Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Alert: Sarah has recommended me contact you

I thought the email I just received was a good example of social engineering as a scam of some type. The email had the subject ‘Sarah has recommended me contact you’ and then the body of the message starts with ‘Hey there!  Our mutual friend Sarah told me that you are interested in increasing your savings.’ The aim is to slip past a person’s defences by referring to a mutual friend Sarah.

We all appreciate it when a friend thinks of us and also when they try to help us.

The email of course is a fake. I checked and the email was sent from Taiwan and if you check the link it has a .ru domain which is a Russian domain.

Social engineering is creating emails in a form which will get past your defences by tricking you by using our behaviour against us. You should treat all unexpected emails, even those you may think come from your friends with suspicion. Scammers unfortunately, are very good at what they do.

 

Kelvin Eldridge

Online Connections

www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Call 0415 910 703 for computer advice and support.

 

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