14 DAY TRIAL // Hurricane Sandy scams have started making the rounds ever since the natural phenomenon became a trending topic. We’ve already covered some of them, but researchers from Symantec and Commtouch have also come across some noteworthy ones.
Commtouch came across spam messages that encouraged recipients to purchase low-priced shares.
“We had been set for a big play on [company name], first search across all investor us of a positive revelation that will be made public sometime next day now that Hurricane Sandy has finished and we are back trading once again,” the emails read.
Symantec has identified some even more interesting ones. For instance, one spam campaign attempts to lure users to a malicious website by promising $1,000 gift cards for Best Buy.
The emails are entitled “Help Sandy Victims and get $1000 for Best Buy!” and they read: “Hey it’s suzie I just got a $1000 gift card from this site thought you could use a break before the holidays.”
Another shady email – “Sandy Strikes... [WARNING]” – attempts to convince internauts to sign up for a make-easy-money program to help them earn enough to afford to get away before a natural disaster occurs.
“Hey guys, I am sure you have seen what is going on in the Northeast of the USA (Unless you live under a rock). My message today is simple!! How would you avoid that, if it happened to you?” the email reads.
“How about if you made $438.78 per day. Would you be able to afford to get out of there in time?,” it continues.
Finally, notifications entitled “Deposit Processing Open Today (Frankenstorm doesn't stop us)” are making the rounds, trying to get users to visit a suspicious website.
Experts warn that in the upcoming days we should expect to see more fake news, photos, donation requests, scams, phishing campaigns, and attacks that involve malicious video links.