London - Scam artists have set up websites similar to the
official site for missing 4-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann in
an attempt to steal credit-card numbers and personal details from
donors, British media reported Saturday.
The official website for McCann, who disappeared while on holiday
in southern Portugal, had received more than 70 million hits in three
days, the Daily Mail reported.
But gangsters had set up a series of similar bogus sites looking
for donations, and some even had advertisements from well-known
British brands, the report said.
Madeleine's family was outraged: 'It is a shame that people behave
like this and they exploit the generosity of the general population,'
uncle John McCann told the Daily Mail.
'I am loth to use the phrase parasites, but unfortunately that is
what it seems like,' he said.
Donors may have unwittingly given money to the bogus websites
simply by arriving on one and clicking on an advertising banner, as
site operators receive a small fee each time an internet user clicks
on a banner.
In the meantime, millions of people around the world have seen a
two-minute video showing pictures of Madeleine.
It was shown during the internationally broadcast UEFA soccer
final in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Wednesday.
Millions more will see the vidoe when her picture is flashed to
fans at the official opening of London's revamped Wembley stadium on
Saturday.
The DVD entitled Find Madeleine is to be displayed at the Cup
Final between Chelsea and Manchester United at Wembley which kicks
off at 3 pm (1400 GMT).
The final marks the re-opening of the stadium after a revamp
costing in excess of 800 million pounds (1.6 billion dollars).
The film, made by the campaign to raise awareness of Madeleine's
disappearance has already been shown at other major matches, along
with appeals for her release by leading footballers including David
Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and John Terry.
The blonde little girl was taken from her bed at the family's
holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, on May 3, while
her parents were eating at a nearby restaurant.
Portuguese police are questioning Robert Murat, a 33-year-old
Briton, and a Russian computer expert, Sergey Malinka, in connection
with the girl's disappearance.
Multinational companies, including British Petroleum, Shell, Esso,
Texaco and Total have launched a massive poster and text messaging
campaign as millions have been poured into a fund to help the search.
Telecoms companies including Vodafone, O2 and Spain's Telefonica
are among those backing the phone text campaign.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have said they will
stay in the Algarve resort until Madeleine is found.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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