Who hasn’t donated money or thought of donating money to the tsunami survivors in the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean? A few days ago I started hearing about fraudulent charity pleas and then I received one.
This story has a unique twist.
The email came to my Gmail account. How is this account already on spam lists? That’s unreal.
It purported to be from Mercy Corp, a charity I had never heard of, but one I believe exists and is a legitimate “good guy.” I’ve attached the text from the message to the bottom of this entry, should you want to look. It’s a plea that’s tough to resist.
Of course it’s bogus. This is a phishing scam, someone using the name and the look of a legitimate organization to gain your trust.
Normally you’re on your own to figure this out, that’s why phishing scams are tough to stop. But there’s a difference here. The ‘phishers’ link back to legitimate Mercy Corp graphics. As soon as Mercy Corp found out, they changed the graphic making it obvious what’s going on.
Phishing still stinks. However, we now know someone at Mercy Corp is very clever.