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Asian Development Bank Warns of E-mail Scams
11 August 2004
Be wary of unsolicited letters or e-mails purporting to offer commissions for assisting recover "lost funds" or award lottery prizes, or seeking personal financial information such as such as credit card or personal identification numbers, account usernames or passwords. This unsolicited correspondence seeks victims to fraud scams.
ADB's Anticorruption Unit does not investigate these concerns. You should delete or dispose of such messages. SPAM or junk mail e-mail filters may help reduce unsolicited e-mails of this type.
Advance Fee Frauds
People receive unsolicited correspondence, particularly e-mails, from "officials" purportedly representing a foreign government or agency, often Nigeria or other African countries, but also from other countries, including the Philippines. Typically, the correspondence asks for help to transfer millions of dollars, in return for a large "commission." Others appear to come from National Lotteries, such as the "El Gordo" lottery and Lotto NL, informing them that they have won a great sum of money. The correspondence asks recipients to provide funds to cover various fees, or personal information, such as credit card or bank account numbers.
These are scams. Perpetrators steal the funds provided, or use the personal information to steal money, make fraudulent purchases with credit card information, or commit identity fraud.
"Phishing"
Always be suspicious of e-mail asking for personal information, particularly bank or credit card account numbers, passwords, or personal identification number. It may be a "phishing" lure. "Phishing" attacks have risen significantly this year according to an organization that monitors such attacks.
Many people receive at their work or personal e-mail addresses messages from a retailer or financial services firm, asking to confirm e-mail or physical address, passwords, account numbers, and PINs. The e-mail routes its victims to Web sites that mimic those of legitimate companies. Versions of these "phishing" scams include Citigroup, E-bay, U.S. Bancorp, and Visa.
E-mail filters will not always identify these bogus pitches, primarily
because the crooks create e-mail and sites that look very convincing.
When in doubt, contact the company directly to confirm the correspondence,
and find out whether the e-mail or web site link is legitimate.
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