The scam messages, made to look like
they come from reputed Syrian and UK banks, state that some of their clients
would like to transfer their multi-million savings from their accounts because
of the unrest in Syria, and were looking for a partner who would help them do
so. Naturally, those that reply are guaranteed a reward.
The scammers usually provide a
contact phone number and the personal email of the “bank client” allegedly
looking for a partner. After a recipient shows an interest and responds to the
message, the scammers ask him to transfer a small amount of money to pay for
the mediator’s services, and then disappear.
In some case, the scammers have
posed as members of the International Red Cross, telling the sad story of an
oil trader who died in the Syrian conflict, and whose fortune was saved by a
Red Cross employee. The sender then asks for help in transferring and looking
after the money. The recipient is told a parcel will be sent containing the
millions in cash. The recipient is promised half of the money if they help and
is given a personal email address for contacting the scammers.
Some of the emails detected by
analysts at ESET Lab appear to have been sent using the names of “ordinary”
Syrians, and had a variety of themes. In one, a “teacher from Syria” asks
recipients to help orphaned children who have inherited a large sum from their
parents to leave the country and invest the money. Other ‘Nigerian’ letters
also came from allegedly critically ill people who want to donate some of their
money and ask the recipients for help in doing so.
Tatyana Shcherbakova, Senior Spam
Analyst, commented: “We came across very brief messages in which the author
merely wanted to get to know the recipient better. The texts of the messages
made frequent use of words such as ‘turmoil’, ‘crisis’ or ‘revolution’. Having
got the recipient’s attention, the scammers play on people’s natural desire for
easy money and to help people in distress. Users shouldn’t respond to these
types of emails because once you are in communication with a ‘Nigerian’
scammer, you risk being cheated.”
According to a spam report for
September, Asia (59%) remained the leading regional source of spam – its
contribution increasing by 4 percentage points from the previous month. Asia is
followed by North America (20%), whose share grew by 2 percentage points, and
Eastern Europe (12%), whose share fell 2 percentage points. Western Europe (4%)
and Latin America (2.4%) complete the top five rating.
