District Attorney Alerts of Scam E-Mails Titled ‘Breaking News’

According to Carol Chambers, District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District, South Africa, fake e-mails are circulating on the Internet, claiming that they are providing information about several big events like the Olympics, the Republican National Convention, and the Democratic National Convention. Also, the e-mails use the phrase "breaking news" in their subject line, as reported by 9news on August 22, 2008.

Internet users are, therefore, being asked to exercise caution with e-mails providing the latest news relating to the Olympics, the Democratic and Republican conventions or any other latest news pertaining to a major event.

Chambers said that the scammers sending the phishing e-mails are making use of the new trick not just to grab personal data but also to potentially compromise computers by delivering malware through their malicious e-mails.

Chambers recalled one recent instance of a scam e-mail that appeared to come from MSNBC.com giving a 'Breaking News Alert.'

Furthermore, according to the prosecutor, anytime a major event takes place like the Olympics; scammers attempt to deliver their fraudulent e-mails in the form of authentic news from reputed organizations, as reported by denverpost on August 21, 2008.

The district attorney suggested that users should restrain from opening e-mails coming from unfamiliar sources whatever titles they have. They should also be aware of which "breaking news" they have subscribed to and be careful about "news" from a company they didn't subscribe to.

The district attorney, Chambers, also said that her office was getting reports from people who said that e-mails were coming to them regarding news stories though they did not led to the real stories; rather when they viewed the full e-mail or clicked on the embedded link, they encountered problems, as reported by 9news on August 22, 2008.

She further added that if any news alert indicates that it contains vital information, then it is safe to directly visit the sender's site to read or view the news. To illustrate an example, she said that if an e-mail claims to be from MSNBC.com, then the recipient should type in www.MSNBC.com in his or her web browser's address bar and read the news from there.

Related article: Doctor Gets Preyed Upon With E-Mail Fraud

» SPAMfighter News - 8/29/2008