e-mails with spelling or grammatical errors. "Banks do not contact customers to ask them to provide sensitive information such as passwords and PINs (personal identification numbers) online," it said. Cases of petty fraud have been uncovered in affected areas as well. A Thai man has been sentenced to three months in jail for falsely claiming to be a tsunami victim to win government assistance. Pramote Lamla had told Krabi provincial officials that his property had been damaged by the killer waves, but later confessed he had lied. Sri Lankan policemen and soldiers have been deployed at relief centres to prevent stealing and fraud after reports emerged that some local officials were setting up bogus tsunami relief shelters to claim government hand-outs. There are also fears that aid money could end up in the wrong hands. Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda has assured foreign donors providing billions of dollars of tsunami aid that there will be "a transparent and accountable management of the money" they send to his country, which suffered the brunt of the calamity. SOURCE - AFP |
