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| The criminal gang behind the bogus lottery email
are believed to be based in Spain |
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and
viruses, has warned computer users to be wary of emails saying they
have won fortunes in a lottery.
The warning comes after authorities in South Korea reported that
an organised criminal gang had swindled some 1.6 million won
($14,000) in a lottery-related email fraud.
The gang, based in Spain, have tried to fool innocent computer
users into believing they have won a substantial prize, even if
they have not participated in the draw. The fraudsters then tell
their victims that the prize cannot be collected until money has
been paid to go towards taxes, bank costs, and other administrative
fees.
"These scams are not just directed at computer users in Asia.
They have also tried to find victims in the USA and across Europe,"
said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.
"Everyone should be extremely suspicious of any email, fax or
letter they receive telling them they have won a major prize in a
lottery as they may be left with an empty bank account."
Police investigators have emphasised that Spanish lottery
tickets are only sold domestically, and only those who purchased
the tickets are entitled to the prizes.
According to police investigators many of the criminals are
believed to be from Middle Eastern and African countries.
"It seems those who used to hide behind the Nigerian 419 scams
may now be adopting different disguises. The advice to users is
straight forward - simply delete these nuisance emails and never
reply." continued Cluley.
Sophos has published details of other lottery email scams
on its website.
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend businesses
from the threats of both spam and viruses.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.