Within the past 24 hours, several websites have emerged promising to forward money to relief workers. Bearing such names as Katrinahelp.com, katrinadonations.com and katrinarelief.com, the sites ask for money to be sent through Paypal, but there’s no way to verify who’s getting the money.The auction site eBay late yesterday halted an auction of several Katrina-related website names, such as ”ourtsunami2005.com.”Bidding was to start at $15,000 and the seller promised to deliver half of the final winning bid amount to the American Red Cross. EBay allows sellers to dedicate a portion of their profits to charities, but requires the seller to either sign up for eBay’s own giving program or obtain permission from the charity first.Red Cross officials said no such permission had been granted and eBay said it terminated the auction because the seller did not observe company rules on charitable giving.Yesterday, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the agency was investigating a handful of reports of fraudsters using e-mail and websites to impersonate legitimate fund-raising and relief organizations related to the hurricane.

Posted: 09|1|05 at 10:00 am. Filed under: US News.