Natural disasters are practically always exploited by scammers, and the earthquake that hit New Zealand and left thousands of its citizens homeless is not an exception, Symantec reports.

Unfortunately for the more gullible benefactors out there, this time the scammers turned out a rather well executed phishing page that spoofs the legitimate New Zealand Red Cross website.

And while the legitimate one provides a short form for the donators to fill out in order to make the donation and the payment processing page asks only the card brand, number, expiry date and security code, the phishing page asks much more:


As a rule of thumb, you should be instantly suspicious of any website that asks you to share your credit card PIN code.

It is also good to remember that following links from unsolicited e-mails is never a good idea. If you are determined to do some good, visit the organization's website by typing in the URL in the address bar of the browser and then proceed to donate the money.