The growing volumes of money that the presidential campaigns are soliciting -- and receiving -- online are likely to prick up the ears of fraudsters sensing a great opportunity to cut in and divert passionate online politicos' financial support to their own pockets, says Christopher  Soghoian

The public last heard from Soghoian when he created a web site to generate fake Northwest Airline boarding passes to illustrate how insecure the nation's aviation policies are

Fraudsters could easily send out e-mails and establish Web sites that mimic the official campaigns' sites  and  similarly send out such e-mails that would encourage  people to  "donate" money without checking for the authenticity of the site

The practice is widespread in the financial services industry and has been dubbed "phishing."

So what's the solution

Consistent Web addresses

possible partnerships with widely known and trusted brand names in commerce and payment solutions

Google and Paypal are in a good position to authenticate