Two Fresh E-mail Scams Target FIFA 2010

According to Trend Micro, sports lovers are excitedly looking forward to the "2010 FIFA World Cup" to be held in South Africa. Consequently, online crooks are trying to exploit every aspect of this event to carry out their unending streams of malicious campaigns. Thus, the security company has recently uncovered 2 different spam scams piggy backing on the mentioned sports event.

According to the first, an attachment depicting a .DOC file notifies recipients about one fictitious new contest named "Final Draw." The FIFA Organizing Committee apparently arranged the draw in part. It then informs the recipients about a prize worth US$ 550,000. Anyone desiring for its claim should contact the releasing party right away through the contact details given in the message, the e-mail continues. Thereafter, the recipients are asked to reveal personal details.

The second campaign involves an e-mail, which is not only poorly written but also contains a PDF attachment with a poorly written letter. This scam directs the reader to reveal details about a particular money transfer deal values US$10.5 Million. Once the proposal is agreed upon and settled, the reader ought to receive 30% of the sum, according to the e-mail.

Trend Micro points out that this scam uses tactics which somewhat copies the popular "419 scam," also called "West African scam" or "Nigerian scam." The Nigerian scam regularly affects massive numbers of people globally by sending a message that requests for assistance, while promising huge prize money for the same. Nevertheless, victims do not receive any reward and lose hard-earned money from their pockets.

Thus, the Trend Micro security researchers caution everyone that in case they get an e-mail which sounds unbelievably true, they should know that it is nothing but a fraud. Moreover, they should delete it immediately in case the sender is not known. Urging ordinary users to remember these 2 basic things, Trend Micro states these will help them to stay away from cyber-criminals' traps and attempts at stealing their cash.

As FIFA approaches fast, security specialists suggest the general public to remain more watchful while surfing online.

Related article: THE SPAM MAFIA

» SPAMfighter News - 6/5/2010