Oxfam warns of fake fund-raising email with Cyprus bank account

OXFAM in Hong Kong has informed police and warned people to beware of fake fund-raising e-mails for tsunami victims, which direct donors to a bank account in Cyprus.

“An e-mail was sent to a friend of Oxfam yesterday and forwarded to us,” Albert Chan Ka-ming, fund-raising director of Oxfam Hong Kong told Reuters.

“The e-mail used a press release from Oxfam and other relief agencies and asked people to donate to a bank account in Cyprus.”
Police are investigating the e-mail, which instructed readers to deposit donations into a Cypriot bank account of Sociéte Générale and to deposit receipts to an office in Spain. The bank in Cyprus was unavailable for comment yesterday. Police also said they had no information about the scam.

“Oxfam Hong Kong makes it clear that the agency is not associated in whatever way with this e-mail appeal and has reported the case,” the agency said.

Chan said: “The police advised me to send the e-mail to the crime information department, and then several officers contacted me and they are investigating.

“The e-mail was very badly done. I don’t think any Hong Kong people will fall for it, but I worry that in other areas people may think [that it’s genuine].”

Oxfam Hong Kong is one of five major relief agencies on the ground in the countries affected by the tsunami.

“The account number they asked people to send money to doesn’t bear the name of any of the agencies,” said Chan. “I’m wondering if it was done by teenagers, but there’s no indication on the e-mail that the people were from Hong Kong.

“I informed all the other relief agencies including World Vision, the Salvation Army, MSF [Médecins Sans Frontiers] and the Red Cross. I also informed our sister Oxfams as well.

“Maybe some people think they can abuse people’s generosity to swindle them. I would advise people to be careful and to donate directly to the bank accounts set up by the organisations.”

Bonnie So, head of international relief services for the Hong Kong Red Cross, said they had been informed about the e-mail scam.
“We will be cautious, but up till now we haven’t come across any fake homepage or e-mails,” she said.

Oxfam Hong Kong has allocated $9.9 million for projects in India ($5 million), Indonesia ($3.85 million) and Sri Lanka ($1.05 million).

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.