FNB Warns of 2010 FIFA World Cup Phishing Scam

Namibia's First National Bank (FNB) has issued warning that international as well as local cybercriminals are abusing the "2010 FIFA World Cup" to dodge people of their money, reported the nst.com on August 5, 2009.

In her statement given to media, Ingrid Katjiukua, FNB's Manager for Forensic Investigations, warned the customers of a scam e-mail which purports to be coming from the Canadian & South African 2010 Lottery Office.

The text of this phishing e-mail reveals that the First National Bank is informing its customers of their selection through a computer poll and that their e-mail address had qualified as one among the five victors of a lucrative amount of US$2 Million that is to be divided equally among the five, with every winner receiving an amount of US$400,000.

Under the ploy, the original certificates were sent to payer (i.e. FNB South Africa). Moreover, phishers are allegedly mailing other documents verifying the winnings together with the scam e-mail.

Katjiukua claimed that the contents of these certificates are fraudulent for obvious reasons. Additionally, they have only been mailed alongwith the e-mail in order to provide an authentic and legitimate look to the fraud e-mail received by the customers. People receiving the fake e-mail are asked to communicate a contact person working at FNB via mail for further proceedings.

Security officials investigating this latest phishing scam have urged people that this e-mail is nothing but a well-planned tactic of fraudsters to trick innocent bank customers, where experienced phishers are gaining advantage of the excessive hype and excitement created for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. They further advised users to be aware of such e-mails and not to believe them in case they receive any.

Apart from this, it is not the first e-mail scam which has been detected by the FNB abusing the coming FIFA World Cup. In June 2009, a person (reportedly a student) lodged a complaint with consumercomplaints.in, saying that FNB cheated him of US$1 Million by asserting him as a winner of a lottery conducted for the promotion of the FIFA World Cup.

» SPAMfighter News - 8/19/2009