Phishers taking advantage of Virginia Tech tragedy

Published: 2007-04-17
Last Updated: 2007-04-17 22:14:57 UTC
by George Bakos (Version: 1)
0 comment(s)

There has been a flurry of domain registrations related to the Virginia Tech tragedy, as reported by GoDaddy and other registrars. 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.

Be on the lookout for a rash of spam & phishing coming from these leeches. If you receive a plea for donations, check the organization out closely before opening up your e-gold, Paypal, Visa or other account or providing any personal information. In some cases the phishers may use voice, fax, email and websites to dupe generous and thoughtful victims into disclosing valuable information.

With any luck, these have been scooped up by cybersquatters (http://www.sans.org/newsletters/newsbites/newsbites.php?vol=9&issue=22#sID301) who will be left holding the bag when nobody is heartless enough to use the domains for unscrupulous purposes. A number of the following domains have been checked and, as of yet, contain no content:

vatechshooting.com
vatechshooting.net
vatechshooting.org
vatechshooting.info
vatechshooting.us
vatechshooting.biz
vtshooting.com
vtshooting.info
vatechmassacre.com
vatechmassacre.net
vatechmassacre.info
vatechmassacre.biz
vtmassacre.com
vtmassacre.net
vtmassacre.org
vtmassacre.info
virginiatechrampage.com
vatechrampage.com
vtrampage.com
virginiatechmurders.com
virginiatechmurders.net
virginiatechmurders.org
virginiatechmurders.info
virginiatechmurders.us
vatechmurders.com
vtmurders.com
hokieshootings.com
hokiemassacre.com

Here is a blog listing the above godaddy sites, and linking to other related blogs:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/04/godaddy_registe.html#more

Please, if you believe that you have received a phishing email, submit it to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) - http://antiphishing.com/report_phishing.html
Keywords:
0 comment(s)

Comments


Diary Archives