Mail From So Called "Google Support" Asking for Account Details - - Gmail Account Phishing Scam

Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email, purporting to be from Google Support, claims that the recipient will lose his or her Gmail account if he or she does not reply with the account's username and password and other personal information within seven days of receiving the message.

In fact, the message is not from Google. It is a phishing scam designed to steal the recipient's Gmail login details. If a recipient replies with the requested information, Internet scammers can then hijack the his or her Gmail account and use it for further criminal activities.

Let's have a look to the contents of the mail being sent to thousands of Gmail users:

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From: Gmail Support
Subject: Your Gmail Account

Due to the congestion in our Gmail servers,there would be removal of all unused Gmail Accounts.You will have to confirm if your E-mail is still active by filling out your login info below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

Account name:
Password:
DOB:
Country :

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
Thank you for using Gmail !

The Gmail Team

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Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This email, which claims to be from "Google Support" warns the recipient that his or her Gmail account will be suspended within 24 hours "for security reasons" unless he or she confirms that the account is still active by replying to the email with account details. The message further warns that the account will be permanently deleted if the requested details are not received within seven days. The recipient is instructed to reply to the message with his or her Gmail username and password along with his or her date of birth and country of residence.

However, the email is not from Google and the claim that the recipient's Gmail account is about to be suspended is untrue. In fact, the message is a phishing scam designed to trick Gmail users into sending their account details to Internet criminals.

If a recipient falls for the trick and sends the requested details, the criminals behind the scam will then be able to hijack their victim's Gmail account and use it for their own nefarious purposes. Typically, these criminals use such hijacked accounts to launch further scams designed to trick contacts of the victim into sending them money. Once they have gained access to the hijacked account, the scammers will then send emails to all of the people on the account's contact list. These emails will falsely claim that the account holder is in a very difficult situation and desperately needs financial assistance. Usually, such emails claim that the account holder is stranded in another country without money or travel documents due to a robbery or lost baggage. The following is a typical example of such a scam letter:

Subject: PLEASE URGENT Money NEEDED

Hello,

How are you doing ? I hope you are doing fine, I'm sorry that I didn't inform you about my traveling to England for a Seminar.I need a favor from you as soon as you receive this e-mail because I my wallet was stolen on my way to the hotel where my money, passport and other valuable things were kept. I will like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently. I will be needing the sum of $2,500 to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home.I will appreciate whatever you can afford to help me with, I will pay you back as soon as I return,I have trust on you,Please kindly let me know if you can be of help so I can send you my details to use when sending the money through Western Union Or Money Gram today, may god bless you and your family.

Any assistant you can offer will be greatly appreciated

regards [Name removed]

Because the message apparently comes from a person that the recipient knows, he or she may be more inclined to believe the story and send money as requested. Since the scam message originates from the victim's own account, it will have the his or her own name and email address in the sender field and may also include the his or her normal email signature.

Many people on the hijacked contact list will recognize the begging message as a scam because they are aware of such activities or because they know that the supposed sender is not travelling as claimed. However, even if only one or two people on the contact list fall for the ruse and send money as requested, the scammer will be well paid for his efforts. If a person does send money, the scammers may then attempt to trick him or her into sending further "emergency" loans. Of course, once they have gained as much money from their victim as possible, the criminals running the scam will simply disappear with the money.

Meanwhile, the original victim may not even be aware that his or her account has been hijacked, at least in the early stages of the scam. And, one of the first things they scammers will do when they have gained access to an account is to change the account's password, thereby locking the victim out of the compromised account. Thus, even after the victim realizes that the account has been hijacked, he or she may not be able to warn everyone on the contact list to watch out for scam messages sent from the compromised account.

Scammers have used similar tactics to steal account information from users of other popular email providers, including Yahoo, Hotmail and several others.

While some email service providers may have a policy of deactivating unused accounts, they certainly will not ask uses to "save" the account by replying with a username or password. Any message that asks you to send your email account username and password via an email is very likely to be a scam.

Electronic Fraud: Uganda Hit by The New Wave of Cybercrime

Uganda has been hit by a new wave of crime - electronic fraud – but there are no laws and monitoring systems to protect citizens’ money, from fraudulent hands, Writes ANDREW BAGALA:-

According to police, an increasing number of Ugandans have mysteriously lost money electronically through their ATM cards, money transfers and even through e-mail hacking. Some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) whose activities are not clear and forex bureaus making huge transfers are now also being investigated for money laundering.

In just three weeks, police have recorded over 200 cases of ATM fraud but lack of laws and proper monitoring systems are hindering efforts to curb the crime.

“For the last three weeks we have been having several reports of people losing money through their ATMs,” says Detective Cadet ASP Frank Mwebaze of the Financial Fraud Unit at Central Police Station.

Cash gone
“For instance, you have your ATM card on you, have never withdrawn any money with it, but when you go to the bank they tell you that you have been withdrawing money,” Mr Mwebaze says.
The Financial Fraud Unit was established recently following an outcry by the public for losing a lot of money through the electronic financial transactions.

Mr Mwebaze who now heads investigations in the department said hackers are using sophisticated gadgets to hack into unsuspecting peoples e-mails and access their data including information about their bank accounts and any money transfers.

“There are hackers who go to internet cafes with a gadget called a ‘Safaricom’ attached to a modem. If fixed in any computer, it can retrieve the list of all the users of that computer that particular day, and open their emails and their codes. These hackers then change the information and your money is transferred into their own accounts,” Mr Mwebaze explains.
Suspicions of money laundering are also thriving. Police is now investigating some forex bureaus that are not registered and licensed by Bank of Uganda yet pass huge sums of money through their systems with unclear purposes.

Bank accounts of some NGO’s are also under surveillance. “There are very many NGO’s which are not registered. There are those NGO’s which receive a lot of ‘donor’ money from abroad and yet they have no activities on the ground,” Mr Mwebaze adds.

The chairman of the Uganda Forex Bureau and Money Remittance Association, Mr Stephen Mwanje, says fraudsters are always ahead of many people and they are very difficult to curb.

“It is very difficult to curb fraud but for us as an association once a member gets such incident, we alert other operators so that it doesn’t recur,” Mr Mwanje said yesterday. He says that information sharing of details of the fraud by different operators is the only way to fight it.

Electronic crime is a new concept in Uganda. And according to the police, most of the suspects are not Ugandans.
“Most of these suspects using the ATMs are not Ugandans because we have been seeing them on the CCTV cameras. We have watched some footage in several banks and have realised that most of these people (suspects) are white people. You find a man with 10 ATM cards. He enters the box, inserts one card and withdraws, and then he inserts another one and withdraws money.”
According to the police, the suspects wear disguise like a cap and dark glasses and others even wear helmets like boda boda riders to hide their faces from the CCTV cameras.

No laws
Police say such western oriented crimes are thriving because of lack of laws and monitoring systems. “Our laws are very weak. There is also no law on money laundering. And when criminals from the developed world know that a country has weak laws against electronic crime, they take advantage and that is what is happening here,” Mwebaze says.

However, Interpol Uganda has also recorded a number of cases of Ugandan being defrauded electronically both within borders and even in the diaspora.
“The most common type of crime reported are those where an individual wants to purchase a vehicle from Japan,” says Mr Charles Tumwesigye, the Head of Investigations Desk at Interpol office in Kampala.

He says many people identify cars online and transfer money to a bank in Japan without knowing who they are dealing with.
“The customer in Uganda waits until he realises now that the phones (in Tokyo) are off and the company is no longer on the website and it stops there,” he says.

However, on communication with Interpol Tokyo, it is realised that the company is nonexistent or shut down.
According to Mr Tumwesigye, most of these companies in Japan are operated by Pakistani’s.

With increase in unmonitored global financial transactions, several sophisticated cyber-based financial companies have also sprung up with a claim of giving individuals opportunities in big investments like trading on the Eurex, Europe’s global financial marketplace and other financial platforms.

One such website is a Liechtenstein registered company Reflexivity Capital Group run allegedly by a German of Ugandan origin - Andrew Shawn a.k.a Kirya, which provides ‘solicitation for business services’ for any citizens around the world except for the US.

Among many of his victims is a Ugandan international businessman who lost colossal amounts of money under a skilfully tailored scam. The relationship started over the internet.

Lottery Scams - - Winning Notification: Mail From McDonald's Incorporation

Yesterday, I received this mail from cyber culprits, informing me that I've won a Lottery from random balloting of email accounts (this method is very common among cyber cowboys to cheat innocent internet users.)

This time bad guys used the name of worldwide famous Fast Food Chain "McDonald's". The mail is almost complete with respect to details and specifications to cheat any novice internet user.

Let's have a look to the mail contents hereunder:


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From: MCDONALD'S 2010 AWARD NOT. (mcdonaldsprom@mcdonalds.co.uk)
Sent: Tue, April 6, 2010 11:52:13 AM
Subject: Notification: Mail From McDonald's Incorporation

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McDonald's Incorporation
PO Box 1010,Liverpool
L70 1NL,United Kingdom.
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Batch: 24/00319/IPD

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are Pleased to inform you that you have won a prize money from the Annual 2010 Lottery promotion which is organized by McDonald's Incorporation in conjunction with the World wide web email system company's i.e microsoft, yahoo & gmail, a random selection was made which consists of 12 winners from 6 different continents, This software radomlly picked all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo,Hotmail and various Microsoft window users, we only select 6 individuals every Month as our winners,through electronic balloting System without the winner applying.

These are your identification numbers:
Ref: XYL /26510460037/05
Batch: 24/00319/IPD
Winning number:YM/09788

To File for your claim, please contact our payment/release order officer below.

********************************************
Name: Mr Benjamin Flyttyn
E-mail: mcdonaldsprom@hotmail.com
Foreign Services Manager, Payment and
Release order Department,
Tel: +44-8712375734
+44-8712375735
********************************************

Be further advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated with fraudulent claims. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.

Congratulations from me and members of staff of the THE McDonald's Lottery.

Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Lisa Wise
Online coordinator
(Sweepstakes International Program)
The McDonald's Incorporation
PO Box 1010,Liverpool
L70 1NL,United Kingdom.
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Beware! It's a cyber world and don't believe the things over here which are too good to be true; as free cheese is available in rat's trap only.

Cyber Security Threats in Near Future - - Africa: An Emerging Capital of Cyber Crime Can Leave Behind China And Russia

Russia and China are often considered the two nations leading in cyber crime, but there’s a runner-up that could take the leading spot in Internet misdeeds: Africa.

Cyber-security experts estimate that 80 percent of computers on the African continent are already infected with viruses and other malicious software, according to Foreign Policy. The combination of housing the world’s most vulnerable computers and a majority of a population lacking basic knowledge of IT makes the computers easy targets for skilled botnet operators and hackers.

Also, with the exception of Egypt and South Africa, most African countries lack the legal infrastructure to prosecute, or even stop the rise in cyber crime. Despite commitments made at a Regional Cyber-security Forum for Africa and Arab states held last year, there is little coordination between countries on how to deal with cyber-security.

While the continent as a whole is lagging behind in cybersecurity, there are a few countries that have made advancements. Tunisia, for example, has created the first national security institute in Africa, and Nigeria has developed a national cybersecurity initiative aimed at raising awareness and battling online fraud.

Internet Scam Cost $15,495 to 80-Years-Old Lady From Lee County

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a possible fraud case after an 80-year-old woman complained she was swindled out 0f $15,495 she thought she was investing in an Internet business.

According to a sheriff’s office report:

The victim told investigators she was contacted on Jan. 20 by the suspect about the business venture and the money would pay for call blasts to people in the area advertising multiple businesses.

The suspect told the woman she would get her money back in the first two months and then receive $8,000 a month after that.

The suspects used her Visa card to pay $5,000 of the money and her Discover card to pay for another $10,000.

She has not received an money and is unable to get in contact with the suspect.

Give-Away Scams - - Mail from Lady Novell Frances Offering a Sum of 2 Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling

Today I received the following mail; presented for my readers as it is. The email address given in this mail to contact and further communication is novellfrances01@discuz.org. When I tried to search the domain of this email i.e. discuz.org; I found a lot of scam mails to many innocent internet users offering different types of give-aways, lottery scams and many more.

This domain has continuously been used for the purpose of cheating people through internet. So I want my readers to be aware of the fact and don't reply to any such mails.

The contents of the mail are as under;

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From: Esra Albayrak (ealbayrak@gsu.edu.tr)
Sent: Tue, April 6, 2010 9:12:15 AM
Subject: Humanitarian Call

Here writes Lady Novell Frances, suffering from cancerous ailment. I am married to Sir
David Novell an Englishman who is dead.When my late husband was alive he deposited the
sum of 2 Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling which were derived from his vast estates
and investment in capital market with his bank here in UK.

Recently, my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the cancerous
problems I am suffering from. I have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to
use this gift which comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows,
widowers, orphans,destitute, the down-trodden,physically challenged children, barren-
women and persons who prove to be genuinely handicapped financially.

I took this decision because I do not have any child and my husband relatives are
bourgeois and very wealthy persons.I do not want my husband's hard earned money to be
misused or invested into ill perceived ventures hence the reason for taking this bold
decision.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Bank in UK. I will
also issue you a Letter of Authority that will empower you
as the original beneficiary of this fund. My happiness is that I lived a life worthy of
emulation. Please assure me that you will act just as I have stated herein.

Hope to hear from you soon.

You can contact me through my personal email address: novellfrances01@discuz.org

Madam Novell Frances

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Beware! It's a cyber world.

Email Hoaxes - - Reality of the Mail Showing The Most Beautiful and Lucky Mummy in the World!!!

Beware! It's a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email chain letter with an attached photograph of a child mummy claims that those who send the message to twenty friends will receive good luck.

During the investigation of the reality of this mail; it is found that he photograph is genuine and depicts the remains of a child named Rosalia Lombardo who died around 1920. However, the claim that forwarding the message will bring good luck to the recipient is utter nonsense.

Let's have a look towards the contents of the mail containing the so called Lucky Photograph:

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Subject: Lucky Mummy

The most beautiful mummy in the world!!!
This girl died from a disease at 5 year's old.
Her mother asked a doctor to make her a mummy and kept it in an Italian temple, it's already 80 years.



Believe or not

Are you unlucky recently?
1. I'm an engineer; I was promoted as supervisor in one week after I forwarded this message.
2. I'm a stroked man, and I can walk one month later after I forward this message.
3. I'm areca vendor in Taipei , I sold two or three times as usual after I send this to my friend.
4. I'm student of Minx in college (Taipei), I passed all the exams after I sent this message
Good luck will be your house five days later you ! send this short message to 20 friends!

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Beware! It's a Cyber World - - Explanation:

According to this message, those who forward the email and the attached photograph to twenty other people will receive good luck. The message lists examples, in somewhat fractured English, of the good luck that has come to other recipients who forwarded the email.

The focal point of the message is a photograph of an extremely well-preserved child mummy. According to the message the little girl was mummified after she died many years ago and was subsequently kept in an Italian temple.

The photograph is genuine and shows the remains of little Rosalia Lombardo who died around 1920. Rosalia's body lies in the Capuchins' Catacombs at Palermo in Italy. The very informative King's Capuchins' Catacombs Corpses of Palermo website notes:

The catacombs date back to the 1599 when the local priests mummified a holy monk for all to see. They wanted to pray to him after death.

In time the locals wanted their relatives remembered in this same way. Soon there were hundreds of corpses. Some of the deceased wrote wills, expressing the clothes in which to bury them in. Some asked to have their clothes changed over a period of time. Included in the catacombs are hundreds of coffins as well. Some contain the corpse that was buried in them. The side is sometimes cut to expose the deceased.

Children are sometimes posed. Two are seated together in a small rocking chair. Rosalia Lombardo was one of the last corpses to make it to the catacombs before the local authorities discontinued the practice. Rosalia died about 1920 and is nicknamed the "Sleeping Beauty". It was said that her sister and family visited her coffin often after her death.

The site includes the above photograph of Rosalia, as well as another image, attributed to Mike Prenis, depicting a wider view of the child in her coffin.

The chain email claims that Rosalia was five years old when she died. However, the King's Capuchins' Catacombs website and most other resources state that she was probably only two years old. Not much information about the circumstances of Rosalia's death is available. Some references indicate that she succumbed to influenza. Rosalia Lombardo was embalmed by Dr Alfredo Solafia who reportedly used chemical injections to preserve the body. The exact procedure for this, apparently very effective, embalming technique was lost when Dr Solafia died.

Visitors to Palermo can visit the Catacombs and view the corpses, including that of little Rosalia.

Although the story of Rosalia Lombardo is quite remarkable, the claim that forwarding her photograph will bring good luck is, in my opinion at least, superstitious nonsense. Are we to believe that denizens of the spirit world have Internet accounts and can track our forwarding activities? I think not! Similar chain letters have circulated via surface mail and email for many years. At least this version does not threaten death or misery for those who do NOT forward the message like some other of its kind

The photograph of little Rosalia is certainly interesting although quite sad. However, sending on a nonsensical chain letter in her name only clutters in-boxes and cheapens this poor child's memory.