Order Booking E-mail Scam Targets Auckland Restaurateurs

Cafes, bars and restaurants have been asked to be cautious of e-mails that are currently circulating requesting recipients for dinner reservations. This warning has been issued by an Auckland (New Zealand) business association called "Newmarket Business Association".

Chief Executive of the Association, Cameron Brewer, said that bogus e-mails have been detected that appear safe but are created to deceive businesses, as per the news published by NZCity on June 6, 2010.

The reports reveal that the e-mails appear official and to be coming from a visiting British delegates' group.

Further, giving the details, Brewer said that the e-mails seem fairly credible at the starting, and as it has been a not-so-happening winter so far, restaurateurs would be very delighted to get an advance booking, as per the news published by Voxy.co.nz on June 6, 2010. However, it is best not to get engaged in a prolonged e-mail communication. Scammers are so clever that they don't ask for credit card details right away, but after a prolonged communication they will certainly come to the point, he added.

Brewer also noted that the e-mails are so meticulously designed to keep the restaurateur interested from the beginning. After several e-mail communications, scammers give the recipient an impression that they might be unable to honor the reservation unless he helps them in overcoming a messy situation.

Security experts, commenting on the technique used by cyber criminals, said that there was a time when scammers would directly ask for money, allegedly to help release a huge amount of money that the e-mail recipient had won.

However, now as people have become so aware, scammers are looking for back doors. For instance, in the above discussed case, they give recipients the illusion that they are seriously looking to spend money in their business, which can appear quite attractive.

Brewer said these fake e-mails are distributed through fake Hotmail and Yahoo accounts and are, thus, impossible to trace. It's largely a case where businesses need to be highly vigilant.

Brewer suggested restaurateurs receiving e-mails looking suspicious from the starting to make an attempt at ringing the phone number given at the bottom of the e-mail, which will most probably prove to be bogus. In this way, users will come to know the truth of these fake e-mails.

» SPAMfighter News - 19-06-2010

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