Line of Business
"419 scams" revived on LinkedIn - old phishing bait in new pond
Stymied by corporate e-mail filters, but buoyed by users trust in social networking sites, scammers are trying their old tricks again but this time using new channels, one of them being LinkedIn - the popular social networking site for professionals.5/28/2008 6:00:00 AM By: Brian Jackson
Unsuspecting users of professionals-oriented social networking site LinkedIn are being conned by scam artists into revealing personal financial information, say security experts.
Advanced fee fraud – also known as “419 scams” after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code – are well-known to most e-mail users.
The fraudster poses as a foreigner that has lucked into millions, but needs help to keep their money secure (one fraudster even pretended to be an African astronaut aboard the International Space Station).
As soon as someone is naïve enough to share their bank account information, they find that money is withdrawn from their account – not deposited, as promised.
Stymied by corporate e-mail filters, but buoyed by the trust that users are giving social networking sites, scammers are trying their old tricks again but this time using new channels, according to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Abingdon, U.K.-based security vendor Sophos plc.
“Now they're trying their scam with a network used by businesspeople,” he says. “By using this mechanism, the criminals know they're talking to people who aren't 13-year-olds, but people with money in their pockets.”
Cluley shares one example of the phishing attack he received on LinkedIn.
A user named Natasha Kone claims to be a 22-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast. Her message goes through the usual scam-artist routine of describing the $6.5 million inheritance left to her by a deceased father, and why she's looking for a foreign partner to help secure the money.
>Page Navigation 1) Social networking sites are now the top phishing target. – Page 12) “The problem is that common sense isn't very common.” – Page 2
3) “They're operating their profiles like a MySpace bands page.” – Page 3
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