Video Screencast Help
Search Video Help Close Back
to help

Symantec Intelligence

Showing posts tagged with Online Fraud
Showing posts in English
As Haiti earthquake relief efforts continue, so do the spammers, phishers and scammers
Paul Wood | 25 Jan 2010 | 0 comments

Posted on behalf of Dan Bleaken, Malware Data Analyst, Symantec Hosted Services

The Haiti earthquake happened at 21.53 GMT on Tues Jan 12.  It wasn’t long before we saw something related in spam, about 24 hours in fact. 

Spammers, almost without fail, produce spam campaigns containing text relating to virtually every major newsworthy event that is going on.  And also plenty of events that are in the news, that are not particularly global or exciting or even interesting sometimes.   The approaches that spammers frequently use when newsworthy events arise include:

1.    Spammers may just continue to send the same old spam campaigns, Pharmaceuticals, fertility drugs, watches or whatever.  But, if they include the latest news headlines in the subject or somewhere in the body, this works to grab the attention of the recipients and make it more likely they will open the spam and get drawn into whatever the...

Read more
419-Style Scammers Seeking to Exploit Appeal for Donations to Support Victims of Haitian Earthquake
Paul Wood | 11 Jul 2011

Posted on behalf of Mathew Nisbet, Malware Data Analyst, Symantec Hosted Services

People all over the world are currently feeling a great deal of sympathy for the people of Haiti, who were recently hit by a severe earthquake. Humanitarian aid is being offered by many countries around the globe, and aid charities are looking for donations so that they can send all the help they can.
 
And then there are people who don’t want to help and will use any means to try and get those donations. '419' advance fee fraud scams are common and the perpetrators are always looking for new attention-grabbing topics which will trick people into handing over their money. Something like the humanitarian crisis of the Haiti earthquake is, sadly, a prime target for these scammers. They count on the public’s good nature, concern, and desire to help, and hope that they won’t see through the scam email which they are reading. The desire to help...

Read more
419-Style Scam Seeks "Muslim Brother or Sister" to Retrieve Funds from Alleged Christmas Airline Bomber
Paul Wood | 14 Jan 2010 | 0 comments

This post is made on behalf of Nicholas Johnston, Senior Anti-Spam Engineer, Symantec Hosted Services.

Earlier today we saw a 419 or advance fee fraud scam claiming to be sent by Hassan Ali Abdul Mutallab, the brother of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, who allegedly attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day.

The message (see screenshot) has a subject of "Take my Salaam and respect", and the scammer purporting to be Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab's brother claims he is looking for a "Muslim brother/sister" to help retrieve funds belonging to the alleged bomber. Without replying to scammer it's impossible to be sure exactly how the scam works, but we have every suspicion that it operates like most 419 scams. Before the non-existent money can be released, various increasingly inventive fees and charges have to be paid. These fees continue until the victim of the scam eventually realizes that they have no chance...

Read more
Attackers behind phish mails see new opportunities as banks add levels of security
Daren Lewis | 09 Dec 2009 | 0 comments

Posted on behalf of Dan Bleaken, Malware Data Analyst

Financial organizations undergo frequent changes from the point of view of their customers, whether it’s a change to security processes, takeovers, re-branding, new products and so on.  Phish emails often contain generic messages like ‘Account Suspended’ or ‘Update your account details’, but when a change such as this takes place, the perpetrators of the attacks are quick to react and try to convince unfortunate victims to part with their login details.  Attackers know that if they refer to things in the message that customers are familiar with, perhaps from real communications with the imitated organisation, then the target is slightly more likely to fall into the trap, and part with their precious personal details.  For example, last year, with the credit crisis in full swing, and banks closing, re-branding, being taken over, MessageLabs...

Read more