Charity scams have always been a favorite of fraudsters, and Japan’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting Tsunami is a dream for scammers and fraudsters around the world. After the quake in Haiti, fraudulent charity sites were up and running almost instantly, some appearing as new charities and impersonating well-known charities such as the American Red Cross.

Scams related to the tragedy in Japan started in a matter of minutes after the news broke of the earthquake and are already spreading across Facebook. This initial influx will be followed by massive volumes of e-mail spam, Tweets, and Facebook posts, as scammers gear up to solicit donations from around the world.

Cybercriminals also use these events to help spread malware using malicious links in spam, Twitter, and fake Web sites.

Source: Security Week