Scam E-Mail Targets Eau Claire Flower Dealer

Sandy O'Connell a flower seller, who is the proprietor of Eau Claire, (Wisconsin, US) based Avalon Floral was lately struck with a scam electronic mail, published weau.com in news dated October 24, 2011.

Actually, during the 3rd-week of October 2011, rumor spread that O'Connell, stranded abroad inside Spain, required financial help of $9,500 for returning to USA.

However, in reality, the florist hadn't left Eau Claire at all during that time.

She (O'Connell) stated that somebody hijacked her company e-mail account as well as distributed an imploring electronic mail on her behalf. Weau.com published this.

Moreover according to O'Connell, the scam message managed in hitting over 500 customers' inboxes.

The florist further reported that she got several phone calls that enquired about her well-being, which was pleasant; however, the unfortunate thing was that the scammers took away all her friends'/relatives' e-mail ids.

Tony Beltz, who owns Eau Claire (Wisconsin) based Ram Technologies, stated that he was sure Internet hackers were able to infiltrate accounts as those accounts' owners didn't set sufficiently strong passwords. Weau.com published this.

Unluckily according to security researchers, the scam, which struck Sandy O'Connell, is called the notorious "stranded traveler's scam" that's one kind of the "advance fee fraud" or "419 scam."

In this, someone known, similar as O'Connell within the above mentioned instance, sends an e-mail to potential victims, informing them that the person had recently been mugged when he/she was touring abroad, similar as Spain in O'Connell's instance; therefore requires the e-mail reader for assisting him/her to fly back to his/her home country. And because the e-mail is sent from a known friend, although it's actually from the scammer, recipients may easily trust and fall victim, the researchers add.

Hence, if anybody receives this sort of dubious electronic mail supposedly from a relative/friend claiming to be in trouble as in O'Connell's instance, that person should contact the e-mail's sender directly and verify the situation before proceeding to take action, the researchers advise. Any e-mail, letter alternatively telephone call requesting for immediate monetary assistance is clearly an indication of fraud that end-users must remain wary of, they conclude.

Related article: Sixem Worm Striking World Cup

» SPAMfighter News - 11/1/2011