As usual, recepiants get an email promising them a fortune (lottery win and inheritance are the most popular stories) if they would be so kind to help the sender (scammer) by providing their banking details so the sum could be moved out of the country. That and, of course, a “small” fee for all the necessary documents.
The latest such offer claims to come from 22-year-old woman living in the Ivory Coast. $6.5 million should be an appealing offer, right? The email reads the following:
“Before the death of my father on the 12th December 2007,in a private hospital here in Abidjan,he called me secretly to his bed side and told me that he kept a sum of $6.500 000 (six million five hundred thousand United States Dollars) in a bank in Abidjan Cote D’ivoire. He used my name as the next of kin in deposit of the fund.He also explained to me that it was because of this money he was poisoned by his business partner and that i should seek for foreign partner in a country of my choice where i would transfer this money and use it for investment purpose.”
The email goes on asking about the (soon to be) victim’s bank account information and advises the recipient to answer within the next 7 days.
Spammers have turned to social networking sites given the fact that email filters have evolved and their emails find it hard, if not impossible to find their way into inboxes. Also, the users on such sites tend to be more trusting with such messages, something much appreciated by the scammers.
Aside from this, LinkedIn was particularly chosen given its main target audience, which is bound to have more money than the usual MySpace or Facebook member.
