With less than 140 days until World Cup 2010 kicks off, Symantec is observing an increasing number of the so-called “advanced fee” e-mail scams where marks are informed they have won tickets to important matches. Today’s example makes even more outlandish claims.
The mail carries a simple message, “you’ve been enlisted”, which links to an amateurish blog set up on piczo.com, with the World Cup-related sub domain southafrica2010games.piczo.com where recipients are told they stand to win a trip to the World Cup in South Africa and, wait for it, 1,5 million UK pounds!
The recipient is asked to send personal details to an e-mail address, following which, as usual, we would expect the scammer to follow up via e-mail or phone to ask for an advance fee.
This particular scam tugs at the heart strings by informing recipients that they are to donate 10% of their winnings to the “less privileged children of Africa”, which could serve as the advance fee. Be assured that while the amount requested probably won’t be 10% of 1,5 million, responding will probably leave you hundreds of pounds out of pocket.
In a final bizarre twist, the scammers request the recipient to “keep this personal” – an obvious ploy to stop the recipient seeking the advice of friends or family. Get real, any legitimate winner of 1,5 million UK pounds and a free trip to the World Cup would grab the nearest vuvuzela and trumpet it from the rooftops!