Web scammers already exploiting California Wildfires

These days, any time disaster strikes, scammers never seem to be far behind. As you may remember, in 2005, scammers set up dozens of bogus charity sites in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now, with half a million people evacuated from their homes in southern California due to wildfires,  Websense (which is headquartered in San Diego by the way — hope you guys are all ok) is warning that suspicious donation pages have already cropped up on eBay.

Says Websense:

Please make sure you are dealing with legitimate organizations and, if possible, contact them on your own. Be very careful of people reporting to be agencies such as the Red Cross asking for donations or requesting you to visit their websites. They may be fraudulent or hosting malicious code designed to steal information such as banking details. For example, many suspicious eBay auctions have appeared requesting donations.

For example, Websense’s Dan Hubbard (who thankfully still has a house) says that this ad “sure seems suspicious.” He adds, “There are not a lot of reports of lost children in San Diego also.”

 –Robert McMillan