Almost everyone has a friend, who likes to tell of the “fish that got away”. The countless reports of UFO sightings and the rumoured existince of a Da Vinci code with all of its hidden messages, are also not exactly classed as breaking news anymore.
They are the 21st century’s fishwives tales: hoaxes, that aren’t always shared for fun. Cyber Criminals use the public’s insatiable lust for sensation to their own benefit, as shown by examples of malware spreading, using Michael Schumacher skiing accident and the disappearance of flight MH 370 as bait.
While fake stories are widely expected and recognised on April Fools Day, unfortunately the public is less well prepared to deal with them on the other 364 days of the year. Giant squid, iPhones being given away, WhatsApp chain mails and many others use social engineering to ensure they are spread by their victims, with thousands of fake statuses and bogus links shared on Facebook daily.
1139864_1_popup_image_3d23434623d8de75Companies can fall into the trap too!
One particular chain mail (email, fax and post) has been around for about 14 years now. It regards a hospital that still receives 100 letters per day. Alongside reputable companies, charities that focus on children with cancer also fall into the trap and share the details of the 10 people, with whom the mail was shared. The idea of this is to enter the Guinness Book of Records with the “World’s Largest Address Book” and raise awareness for terminally ill children.
How do I recognise chain mails?
In the majority of cases, hoax messages can be recognised reasonably easily: namely because they require forwarding to friends, colleagues and other contacts. Alternatively, the victim could be tricked into making contact with the sender or into visiting a fake site.
What to do, what to do?
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Inform the sender of the chain mail that it regards a fake. Often, chain mails are forwarded with only the best intentions.
Try to contact the other recipients of the message (“Reply to All” may work here) to let them know it is a fake.
Follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with the latest cases of internet fraud!
The excellent Hoaxbusters is a great source for finding out about chain mail and other email scams.
Thomas George
Thomas George is Check & Secure's security expert for all matters in the United Kingdom and USA. He comes from years of experience in the blogging and social media communities. Thomas has been writing for Check & Secure since the very beginning, and likes to write about the following themes: Malware, Phishing, Social Engineering and Data Protection
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