Claiming that Sir Denis Thatcher collected the money during his long and successful career in business, the email which is supposedly sent from Thatcher's attorney, claims that the recipient will receive £950,000 in compensation for work they have done helping the less privileged.

In order to obtain the inheritance, recipients are asked to provide personal information such as documents of identification, address, telephone and fax numbers, in accordance with the British government's inheritance law.

The emails are however fake; and users who innocently send their personal details may have their identity stolen, together with money taken from their bank accounts.

"Scammers are constantly trying to dupe computer users into divulging sensitive information with the promise of big money," said Graham Cluley, technology consultant for Sophos. "Using the late Sir Denis Thatcher's name is a sick trick designed to entice the unwary into falling for the scam."

This is one of the latest of 419 email scams. Named after the section of the Nigerian penal code where many of the scams originated, these emails are unsolicited mails which offer the reader large sums of money. But the authors do not stop here. Further requests are made from the author for more information leading to requests for money, stolen identities, and financial theft.

Corpex recommends home computer users as well as companies protect their computers with a consolidated solution to thwart virus and spam threats as well as secure their desktop and servers with updated anti-virus and anti-spam protection such as Armour Plate; and that users do not open or reply to unsolicited emails.

Source: Sophos

BACK TO NEWS MENU

VIEW NEXT ARTICLE