According to her experts Kaspersky Lab, in September, spammers developed new versions of "Nigerian Letter" fraud, using the Ebola virus as a subject in many mass messages. Much of the massive thematic missions promoted various services using popular social networking sites as spammers promised direct influx of new clients and revenue growth.
“Spammers usually try to take advantage of breaking news and current events. Scammers rarely miss an opportunity to use important events to woo her caution users and convince them that their fraudulent messages are real. So, after the first news about the Ebola virus in July, it was no surprise that as early as September, related mass email spams were launched, which took advantage of this news, to mislead recipients and extort money from them." commented Tatyana Shcherbakova, Senior Spam Analyst at Kaspersky Lab.
The landscape spam in numbers
According to Kaspersky Lab's analysis, spam messages accounted for an average of 66,5% of all emails in September, showing a decrease of 0,7 percentage points compared to August. Financial phishing accounted for 36,97% of messages spam detected by the anti-phishing function of Kaspersky Lab solutions, an increase of 1,7 percentage points compared to the previous month.
The main sources of origin of spam messages were the USA (12%), Vietnam (9,3%) and the Russia (5,8%), while the most viruses were detected in Germany (9,11%), followed by the UK (8,45%) and the USA (8,26%).
"Infected" spam
An example of fraud "Nigerian Letter" by the Ebola virus identified by the experts of Kaspersky Lab, related to an email that supposedly came from a wealthy lady from Liberia, which died due to the virus. It contained a long story about her children who died from the virus and about a local medical center who refused to help her. The alleged lady was willing to donate more than $ 1,5 million to a recipient who would channel this amount to charity.
The authors of another fraudulent mass spam email were recommended as World Health Organization workers and tested an unusual tactic to attract attention. In particular, they invited readers to a conference in which discussions on the Ebola virus and other medical issues would take place. They also offered a job to the addressee, with annual wages reaching € 350.000. The benefits included a corporate car to take up the position of a WHO representative. in the UK.
Among the most unusual spam emails of the month, Kaspersky Lab encountered messages aimed at collectors. These messages offered to English speakers users a free book about British decorations from the First World War. The emails with the generous offer purported to come from SSAFA, a charity set up to help British war veterans and their families.
The full version of Kaspersky Lab's Spam Scene Report in September is available on the site Securelist.com.
