Symantec warns of rugby scam

Symantec has revealed that scammers are taking advantage of the current world Rugby World Cup by offering recipients a lottery, which they claim is linked to the tournament.

As we’ve covered extensively on the Symantec Intelligence blog in the past, 419 or advance fee fraud scammers are highly skilled at using current events to their advantage. Recently we have seen scams taking advantage of unrest in Libya, the devastating March 2011 earthquake in Japan, and other events.

419 or advance fee fraud works by promising the recipient a vast sum of money, but before any money is paid, various (and increasingly inventive) up-front fees are demanded until the victim realises they’ve been duped, and give up. The promised vast sums of money never materialise.

This scam claims that the recipient has been awarded $2.5m in a lottery connected with the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Of course, the lottery is fake. There is no lottery for the tournament, and this message is simply a scam.

The tournament started Friday 9, September in New Zealand, so interest and anticipation is running high.

If you receive a message promising you vast sums of money, or claiming that you’ve won a lottery which you haven’t entered, ignore it. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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