Online scammers target Haiti donations

Criminal gangs have defrauded people out of funds intended for Haiti earthquake victims by setting up bogus charities and seeking contributions online, according to a BBC investigation.

Scam emails began appearing online within days of the January 12 earthquake, including some with logos for genuine charities. One for the British Red Cross was traced to a computer in Nigeria, the BBC reported.

Another group, calling itself the M E Foundation, emailed the BBC photos of Haiti projects it said it was involved with -- but which turned out to be of disaster relief activities from the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

British charity SOS Children said the photos were cut and pasted from their website.

"The problem is it's not just about exploiting a donor or a charity, really they're exploiting the victims," said its boss Andrew Cates.

"They're taking money people want to give to the victims of these natural disasters and they're stealing it.

"So I don't feel that they're robbing me, I feel that they're taking from the mouths of children we're trying to help and that is something which is very difficult not to get angry about," he added.

Another scam email was sent by a charity calling itself Help the World -- when the BBC called the mobile number it gave, its reporter was told it focused on repairing schools.

But the London address given turned out to be a jazz and blues bar, it said.

Political leaders and celebrities made passionate appeals for help and themselves donated to the relief effort quickly organized in the wake of a tragedy that has killed at least 217,000 people and left 1.2 million homeless.

The result was an unprecedented deluge of aid from the private sector, the United Nations and non-governmental groups, although part of that relief was not initially getting to those who most needed it.

Despite efforts to coordinate the massive aid effort, tens of thousands remain homeless, sheltering in makeshift camps across the capital as the rainy season approaches.