Monday, January 24, 2011

update: example of apparent "Turkish" email sting (עוקץ) in the wild

Now that the the Turkel Committee has released its findings regarding the Mavi Marmarma incident, a new variation of the email scam is again finding its way to people who may be vulnerable. here's the new format - note that it keeps improving. For your information the UK phone number this time is in Cardiff.

I hope the Israeli Police Cyber Crime Unit is on this stuff...

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[from the evidently hijacked email address of the person you know]

Urgent

Apologies for having to reach out to you like this, but I made a quick trip to the UK and had my bag stolen from me with my passport and credit cards in it. The embassy has cooperated by issuing a temporary passport, I just have to pay for a ticket and settle Hotel bills.
To be honest,i don't have money with me,I've made contact with my bank but the best they could do was to send me a new card in the mail which will take 2-4 working days to arrive here.i was thinking of asking you to lend me some quick funds that i can give back as soon as i am out of here,i really need to make a last minute flight that leaves in a few hours.

I can furnish you with info on how you will get me the money. You can reach me via hotel's desk phone, the number is, +44 2920 644 171.

Thanks
[name and details of the person you know]

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People who receive emails like this should call the alleged sender using the landline or cell number they have, not the number in the received email if they are unsure about the provenance of the message.

The person whose email has been hijacked should try sending all the people on their hijacked email list an email from another email address forewarning them and giving them your new "secure" email address. The rest of us should probably make their usually belated monthly password change yet again.

Hoping this prepares someone for this - before it happens to them.