Website Poses To Be Charitable Benefactors For Children

A warning by a security company says that a website that pretends to aid underprivileged children is actually spreading scam to swindle users into throwing away money. The company, PandaLabs has detected a mass e-mail that offers deprived children work and earnings from a supposed organization, which it found to be a complete fraud trying to steal money from unwitting people.

The company has sent out an alert about the website that has been spamming mass e-mails campaigning a fake 'part-time' job for an NGO. With subject line, "Best Job No Experience Needed" the e-mails asks readers to visit the website of the supposedly 'charitable organization' coming in aid of underprivileged children. However, the site really extracts money from the respondents.

The URL attached to the e-mail pretends to be charitable benefactors displaying pictures of children in order to acquire the confidence of potential victims and to convince them to join the job. PandaLabs warned that if users filled the form in the website, they would connect to fraudsters who would reply presenting with more details about the job. The site asks to wire money to bank accounts thereby enabling fraudsters to capture confidential details by using phishing techniques. Incidentally, phishing is growing exponentially as more people hunt for jobs online.
According to Luis Corrons, director of PandaLabs, these fraudsters are not only seeking someone to wash away his/her money but also make the person a scapegoat whom the authorities would charge when they come to know what has happened. In this case, the least the bank can assert is that the runner must refund the stolen money, which would be in addition to legal action resulting to even a prison sentence.

For users who have provided any personal information such as name, bank account number etc., Luis suggests they must inform the authorities right away in order to prevent further problems. For revealing even a simple personal identification number could enable criminals to open bank accounts to conduct illegal activities. PandaLabs recommends users to erase any such message that come in their inboxes and desist from submitting personal data that criminals could use unfairly.

Related article: Websites – The Latest Weapon in The Hands of Phishers

» SPAMfighter News - 11/28/2006