Web role in tsunami effort
By CNN's Andrea Sanke
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The Indian Ocean tsunami disaster has prompted unprecedented use of the Internet.
The worldwide power of the Web has allowed millions of people to instantly answer the call from charities trying to raise desperately needed cash.
With banks and post offices closed in many countries because of the holidays, Web sites were the main source for charities to collect money quickly.
The British Red Cross alone raised almost $8 million in the first four days following the disaster -- more than half from online donations.
"That's an absolute record," says Nicolas Young, chief executive of the British Red Cross.
"The Web has helped us respond really quickly, really effectively to all those offers of support, and therefore we've been able to help more people more quickly, and we couldn't have done that without the Web."
As well as raising cash, the Internet offered people all over the world the chance to post appeals for loved ones missing in the disaster zone.
Relatives desperate for information turned to Web sites and message boards in large numbers. And there are many examples of the Web re-uniting families.
But this huge reliance on the Internet has created opportunities for scam artists to take advantage of people's generosity.
One London-based computer magazine says it's seen warnings from Hong Kong to Canada of scams involving bogus e-mails and bogus Web sites.
"We're now starting to see a number of instances of e-mail spammers sending out phishing e-mail claiming to be from legitimate charities and from fake charities ... all looking professional and semi-legitimate and all asking people to log onto fake Web sites to make donations," says Chris Green, technical editor of Computing Newspaper.
"The problem with these is that the donations are not only not going to charities, but you're handing over credit card information and details used for further fraud."
Already in London, one man has appeared in court charged with misusing the Internet.
Posing as an official from the British Foreign Office in Thailand, the 37-year-old pleaded guilty to sending more than 30 bogus e-mails to friends and relatives of people missing in the tsunami aftermath, falsely informing them their loved ones had died.
For many people, the tsunami appeal was the first time they had used the Internet to donate money, adding to the potential for people to be confused about where their money was being sent.
Experts say simple checks can stop the risk of being scammed.
"A legitimate charity will not send you an unsolicited e-mail asking for money -- that's not how a professional charity works," says Green.
"Secondly, be very careful of any links you click through -- make sure they're going to a legitimate site and not a 'like-sounding' site."
Despite the huge potential for fraud, it doesn't appear to have happened on a large scale -- at least so far.
But the fear is that as time goes on, scams will start coming to light.
