Use of Personalized E-Mail Scams in Cybercrime Surging

Throughout the world cybercrime activities are increasing, especially with the help of personalized e-mails. To verify this, two distinct cases, in which two different women based in US were involved, have been illustrated.

First case involved hacking of the e-mail account of Wendy Tinkham, resident of Portsmouth (New Hampshire, US). The hacked account was then exploited in sending scam e-mails to all her contacts.

The details of the scam revealed that hundreds of contacts of Tinkham were distressed to learn that her cousin was in need of urgent hysterectomy surgery. This information was sent to them via a mass e-mail sent from Tinkham's hacked e-mail account.

However, as soon as they read the e-mail, they started smelling something fishy. The text of the e-mail said that Tinkham has departed for the UK to visit her cousin and required a "soft loan" of 1,500 British pounds so that he could get the medical aid.

Some of the recipients even wrote back to Tinkham informing her of the suspected account hack. But to their surprise, they received another e-mail confirming that the sender was Wendy only. The e-mail added that her PC had not been hacked, reported newburyportnews.com on October 27, 2009.

This was the point when Tinkham began getting calls, after which she checked her Facebook and e-mail accounts and found them hacked. The hackers had changed Tinkham's passwords. Actually, a few of her friends even fell for the scam.

The second incident was that of a Yahoo free e-mail service user, named Lauren Watson - a real estate agent from Albany (US). Her account was used in defrauding hundreds of her customers and friends. After taking over the lady's Yahoo e-mail account, hackers send nearly 500 emergency e-mails to all the contacts in her contact list.

The scam e-mail read like all the money and passport of Watson had got stolen on her way to the hotel where she had been lodging, and thus she was in need of money. The e-mail urged the recipients to lend her 1000 Pounds so that she could make arrangements for returning back, reported walb on October 22, 2009.

Hence, the above two scams are a clear proof of how much sophisticated cybercriminals have grown.

Related article: US Passes Baton to Asia in Spam Relay

» SPAMfighter News - 11/5/2009