Fraudulent emails and websites

Important information about fake Red Cross / Red Crescent emails and websites

Contact us 

Bogus emails

Bogus emails and requests for money from Dr. Benneth Morrieson are fraudulent.

Bogus emails purporting to come from "Hugo Blanco, Ghana logistic director of the ICRC" using the email address "hugo.blanco(at)icrcghana(dot)org" are fraudulent.

All ICRC email addresses end in icrc.org or cicr.org.

Bogus emails purporting to come from Director-General of the ICRC Yves Daccord

Emails from ""Yves Daccord" <teamceooffice20(at)gmail(dot)com>" are not from Yves Daccord.

All ICRC email addresses end in icrc.org or cicr.org.

Bogus emails purporting to come from our head of operations for the Near and Middle East, Robert Mardini.

Fraudulent mails are currently circulating, purporting to be from Robert Mardini, our head of operations for the Near and Middle East, involving business deals and the transfer of money. Needless to say, these are not from Mr Mardini. It is worth noting that the emails come from an outlook.com address.

All ICRC email addresses end in icrc.org or cicr.org.

Bogus emails purporting to come from ICRC President Peter Maurer

Emails from "pmaurer.icrc15(at)gmail(dot)com" are not from Peter Maurer.

All ICRC email addresses end in icrc.org or cicr.org.

Bogus emails requesting follow up on payment.

If you received this message from an ICRC email address, please ignore it – the ICRC does not invoice, request or receive payments.

Fake Twitter accounts

@BeerliKopp

A fake Twitter account "@BeerliKopp" using the name of our former Vice-President Christine Beerli, has been created. If you receive direct messages from this fake account, please do not answer or follow back. We are currently working on closing this fake account.

Other

Emails coming from Sharesa Spivey siramsarmull at gmail.com with subject ICRC compensation payments to cyber crime victims.

This person pretends to work on behalf of the ICRC, having "recovered millions of dollars and conducting and executing various compensation payments to cyber crime victims from around the World." 

These emails advice people "to contact us so that you'll receive your recompense as approved by the US financial authority." They are fraudulent.

Muhitelyemen.net 

There is a folder on a yemeni news website muhitelyemen.net that appears to replicate the ICRC website. The page in question is accessible only using Internet Explorer. You will notice that the URL of the page is not on the ICRC.org domain. This is a fake website, unrelated to the ICRC. 

 

 "Corporate volunteering" / "Christmas lottery" scam

Fake messages are currently circulating pointing to a page on ICRC.ORG.UK, a domain we don't control, encouraging ICRC employees to sign up for a "corporate volunteering" program, promising free days and other benefits. No such program exists, and the scam is an attempt to steal employees' private and login data. Some of the pages resemble those on our website, but there are slight differences - do not be swayed!

Another example:

If you receive any unsolicited emails that look suspicious, please treat them with caution. The only source of valid information is the ICRC website, www.icrc.org. In case of doubt, please contact us by email.

Person claiming to be an ICRC surgeon

A person pretending to be an ICRC doctor working in Syria has recently tricked a member of the public into transferring a large sum of money to a bank account, claiming that fees were due in connection with a cash delivery.

The person was using the name of Dr Melton Corbett and the following photos:

Unsurprisingly, this was a scam.

ICRC employees do not move cash around the world by courier, and no ICRC employee would ask someone he had met on Facebook to facilitate a cash transfer. Nor do we have an employee by the name of Melton Corbett.

If you are approached by someone who claims to work for the ICRC, asking you to send them money for any reason whatsoever, please contact us via webmaster@icrc.org.

These photos are in fact of Ukrainian plastic surgeon Dr Vladimir Sazhienko. Dr Sazhienko is not involved in this scam in any way.

Update: 30 September 2016

Attention iPhone users

We have been made aware of two fraudulent websites that are targeting users of iPhones. These are not official sites of the ICRC or Red Cross and have been taken down.

Please use caution when clicking on any links to these sites: www(dot)icrcworld(dot)com and www(dot)redcrossworld(dot)com.

The website below is not an ICRC website

"Money transfer" scam

Emails are currently circulating that appear to be from our president Peter Maurer or from our Director of Communication and Information Management Charlotte Lindsey, in which "they" ask the addressee to help them handle a large sum of money originally belonging to someone who has died.

As you may imagine, this is a fraud.

"Property buying" scam

Fake messages are currently circulating that use the names of at least two members of ICRC staff (Robert Mardini and Helen Durham), saying that they want to purchase property in a range of different countries. Any message like this is of course a fake and you should delete it.

If you receive any unsolicited emails that look suspicious, please treat them with caution. The only source of valid information is the ICRC website, www.icrc.org. In case of doubt, please contact us by email.

Fraudulent fundraising attempts

A number of fraudulent websites are using the names or emblems of the Red Cross or Red Crescent to solicit donations for the victims of conflict or natural disaster.

Please donate to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement through official channels only.

There are also fraudulent emails in circulation that invite people to pay for fake employment or training opportunities or for attendance at non-existent conferences.

If you wish to donate to the Red Cross or Red Crescent, please use the authorized channels, which are as follows: