How to get rich quick....or not! Scams and more...: Yet another ABSA phishing letter

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Yet another ABSA phishing letter

The link was still working at time of posting.
Very professionally executed with Absa logos, except for language errors.

From: Absa Online Banking [mailto:security.alerts@absa.co.za]
Sent: 18 February 2009 16:51
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Update Your Absa Online Account

Dear Absa Customer

At Absa Bank , we are very much concerned about the credibility and efficiency of our online banking system. In doing this, we anually renew and upgrade our equipments to ensure maximum efficiency of our banking activities for year 2009.

We are presently working on our secure servers to protect our online customers
from online Fraud. More so, we have improved our banking system with up-to-date
machineries to enable fast and easy access to your online banking accounts.

However,failure to update your Absa account after 48hrs of notice might lead to
restriction of online account access.

Update your Absa Online Account details.
(Update)

Thank You.

Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, absa will
periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.

(c) Copyright 2009 All rights Reserved. Absa Bank Limited registration number:1986/004794/06. Authorised financial services provider Limited

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What is advance-fee fraud?

According to Wikipedia advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a significantly larger gain. Among the variations on this type of scam, are the Nigerian Letter (also called the 419 fraud, Nigerian scam, Nigerian bank scam, or Nigerian money offer, the Spanish Prisoner, the Black money scam as well as Russian/Ukrainian scam (also extremely widespread, though far less popular than the former). Both the so-called Russian and Nigerian scams stand for wholly dissimilar organised crime traditions, they therefore tend to use altogether different breeds of approaches.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Advance-fee fraud
The 419 scam originated in the early 1980s as the oil-based Nigerian economy declined. Several unemployed university students first used this scam as a means of manipulating business visitors interested in shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector before targeting businessmen in the west, and later the wider population. Scammers in the early-to-mid 1990s targeted companies, sending scam messages via letter, fax, or Telex. The spread of email and easy access to email-harvesting software made the cost of sending scam letters through the Internet low. In the 2000s, the 419 scam has spurred imitations from other locations in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, and, more recently, from North America, Western Europe (mainly UK), and Australia.
The number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (part of Chapter 38: "Obtaining Property by false pretences; Cheating") dealing with fraud. The American Dialect Society has traced the term "419 fraud" back to 1992.
The advance-fee fraud is similar to a much older scam known as the Spanish Prisoner scam in which the trickster would tell the scam victim that a (fictitious) rich prisoner had promised to share (non-existent) treasure with the victim if the latter would send money to bribe the prison guards.
Insa Nolte, a lecturer of University of Birmingham's African Studies Department, stated that "The availability of e-mail helped to transform a local form of fraud into one of Nigeria's most important export industries."