Over the weekend we’ve seen Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf of Texas, especially Houston, where many of Americans are in need of help. Naturally, we all want to do what we can in donating to charities directly affecting the well-being of those affected. Unfortunately, we also have to be aware of the scammers of the world looking to make a quick buck off those generous enough to donate.
Scammers are now using the Hurricane Harvey disaster to rick people in clicking on links, on Facebook, Twitter and phishing emails trying to solicit charitable giving for the flood victims.
Some examples are:
- Facebook pages dedicated to the victim relief contain links to scam websites.
- Tweets are going out with links to charitable websites soliciting donations, but in reality include links to scam site or links that lead to a malware infection.
- Phishing emails dropping in a user’s inbox asking for donations to #HurricaneHarvey Relief Fund.
Previous disasters have been exploited like this one, and they’re certainly at it again. Please be careful of anything online covering the Hurricane Harvey disaster in the following weeks.
If you have any questions whether something is legitimate, or where official relief accounts can be reached, please feel free to reach out to us.
Thank you and stay safe.
