Montreal, January 13, 2005 - Vircom Inc., developer of Modus™ secure email management solutions, warns email users about fraudulent donation requests for victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis of December 26, 2004.

"We have seen an alarming number of fraudulent emails requesting money for survivors," said Marc Chouinard, head of Vircom's SpamBuster team. "The best way to avoid a scam is to donate directly through a well-known organization rather than forwarding money to an address or bank account provided in an unsolicited email."

To help people avoid being defrauded, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), established jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), offers this advice on avoiding relief-effort email scams:
Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming emails;


Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or foreign government officials asking for help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts;


To ensure that contributions to U.S.-based non-profit organizations are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charities and aid organizations websites, as opposed to following a link to another site;


Try to verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations (e.g., use Internet-based resources to help confirm the existence of the organization and its non-profit status);


Be leery of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
Anyone interested in sending a financial contribution to help tsunami victims should donate directly through a reputable international aid organization, such as those listed below:
AmeriCares: 800-486-HELP, www.americares.org


Red Cross International Response Fund: 800-HELP NOW, www.redcross.org


Canadian Red Cross, 800-418-1111, www.redcross.ca


Catholic Relief Services: 800-736-3467, www.catholicrelief.org


Direct Relief International: 805-964-4767, www.directrelief.org


Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres: 888-392-0392, www.doctorswithoutborders.org


International Medical Corps: 800-481-4462, www.imcworldwide.org


International Orthodox Christian Charities Middle East Crisis Response: 877-803-4622, www.iocc.org


Mercy Corps: 800-852-2100, www.mercycorps.org


Operation USA: 800-678-7255, www.opusa.org


The International Rescue Committee: 212-551-3000, www.theirc.org


World Vision: 888-511-6589, www.worldvision.org

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