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Rugby fans tackled by scams

Kathryn McConnachie
By Kathryn McConnachie, Digital Media Editor at ITWeb.
Johannesburg, 12 Sept 2011

Rugby fans are being targeted by new online scams that capitalise on the interest in the Rugby World Cup, currently under way in New Zealand.

The first of the scams is a 419, or advance fee fraud, scam, which has been identified by security firm Symantec.

“419 or advance fee fraud scammers are highly-skilled at using current events to their advantage,” says Symantec.

Such scams are operated via e-mail, and promise the recipient vast sums of money. Before the money is paid out, however, the recipient is told to pay up-front fees. Symantec says the reasons given for the up-front fees are increasingly inventive.

The latest scam claims the recipient has won $2.5 million in a lottery connected with the Rugby World Cup.

The recipient is told to contact the lottery officials via an unofficial e-mail address and the subject line includes a supposed reference number.

“Of course, the lottery is fake. There is no lottery for the tournament, and this message is simply a scam,” says Symantec.

Sweepstakes

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has also issued warnings about another scam running via e-mail. The e-mails purport to be from the IRB and tell recipients they are the winners of a Rugby World Cup 2011 sweepstake.

The message states: “As excitement is starting to build up for the World Cup 2011, We to inform you that you have won prize money of One Million United States Dollars $1,000,000.00 for the 2011 Rugby World Cup Lottery promotion edition which is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board (IRB) [sic].”

The message goes on to say that the IRB collects “all the e-mail addresses of people that are active online among the millions that subscribed to Hotmail and MSN we only select ten people every four years as our winners [sic].”

Recipients are told to contact a “Claims Agent” and submit their personal details - including their full name, date of birth, occupation, address, contact numbers and even marital status - to an unofficial e-mail address.

The IRB's head of external and member relations, David Carrigy, said in a statement: “As rugby's governing body, we wish to assure you that the IRB is not in the business of running any form of sweepstake or money-themed competition.

“The IRB views this matter seriously and is bringing this matter to the attention of all member unions so that the global rugby family can be vigilant and avoid being duped.”

Ignore it

This is, however, not the first scam that has attempted to prey on the interest in a sporting event, as a similar tactic was used by scammers in 2010, as they purported to be the organisers of the FIFA World Cup.

The August Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec showed that 75% of all mail in the month of August was spam. The report also indicated that one in every 207 messages was a phishing attack.

Symantec adds that whenever users receive e-mails promising vast sums of money, or claiming they had won a lottery they had not entered, it should be ignored.

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