(article) "Phishing Scam Targets JFK Conspiracy Theorists"

[Don Roberdeau]

Good Day.... FYI....

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52291.html

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Phishing Scam Targets JFK Conspiracy Theorists

By Dinah Greek

VNUNet.com

08/08/06 5:00 PM PT

An e-mail, which has been spammed out to Internet users across the world, is claiming to come from a dying KGB agent who has inside information on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The scammer tells people that the information could help the recipient become famous, then requests are made from the fraudster for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities and financial theft.

Scammers are sending out e-mails purporting to come from a dying KGB agent who has inside information on the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

IT security firm Sophos said it believes that the spammed phishing e-mail campaign is just another variant of the 419 scams.

Nigerian Money Scheme

These unsolicited e-mails, named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code where many of them originated, offer the recipient a large amount of money for channeling money out of another country.

Once a victim has been drawn in, requests are made from the fraudster for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities and financial theft.

Sophos said the latest e-mail is another attempt at social engineering. This time it looks like an attempt to lure unsuspecting conspiracy theory-lovers into handing over cash and confidential information.

The e-mail's author, who claims to be suffering from a terminal disease, says he has access to declassified CIA documents, files from the former KGB, and interviews with key people that have never before been made public.

Promise of Fame, Fortune

In the e-mail, which has been spammed out to Internet users across the world, the scammer tells people that the information could help the recipient become famous.

Part of the e-mail reads:

"You can talk about it with your friends and neighbors. You can write your own shocking book that will have success and bring you fame.

"You can call in to radio talk shows. You can raise the issues. You can demand answers -- not in 50 years or 100 years, but right now, in our lifetime."

"There is a conspiracy at work here, but it's not about whether someone was lurking on a grassy knoll in Dallas on November 22, 1963," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"Internet criminals are conspiring to steal sensitive information and raid the bank accounts of unsuspecting Internet users.

"If everyone showed the same skepticism to unsolicited e-mails, as some do to the official investigations into the Kennedy assassination, then maybe less people would end up the victims of a scam."

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[Robert Howard]

Good Day.... FYI....

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52291.html

<QUOTE>

Phishing Scam Targets JFK Conspiracy Theorists

By Dinah Greek

VNUNet.com

08/08/06 5:00 PM PT

An e-mail, which has been spammed out to Internet users across the world, is claiming to come from a dying KGB agent who has inside information on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The scammer tells people that the information could help the recipient become famous, then requests are made from the fraudster for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities and financial theft.

Scammers are sending out e-mails purporting to come from a dying KGB agent who has inside information on the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

IT security firm Sophos said it believes that the spammed phishing e-mail campaign is just another variant of the 419 scams.

Nigerian Money Scheme

These unsolicited e-mails, named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code where many of them originated, offer the recipient a large amount of money for channeling money out of another country.

Once a victim has been drawn in, requests are made from the fraudster for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities and financial theft.

Sophos said the latest e-mail is another attempt at social engineering. This time it looks like an attempt to lure unsuspecting conspiracy theory-lovers into handing over cash and confidential information.

The e-mail's author, who claims to be suffering from a terminal disease, says he has access to declassified CIA documents, files from the former KGB, and interviews with key people that have never before been made public.

Promise of Fame, Fortune

In the e-mail, which has been spammed out to Internet users across the world, the scammer tells people that the information could help the recipient become famous.

Part of the e-mail reads:

"You can talk about it with your friends and neighbors. You can write your own shocking book that will have success and bring you fame.

"You can call in to radio talk shows. You can raise the issues. You can demand answers -- not in 50 years or 100 years, but right now, in our lifetime."

"There is a conspiracy at work here, but it's not about whether someone was lurking on a grassy knoll in Dallas on November 22, 1963," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"Internet criminals are conspiring to steal sensitive information and raid the bank accounts of unsuspecting Internet users.

"If everyone showed the same skepticism to unsolicited e-mails, as some do to the official investigations into the Kennedy assassination, then maybe less people would end up the victims of a scam."

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Thanks Dan, It is nice to see someone [you] thinking of our well being. I would imagine the story behind how that scam started might be interesting