The scam emails claim to come from a modeling agency.
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses,
spyware and spam, is warning of an identity phishing campaign
currently being spammed out in Australia.
The campaign claims to be from an Australian modeling and
casting agency and invites applications from potential agents,
models and actors for TV and film work. The email is a two-fold
crime, stealing its corporate identity (and much of its advertising
text) from a legitimate Australian business, and asking its victims
to give up their personal identification data under false
pretences.
Applicants are asked to email off their personal details and a
photograph to be considered for any of a number of possible roles.
Although the agency mentioned in the email is a registered
Australian company, the message does not really come from the firm
and contact information given in the scam is a throw-away overseas
email address.
"Treat your personal data as valuable," urged Paul Ducklin, Sophos's head
of technology, Asia Pacific. "And if you are a parent, teach your
children the risks of handing out personal contact details over the
internet on the say-so of an email. We have seen a number of recent
convictions around the world involving young girls stalked and
seduced by online pedophiles. We have also seen a group of young
Sydneysiders suborned into accepting electronic transfers into
their bank accounts from cybercriminals, withdrawing this money in
cash in return for a cut of the proceeds, and then being caught and
charged themselves."
With the continuing popularity of TV shows such as "Australian
Idol", for which anyone can audition, emails asking "if you've been
told you should be on television by family or friends" and "maybe
you've thought you could but didn't know where to start" can sound
appealing.
"But if an email sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly
is. Don't try, don't buy, don't reply," continued Ducklin.
Advice on safety online, especially for children, can be found
at:
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend against the
threats of spam, spyware 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.