Top Email Scams of 2007

Each year has its own, unique trends in email scams floating around the internet. These are the top email scams facing consumers in 2007

2007 brings a new slew of email scams. These are, for the most part, variations on older email scams. To help you identify the newest email scams we list each year's top email scams and provide a brief explanation of how they work and what you can do if you've been a victim.

The top email scams of 2007 are PDF attachments containing spam, fake emails from the FBI, Spam from military accounts, e-Card greeting scams and threatening extortion scams. You'll recognize many of these immediately for what they are but other may be new to you. We urge you to read about all of them so that you'll recognize these scams for what they are.

These are the top email scams of 2007:

PDF Email Spam

This year we've seen an enormous increase in spam emails with PDF attachments. The emails and the names of the attached PDF files are generic with names like bill.pdf, invoice.pdf, announcement.pdf or report.pdf to name but a few. For a while these filled email boxes daily. Opening the attachments reveals these PDF's for what they are - spam. These PDF's are about 3 or 4 pages long and the first page has the exciting stock alert they want you to act on. The rest of the PDF will look like gobbledygook or what appears to be garbage that that doesn't make sense. These random words and sentences are intended to fool anti-spam measures. If each message appears unique to your spam filter, it has a better chance of reaching your mailbox. Most are nothing more than worthless stock recommendations. Here are the telltale signs that you're the recipient of one of these emails:

• You don't know who sent it
• You do know who sent it but the subject line makes no sense
• The body of the message makes no sense
• There's a PDF attached that you know nothing about
• You open the PDF and find a spammy sales pitch

Our advice is that you just delete these emails without even looking at the PDF. It probably won't hurt anything. Just don't make a purchase based on the PDF or emails content.

Fake emails from the FBI are on the rise

We have increasingly received reports of fraudulent schemes misrepresenting the FBI and Director Robert S. Mueller III. The e-mails may include pictures of the FBI Director, the seal, letter head, and banners. The letters may also claim to come from domestic or foreign FBI offices.

Most of the schemes that use the Director's name or refer to the FBI are lottery endorsements and inheritance notifications. They also include threat and extortion e-mails, website monitoring containing malicious computer program attachments (malware), and online auction scams.

Beware of any unsolicited e-mail referencing the FBI, Director Mueller or any other FBI official endorsing any type of Internet activity. Fraudsters pretending to be from the FBI, which is an old trick, hope to cash in by intimidating their victims.

Spam Emails from the Military

According to the FBI (http://www.ic3.gov/media/2007/070717-3.aspx), email from spammers representing themselves as officials of the U.S. military, continues to hit people's inboxes. They pretend to represent U.S. soldiers overseas and ask for personal information and/or money from the people they've sent the bogus emails to.

If you don't know the person sending this type of email, never send personal information or money to them. Report the email to www.IC3.gov and delete the message. In general it's best not to open email messages from people you don't know or aren't expecting message from, because they can carry viruses or other malevolent programs.

e-Card Greeting Scams

If you watch the news you won't be surprised to hear there are still fraudulent electronic greeting cards circulating on email as spam. These bogus greeting cards often contain viruses or malware (malicious software).

These fake cards can sometimes be hard to identify as the people sending them go to great pains to make it look like these cards are coming from people you know. The general gist of these messages is to get you to click on a link within the email message. This link is supposed to open up the electronic card for viewing. However, if you do click on the link, it will take you to a malicious web page where viruses and other malevolent programs wait to be activated.

Threat and Extortion Emails are back with a twist

There is a new twist to an older email scam in which emails claim the sender has been paid to kill the recipient and will cancel the contract on the recipient's life if that person pays a large sum of money. Now e-mails are surfacing that claim to be from the FBI in London. These emails note the following information:

• An individual was recently arrested for the murders of several United States and United Kingdom citizens in relation to this matter.
• The recipient's information was found on the subject identifying the recipient as the next victim.
• The recipient is requested to contact the FBI in London to assist with the investigation.

It is not uncommon for an Internet fraud scheme to have the same overall intent but be transmitted containing variations in the email content, e.g., different names, email addresses, and/or agencies reportedly involved.

Please note, providing any personal information in response to an unsolicited email can compromise your identity and open you to identity theft.

Due to the threat of violence inherent in these extortion emails, if you receive an email that contains personally identifiable information that might differentiate your email from the general email spam campaign, we encourage you to contact the police.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. You can also notify the IC3 by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov.

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