The crisis in Syria is exploited by all sorts of cybercriminals

Sep 19, 2013 12:01 GMT  ·  By

Scammers are using fake CNN emails in an effort to trick recipients into thinking they can receive millions of dollars from Syrian officials.

Over the past period, we’ve seen a large number of malicious campaigns leveraging the crisis in Syria. However, most of them are designed to distribute malware. Now, experts have come across one variant that’s part of an advance fee scam.

The scam emails identified by Webroot experts appear to come from CNN and they read something like this:

“I am Muhammad Ali al-Abid, financial minister of Syria, due to the present crisis in my country I will like you to help me receive the sum of U$$7.8 Million USD in your country, please contact me through email on [email address] for complete details.”

Users who respond to these emails are probably told that they can get part of this money. In such scams, victims are usually instructed to pay all sorts of legal or transaction fees before getting a share.

If you come across such emails, don’t respond to them. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.