Robbers, thugs and theives...

I am thoroughly disgusted...

The people of Japan have been experiencing a waking nightmare as aftershocks from a 9.0 earthquake shake the ground beneath their feet. Workers are still sifting through the debris left by the earthquake and the tsunami that struck shortly after trying to find anything salvageable. Bodies of people lost in the disasters are washing up on shores and engineers are scrambling to keep several nuclear reactors from melting down.

In the midst of all this, as the rest of the world rallies together to do what they can to help, there is a small percentage of our population who can’t help themselves. They absolutely must try to cheat the system and take advantage of those who want to help.

Scams began to spring up just two hours after the earthquake hit. First, there are the websites and emails dressed up to look like legitimate organizations imploring people to “donate” money and offer relief. Then there are the videos and images of the destruction that have malware and viruses embedded in them to steal personal information from your computer. And these links are not just showing up in your inbox… they’re in search engine results and social media sites.

At a time when we should be able to give generously and support our fellow human beings who have been struck by tragedy, we instead have to be suspicious and distrusting. It is moments like this that I am ashamed to be human.

My final words on the matter…

If you feel the need to reach out to victims of the disaster, by all means, please do so! Take the appropriate precautions and be as generous as you can. We are all responsible for caring for each other. If someone feels the need to reach out to you for money for the victims, do your homework. Initiate your donations yourself through legitimate organizations and verify who you are giving your personal and financial information to.

Some tips to help you avoid being a victim…

1. Check the URL for any links you receive. Scammers are smart. They use legitimate images and similar designs to those used by the sites they are trying to impersonate. Their web and e-mail addresses are similar with maybe a slight misspelling or a stray period or other symbol thrown in. Hover over these links and check the address that pops up.
2. Google the information. If it is a scam, the information you search won’t bring you to the legitimate site. Entering an e-mail address or phone number into a search engine will bring up associated pages. If it is part of a scam, you should be able to discover that fairly easily.
3. Check the FBI website for the latest information about scams that are being investigated. These can be found by visiting their website and searching for "scams" or "e-scams" in the search box.