ePublicEye Targets Profiteers Seeking to Capitalize on World Trade Center Tragedy.

Early Warning System established to track scams and notify well-meaning relief donors.

Los Angeles, CA. -- September 24, 2001-- Sadly, ePublicEye.com, an online watchdog, has discovered that in the midst of the World Trade Center tragedy scam artists are seeking to take advantage of our natural sympathies and desire to help. Consumers are reporting a variety of scams from dramatic gasoline price increases in several states to phony disaster relief web sites and international funds set up to exploit the world's grief. ePublicEye is tracking reports of these global scams as they are identified and has created a database to keep members and visitors informed. To seed the database ePublicEye has sent a worldwide call to some 15,000 members in 96 countries soliciting copies of any suspicious online solicitations they may have received. Responses have been streaming in from South Carolina to Singapore and ePublicEye is cataloging these solicitations along with any reported complaints.

"Where most of us see an immeasurable tragedy others see a window of opportunity to exploit the public's desire to give," said Errol Smith, co-founder of ePublicEye.com. "Coldly capitalizing from sorrow is unthinkable to most decent people, but for some, the lure of tapping into the sudden outbreak of charitable spending is too tempting to resist and from what we can see the exploiters are going global." said Smith.

In addition, ePublicEye has added Disaster Relief Scams to its Early Warning System, a program that uses the Internet to send email notification to registered members as soon as a new scam is identified and confirmed. By using the viral properties of the web, the program seeks to derail these scams by quickly raising public awareness through word of mouth.

If you receive a suspicious solicitation, ePublicEye is requesting that you send a copy of it to wms@epubliceye.com. The solicitation will be reviewed and added to the system.

Anyone interested in receiving alerts and updates of emerging consumer scams, should go to: http://www.epubliceye.com and click on the "Disaster Relief Scams" link on the home page.

For those who want to make a financial contribution, the safest bet is the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army. Both are actively working to provide assistance to those affected and both allow you to safely make donations online.

For online donations to the salvation Army go to: http://www.salvationarmy.org/

Red Cross donations may be made online at: http://www.redcross.org or by phone at 1-800-435-7669

By donating online at one of these locations and specifying where you want your donation applied, you can be sure that 100% of the money you give will quickly go to the relief effort.

About ePublicEye.com

ePublicEye.com is the only global service that allows buyers to rate e-businesses for reliability, privacy and customer satisfaction in 5 languages. With over 17,000 registered merchants, in 90 countries, ePublicEye is the leading provider of trust services to small and medium sized business around the world. Since 1996, ePublicEye.com has maintained a focus on building confidence between consumers and e-businesses in this market segment. Pioneers in the use of consumer feedback to promote safer e-commerce, ePublicEye is trusted internationally by thousands of small and mid-sized merchants to continually survey their customers. ePublicEye is the only company offering e-business ratings in French, German, Spanish, Chinese and English, and is uniquely positioned as an enabler of e-businesses worldwide.

For more information contact : Wanda San Juan of ePublicEye, 818-547-0222, wms@epubliceye.com;

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