‘419 Scam’ Targets Member of Logan Council

Every person on the e-mail list of Dean Quayle, member of Municipal Council of Logan (New Jersey, USA), likely got an unusual message lately, pretending to be from Quayle, so published Cachevalleydaily.com on 21st February 2011.

Quayle seemed to write that one day he was hurriedly driving for UK to attend something crucial, whilst robbers mugged him. Consequently, he was left without his cash, air tickets, cell-phones as well as other precious things.

Reportedly, after Quayle got the first phone-call from an acquaintance, he indicated that the person received the unusual message in which he (Quayle) appeared to write that he was stranded somewhere far off and required cash since he'd been mugged. Quayle said that he'd observed the same thing previously happening with other individuals so he instantly realized that he too had been targeted. Someone hacked his e-mail account and used it for sending e-mails to everyone whose id was on his (Quayle's) contact list, informing how he (Quayle) was in a terrible situation somewhere far off. Certainly, the whole thing was bogus, asserted Quayle that Cachevalleydaily.com reported.

States Quayle, he's thinking of notifying the law enforcement about the incident as an instance involving ID-theft.

Importantly, the Quayle event is an instance of "419 scam" or "advance-fee fraud."

These scams involve fake e-mails coming into people's inboxes that a relative/friend supposedly sent telling that the writer is in a foreign country and in an awful situation. Actually, the scammers in these e-mail frauds exploit people's emotions. Moreover, the dramatic tale narrated differs from one electronic message to another, with a few having just a small number of lines whereas the rest many paragraphs; however, the purpose remains constant i.e. ask for cash, and that too via wire-transfer alternatively a credit made to a foreign country bank account, specialists outline.

Consequently, specialists suggest that in case anybody gets the above kind of e-mail he should become more careful about similar e-mails in future. Moreover, recipients must notify the Police about such events, and suppose anybody's account gets hijacked, he should opt for a fresh e-mail id as well as a new password.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 2/28/2011