Technology

Cyber-Looters Capitalize on Katrina

The distressing images of looters carrying off electronics, food and whatever other goods they could find in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have become all too familiar, but the online “looting” that has cropped up in the storm`s wake may prove to be more financially damaging than the thefts occurring on the ground in New Orleans.

03 October 2005

Within hours of the storm`s landfall late last month, scam artists snapped up Katrina-related Web domains and began using them to siphon money from unwitting Web surfers.

State attorneys general in Missouri and Florida both took action last week to shut down websites with names such as katrinahelp.com and katrinafamilies.com, which were using the tragedy to direct money to dubious organisations. But countless other online scams may still be operating and are similar to those that sprang up in the wake of the Asian tsunami in December.

More than 2 500 storm-related sites have been registered since August. On 3 September alone, about 450 domains with the word “Katrina” in them were registered, according to The SANS Institute`s Internet Storm Center (ISC) in the US. The majority of those sites are still “under construction,” said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer at ISC. Still others are well-meaning sites set up by individuals collecting money for hurricane relief or were registered far in advance of the hurricane.

ITWeb Premium

Get 3 months of unlimited access
No credit card. No obligation.

Already a subscriber Log in