Bitdefender says that Scammers Exploiting Ukraine Crisis via Bogus Online Scams

Security firm Bitdefender has revealed that cybercriminals are seeking assistance from kind-hearted victims with bogus distress emails for vacationers who are allegedly held up in Ukraine.

Scammers have used Nigerian scam scripts to hook Internet users amid the social and political strife currently going on in Ukraine and convinced users to send moderate amount of money to scammer's accounts.

Bitdefender spotted the fake emails entitled: "Help...Douglas Crandall" which said that the email sender was writing it tear-eyed. It (email) said that he and his came down to Kiev, Ukraine for a short vacation and unfortunately they were cheated at the hotel park where they were putting up. In the unfortunate incident they lost all their cash, credit cards and mobiles however, their passports were saved.

The scammers posing as victims say that they need a "financial loan" of $2,500 to pay hotel bills claiming that they are not being allowed to leave it without clearing the hotel bills. The cons ask for money to be wired through Western Union which makes them easy to vanish without a trace after receiving the money.

A second trend of spam wave is promotion of a dating portal where emails luring users for dating beautiful girls from Ukraine and Russia who are in fact seeking serious relationships.

These spam emails highlight some upsetting cycle of spammers as cons seeking profit on compassionate grounds concerning with international social realities. The increasingly rapid adaptation of spam on ongoing current issues comes as spammers develop new ways to slip in people's inboxes.

Hotforsecurity.com published a report on 20th March, 2014 quoting advice of Loredana Botezatu, E-Threat Analyst of Bitdefender, as don't open any unwanted emails and make sure that no one takes benefit of your generosity and don't send any monetary help to unknown individuals just because you get a sad story through email.

Security firm advises that in case you have already responded to such junk emails and have understood your mistake then it is best to warn all your friends and relatives about your mistake so that they don't wire money to cybercriminals.

» SPAMfighter News - 3/31/2014