Phishing E-Mail Victimizes North Texas Resident

A North Texas (US) woman named Jan Tennyson, who founded the orphan ministry Dare-to-Dream, lately discovered that she had become a victim of one fresh e-mail scam, which cyber-criminals had launched. The33tv.com reported this on March 10, 2011.

Actually, friends started contacting Tennyson, who was on assignment in Florida during the 1st-week of March 2011, asking her well-being.

That's because, somebody had invaded her e-mail as well as dispatched a scam e-mail to all the addresses on her contact list, which stated that Tennyson was stuck in Wales (UK) where she along with her family was robbed, so she thought if her pal (e-mail recipient) could assist her with some money she'd return later.

The e-mail had the signature of Tennyson as well as other private details causing readers to trust that she indeed had sent the message.

Hitherto, people have wired over $10,000 through Western Union, each of them believing he/she was assisting his/her pal.

Luckily, though, one friend found that the particular electronic mail was part of an e-mail fraud.

That fraud was another case of the "Standard Traveler frauds," whose mode-of-operation begins with the hacking of an e-mail account followed with the hacker dispatching fake e-mails to all the contacts of the victim, pretending to be the victim himself, while making an urgent request for financial assistance. These Standard Traveler fraud e-mails normally narrate the story of the sender being robbed with slight variations while direct recipients for wiring money at a particular address convenient for the hacker like it has happened in the above instance.

Says National White Collar Crime Center, the agency that fights emerging online-crime and economic hazards, "Stranded Traveler frauds" are increasing, especially because of growing infiltration into numerous e-mail accounts. Indeed, during 2010 alone, the e-mail accounts of over 2.5m users were hacked, as per the FBI.

Eventually, for remaining safe, security researchers advise end-users for frequently altering their passwords. Despite that, incase anyone finds his account compromised, he must contact local police immediately. Also, anybody getting requests for money must first verify by asking the individual making the request, directly, while not send money to any intermediate entity ever.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 3/24/2011