Phishing E-mail Shocks British Resident

As people increasingly use Internet and engage in social networking activities, cyber crime tends to increase.

Despite repeated warnings of get-rich-quick schemes and other scams, still someone or other always gets trapped into one or another of these fraudulent campaigns that are incessantly circulating.

A recent and profitable example of these scams relates to Iris Ryder, a former candidate for mayoral election in Hartlepool, Cleveland, UK. While traveling to France during the 2nd week of October 2009, she encountered a phishing scam.

While she was traveling, her friends and acquaintance listed in her ID contacts section received an e-mail apparently from her saying that thieves had attacked her in Belgium leaving her penniless therefore she required over 2,000 Euros. The money should be sent via wire-transfer for enabling her to make the return journey.

However, Ryder informed that she hadn't sent any such e-mail and she came to know about it only when a foreign associate who received the e-mail notified her about it, as reported by Hartlepoolmail on October 19, 2009.

After knowing about the e-mail, Ryder realized that someone had infiltrated her computer, so she directly contacted the French police.

When she came back to England on October 15, 2009, she said that the e-mail shocked her as she never wanted anyone to remit her money, as reported by Hartlepoolmail on October 19, 2008.

Ryder further stated that she knew such e-mails were circulating across the Internet, and it wasn't merely a fraud in Britain or France, but the world over. Since it was reaching everyone she had ever communicated electronically, implying that the clean up operation was expected to be pretty large, she added.

Meanwhile, the police have cautioned everyone against replying to the scam message, while Ryder has been scouting all possible recipients telling them that it was a fraudulent e-mail.

Indeed, incidences like these have prompted David Freer, Consumer Business Unit Vice-President for Symantec, Asia-Pacific, to state that cyber crime has moved ahead of drug trafficking in the offensive business of money making. In fact, there are instances of one identity theft every 3-sec worldwide, as reported by Siliconindia during the 1st week of October 2009.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 10/30/2009