14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re thinking about adopting a child, you should be on the lookout for suspicious emails coming from people who claim they can help you. Experts have spotted some scam emails used by fraudsters to trick people into sending them money.
“I know a single birth mother who’s pregnancy was unplanned and now she has a baby girl. The baby is just 3 days old. The birth mother feels her baby will be best with a loving, caring, kind and accepting adoptive family, couple of single parent of any race,” the scam emails entitled “Adoption” read.
They continue, “During the pregnancy she had used no drugs, cigarette or alcohol. She is still in the hospital due to lung disease. If anyone is interested, kindly contact me by email. Her name is Kate and I’m her Attorney.”
The email analyzed by Symantec experts came from a hacked email account originating from Hungary (routed through Italy). Recipients are asked to respond to a different email address.
When victims respond, the scammers tell them more about the story of the mother. They even send an adoption form and pictures of the baby.
Only after several emails, the true purpose of the scheme comes to light. The scammers ask for $2,500 (€1,800) that’s allegedly needed to cover the “court order preparation and document fee.” The cybercrooks ask that the money be wired through Western Union, a service that’s often used in such schemes because the money is difficult to trace.
To make everything more legitimate-looking, the scam emails are signed with the name and address of a real adoption and family law attorney.
It goes without saying that in case you’re looking to adopt a child, you should not trust people who send you emails out of the blue. No one will ask their attorney to start sending out spam emails in hopes of finding someone willing to adopt a baby.
While it’s possible that the scammers are sending out their emails to random people in hopes of coming across a potential victim, it’s also possible that they have a list of email addresses belonging to individuals interested in adopting.
Earlier this week, we learned that hackers obtained the names, email addresses and phone numbers of close to 500,000 people who had shown interest in the services of a plastic and cosmetic surgery company from the UK.
Cybercriminals could have just as easily hacked into the databases of an organization that deals with adoptions.