| Has this African
dictator's accomplice got a corrupt deal for you ! Are
you tired of getting the absurd "419" scam e-mails and faxes from people in east
Africa claiming to want to transfer millions of dollars through you if you
are just foolish enough to follow a website link or reply directly with your personal details and bank account
information
so that they can clean you out?
There is little that one can do to stop these annoying
spam attacks by con artists, most of which are ludicrous to read, but you
may find the suggestions below to be helpful. If
enough people cooperate to put government pressure on this scourge, both in
the US and in Africa and Europe (where some of them now operate - plus some
in Asia now), perhaps it can be wiped out. |
Spread the word.
Stop this costly "identity theft" con. The reason why
these con artists continue to operate is that, amazingly, they actually
attract enough gullible victims out of their many broadcast emails and faxes
to justify the constant barrage of spam messages which they send out.
Since they are hard to track down, and their governments as well as the
ISP's processing their spam are not always very motivated to do so, this
costly nuisance continues unabated because the perpetrators fully expect to
find some victims and get away with their crime.
Please help to discourage them through the channels
suggested below, and by passing this information to any colleagues or
friends who may receive such spam and not yet know how to deal with it,
other than to simply ignore and delete it. |
| These scams are costly to
the people of Africa If African government leaders want
to encourage the attraction of business investment to their countries, they
need to do more to put a stop to these types of criminal scams, which add to
the widespread perceptions and concerns about corruption in the region.
The latter is well documented through the work of
Transparency International, among other sources. Various multilateral
organizations talk about the problem, but governments in the region need to
do something about it, and demonstrate that such crime has consequences.
If enough of the criminals behind these schemes actually
get a chance to enjoy the prison amenities of the East African region, that
might well deter others from similar actions. |
US news : Earthlink's new "Scam Blocker" service
In the US, it's interesting to note that one of the major Internet Service
Providers, Earthlink, now offers users a "Scam Blocker" service which is
intended to alert unwary users to the risks of visiting websites which are
already identified (or which fit a risk profile) as potential sources of
trojans, spyware, and other criminal identity theft attacks such as "phishing"
for personal financial information, passwords, and other data.
The fact that such a service is now available is a sad
indication of how bad this problem has become. We typically receive
more than 100 such scam attempts per month, as well as a similar or larger
volume of virus-infected e-mails. All users should be vigilant about
protection of their computer systems against this scourge, and help law
enforcement and intelligence authorities to track down and prosecute the
criminals and economic terrorists involved. |
| US Secret
Service advisory related to Nigerian and other "419" fraud schemes
Forward scam e-mails or letters (marked "No Financial Loss -
For Your Database") to the US Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 419
Task Force, 950 H Street, Washington DC 20001-4518 or by e-mail to
419.fcd@usss.treas.gov so that they can investigate as
appropriate, for which they have agents and support in Nigeria and
elsewhere. Do not expect a reply, as hundreds of such scams are
reported daily. |
www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml
Please note that the scams are not limited to "advance
fee" fraud, duping people into giving financial account information or
money. There are variations including US visa fraud activities, and
corporate identity theft (using corporate materials to create the illusion
of a legitimate business transaction or references). These are
criminal activities and can be dangerous for more than financial losses.
Please report them. |
The FBI, US
Secret Service, and CIO Magazine have developed reporting guidelines for
cyberthreat reporting (network intrusion), such as hacker attacks, viruses /
worms, etc.
There is also a process for anonymous
reporting of attacks on business networks known as InfraGuard run by the
National Infrastructure Protection Center. |
http://www/secretservice.gov/net_intrusion.shtml
refer also to the CIO Magazine website at
http://www2.cio.com for related articles,
such as their "Alarmed" column or articles such as "Break Glass, Pull
Handle, Call FBI" at
http://www.cio.com/archive/060101/fbi_content.html |
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