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Watch out: Scam e-mails try to snatch Haiti donations

by Christina Siderius | January 14th, 2010

Yesterday our office warned you to be on guard against scammers as you donate to aid the horrific disaster in Haiti. Today, our IT department alerted us to the fact that spammers are already sending out scam e-mails requesting donations to send to Haiti – and these messages are convincing!  

Here’s an example of the type of spam you may be getting in your inbox:

email
The best practice, our Charities Manager tells us, is to donate directly to the charitable organizations that are properly registered and helping the cause. If the group is soliciting funds in Washington,  it must be registered with our office. It only takes a few seconds to check online at http://www.sos.wa.gov/charities/search.aspx .

2 Responses to “Watch out: Scam e-mails try to snatch Haiti donations”

  1. I have received this kind of email lately, This is really bad for people that don’t know about this kind of scam. good post, i hope this can make people cautious about anonymous email.

  2. This is a reminder to only open email from people you know. Occasionally I receive bogus emails from what looks like Paypal, Bank of America and Ebay asking for personal information. I never open the email link, instead I go to the website and log in t my account. If there is no message in my account I know it was a ruse.

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The Washington Office of the Secretary of State’s blog provides from-the-source information about important state news and public services. This space acts as a bridge between the public and Secretary Kim Wyman and her staff, and we invite you to contribute often to the conversation here.

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