Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Fighting Scam Emails through Simple Intellectual Deduction

In my last post “Online Scams how you get suckered and the little you can do about it?” I pointed out the difficulty in protecting oneself from online scams. There is no prescription to fool proof security, but there are a few tips that normal users can follow to avoid becoming a fraud victim. I compiled these after an analysis of the last 30 scam mails sent me in February.

Check out the story. Check the seller’s reputation

Scam emails had repetitive stories and overtly invited recipients to be part of the scam and take a share of the spoils. They common stories were business proposals, invitations to take a share of unclaimed money, assistance to claim inheritance and award payouts. A summary of the stories in scam emails sent to me last month is listed below:


business proposal
business proposal
cash award
casino free bonus
dating/collection personal info
Father killed by business partner
helping to get my inheritance
helping to get my inheritance
helping to get my inheritance
job scam
lottery win
payment in thanks for past help
Relationship
Relationship
share in inheritance
share in spoils
share in spoils
share in spoils
share in spoils
share in spoils
share in spoils
share in spoils
Stealing from greedy politicians
Stealing from greedy politicians
suspension of unused accounts by Yahoo
United Nations Payment to you



The best way is prevention. Before entering into an online transaction, undertake due diligence to ascertain the legitimacy of the party you are dealing with. Remember there is no refund as the scamsters is an illegitimate business far away in another country, and you do not want the hassle of even trying to recover the few hundred dollars you were conned for.

Review your financial and credit card statements for unknown expenses

Incorrect entries or suspicious transactions serve as a warning bell. You may have downloaded malware which stole your banking or credit card credentials which the scammer is currently using. The source may have been correspondance you undertook with a scammer in reply to a scam email. Reset your password and run an antivirus scan to detect malware. Be aware of what legitimate sites ask for by acquainting yourself with the sites procedure before entering into a transaction

Shoddy titles
Most scam mails have shoddy subject lines which are crude and unsophisticated. These are easy to detect and typically have an urgent or  confiding tone.I have listed down a few. There are some without subject lines too.

PAYMENT INFORMATION FROM WESTERN UNION HEAD OFFICE
looking forward for your urgent response.
NOTICE AND CONTACT NOW
My Dearest
Can I confide in you?
Message From Bill Gate
Yahoo Lottery Award
Good Day!!!
From Miss Aisha.
transferringa the sum of ($39.5)million to your account
FROM THE DESK OF MR.PHILIPE TARA.
FROM THE DESK OF MR.PHILIPE TARA.
Hello
JOB OPPORTUNITY IN BRUNEL HOTEL LONDON
CALL ME AFTER GOING THROUGH MY PROPOSAL @+226 75444302
Reply me urgent plz
When Casino royalty heads to play, WinnerPalace is where they go
Australia Online National Lottery


Scam mail senders used common titles
Most of the titles were related to the scam story. Most common were audit manager, foreign exchange managers and bills and exchange managers in a bank for scams involving unrecovered sums. There was inheritance claims where the titles used were son/daughter of a chief or minister. One or two used barrister or lawyer.

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