Net Scammers Swarm Following Virginia Tech Massacre

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 05/11/07
Less than 36 hours after the Virginia Tech shootings, Internet scammers were creating fraudulent charity websites, according to the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team.

The Sans Internet Storm Center said at least 25 new domain names related to the shootings were created, such as vatechshooting.com and vtmassacre.com.

"While some of these are undoubtedly well intentioned organizations joining in the outpouring of support for the friends and family of the victims, others are likely to be opportunists who want to cash in on the suffering of others," said George Bakos, a senior Engineer for Northrop Grumman's Cyber Threat Analysis & Intelligence team.

The Sans Internet Storm Center is asking users to forward suspected phishing e-mails to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

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About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

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