Fraudster Arrested in Connection to Hurricane Katrina Phishing Scam

20-year-old Jovany Desir of Miami, Florida was indicted by an US federal grand jury Western Pennsylvania on five counts of wire fraud for exploiting the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina via phishing Websites. Desir allegedly speculated on the natural disaster by spoofing an American Red Cross Website, and additional Internet addresses like eBay, PayPal, the PNC Bank, Banque Nationale and Desjardins Credit Union.

The social engineering at the basis of his frauds was structured around the human element in the Katrina disaster. Desir used the hurricane's victims as incentive to collect credit card data, and online banking account information. Furthermore Desir allegedly was attempting to generalize the fraud by selling for $150 phishing kits comprising the spoofed Websites he had created.

"Internet scammers have no qualms on feeding on other people's misery in their pursuit of money," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "It's claimed that 56 different people downloaded Jovany Desir's Hurricane Katrina phishing kit, presumably with the intention of conning good samaritans out of money. Everyone needs to be on their guard against identity theft and remain alert to the latest internet threats. This isn't the first time that criminals have taken advantage of a natural disaster, and sadly it won't be the last."