[bc-gnso] FW: Sandy Scams Webpost

[Phil Corwin <psc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI, this was just posted at the ICA website...


http://internetcommerce.org/Sandy_Scams

Sickening Sandy Domain Scams

Lives were tragically lost in Hurricane Sandy, with many additional victims 
sustaining acute physical injuries. Power remains out in many storm-affected 
areas as temperatures skew colder. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or 
badly damaged, and businesses have been shuttered and laid off workers, as 
public officials scramble to find adequate alternative shelter for the homeless 
and coordinate relief efforts. The rebuilding effort will take months, and in 
some cases years.
And yet, as with far too many natural disasters, a small group of insensitive 
individuals have sought to make personal profit out of human tragedy, with some 
going so far as engaging in criminal fraud to divert charitable contributions 
away from their intended recipients. Unfortunately, some of these scams involve 
domain registration and use abuse, and aside from being dead wrong and illegal 
they carry the risk of giving all legitimate domain investors a bad name 
through mistaken guilt-by-association. CNN recently ran a news feature casting 
a spotlight on these Sandy-associated scams -- Charity scams claim to aid Sandy 
victims<http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/10/charity-scams-claim-to-aid-sandy-victims/?hpt=ac_mid>
 .
ICA condemns these despicable actions. Our Code of Conduct - 
http://internetcommerce.org/member_code_of_conduct -- adopted shortly after the 
Association's founding six years ago, clearly states that, "A registrant should 
not intentionally register a domain name related to a current or historical 
event involving human suffering or tragedy where the primary purpose of such 
registration is commercial profit." Our COC also calls on domain registrants to 
"provide accurate domain name ownership and contact information to the WHOIS 
database in a timely manner so that domain name ownership is transparent" and 
also declares, "A registrant's usage of domain names shall follow applicable 
laws and regulations and a registrant shall not use domain names for unlawful 
purposes." Phony "pop-up charities" fail all these standards, especially the 
test of legality.
Of course, condemning bad acts is easier than stopping them. It amazes us that 
individuals will make charitable gifts based solely upon receipt of an 
unsolicited e-mail or happening across a website for an unfamiliar "charity", 
yet the Better Business Bureau (BBB) estimates that more than two-thirds of 
charitable contributors don't bother to check out a recipient charity's bona 
fides. The first step in any anti-scam effort has to be greater public 
education and awareness so that those with the noble intent of aiding victims 
don't become victims themselves. BBB's Wise Giving Alliance -- 
http://www.bbb.org/us/Wise-Giving/ -- provides guidance for individuals wanting 
to make that check, and also sets high standards for organizations that seek 
public contributions.
Public education, while necessary, is insufficient. A few high-profile law 
enforcement prosecutions of fake charity scammers might have laudable deterrent 
impact - although that's not a simple task, as scammers can be located anywhere 
on the globe. VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, and other major payment processors also 
have a role to play, as these scams all rely on credit and debit charges for 
their ill-gotten gains.  And perhaps leading domain registrars, in conjunction 
with ICANN's Registrar Stakeholder Group, could focus some attention on the 
problem and see if there are reasonable means by which suspicious domain 
registrations made in the days leading up to a natural disaster or its 
immediate aftermath can receive extra scrutiny. People have all sorts of 
reasons for registering name-related domains, so it would be difficult to 
impossible to give heightened scrutiny to all domain registrations that 
incorporate the official storm names released by the National Hurricane Center 
years in advance (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml). But surely 
registrations of Sandy-related domains made in the few days leading up to and 
after landfall should have invited raised eyebrows. ICA would be happy to 
engage in any discussion of how the broad domain-related community can best 
address these scams - natural disasters are inevitable, but disaster-related 
scams are unacceptable.
For those in the domain community wishing to provide legitimate aid to Sandy's 
victims, one option is the special Sandy campaign designated by the NY Time's 
Neediest Cases Fund, which distributes contributions among ten legitimate 
social services agencies operating through the storm-affected area 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/nyregion/special-campaign-is-established-for-hurricane-sandys-victims.html).
  The American Red Cross has taken a lead role in providing assistance to 
Sandy's victims and is a worthy recipient 
(http://newsroom.redcross.org/category/disaster-relief-operation/hurricane-season-2012/hurricane-sandy/).
 And CNN provides this guidance on how to target Sandy relief through listed 
charitable organizations to both US victims and those in the Caribbean who were 
ravaged by the storm before it slammed into the East Coast 
(http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/us/iyw-how-to-help-after-sandy/index.html).
These are by no means the only giving options, as any quick Internet search 
will reveal. But whatever means of giving you may select, take a few minutes to 
be sure that your charity of choice is bona fide - in that regard, the BBB 
provides this list of Dos and Don'ts to make sure that dollars meant for 
victims don't line the pockets of fake charity scam artists 
(http://www.bbb.org/blog/2012/11/will-sandy-bring-a-hurricane-of-charitable-donations/).
Let's all do what we can to make sure that aid intended for Sandy's victims 
reaches them, and to find better means to reduce  disaster-related Internet 
scams in the future.


Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal
Virtualaw LLC
1155 F Street, NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004
202-559-8597/Direct
202-559-8750/Fax
202-255-6172/cell

Twitter: @VlawDC

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