Phishing started...

[MomH]

I pulled this from our local freecycle site.

Ipassed on some information about a website where you can sign up to house hurricane refugees. I hadn't looked at it very carefully
before I send it on. http://www.homesforkatrina.org/index.html is a
fake site that is just phishing for information. Sorry about that.
I recommend you don't give them any information.

I called the Red-Cross and Salvation Army. The Red-Cross said they
are not heading up any efforts to house people. They did give two
websites to go to but said that they can't guarantee that any of
them are really doing what they say. The Salvation Army has a
number to call 1-800-725-2769. You can leave a message if you want
to house some people.

My husband and I decided that unless the Red-Cross, Salvation Army
or our church's denomination is heading up an effort to take in
refugees we will not participate. Anyone can set up a website and
say they are helping but no one knows for sure who these people
are. They could be stealing information to take your identity or
steal your money. They could be terrorists trying to enter our
country. This is very sad but possible. Evil people try to take
advantage of these situations.

The best idea is to do something for the Red-Cross or Salvation
Army. If you go to a church you can also contact the denomination
headquarters to see what they are doing to help. Just giving money
is not always the best idea either. There are too many
organizations that have a lot of rich employees. I think giving
things or gift cards is a great idea.

[cancunkid]

Wow that is a site that is getting a lot of national coverage. I was going to put my information down since my family doesn't think they will need our rooms. Thank you for the information

[NateFLA]

The website seems legit enough to me?

[GalvestonDuck]

.org sites are rarely fake. And this one even includes a way to submit information securely http://www.homesforkatrina.org/listahome.cfm

I think there could be phishing scams that take you to a site that looks like HFK.org, but really aren't. You can tell by looking up at the address bar. As far as I can tell, this one is legit. But the warning is a good one. Everyone should pay attention to the address bars and security logos to ensure they are entering they're information on a real and secure site, whether it's this one or ARC or SA or whoever.

[soonertwister]

This site seems to be authoritative and has a huge number of major sponsors. They have an e-crime newwire and archive where you can see reports of crimes that have been discovered in this area.

http://www.antiphishing.org/

Thus far, it appears that phishing schemes regarding this disaster haven't been widespread.