419 Scammers Eye ICC Champions Trophy 2013

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy 2013 is currently being held in England and Wales. The group matches are already in progress and the grand finale will be held on June 23. In the past, Symantec observed various spam emails targeting the ICC World T20 and the Cricket World Cup. As expected, we have seen ICC Champions Trophy 2013 scam emails flowing into the Symantec Probe Network.

Nigerian scammers have reached out through text based emails, .doc files, and PDF files. Here, the scam message is attached as a .doc file called ICC UPDATE.doc. The email says that the reader has won a brand new Camry Solara worth 85,000 Euro. This is typical of 419 scams. The scam email explains that the winning email address was obtained in a raffle and was sent to the final drawing conducted at a headquarters in Japan. To claim the prize, the recipient is asked to send in their personal information, including their name, phone number, address, and occupation.
 

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Figure 1. 419 scam email with .doc attachment
 

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Figure 2. Scam email content
 

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Figure 3. 419 scam email requests personal details to claim  prize
 

Users are advised to refrain from clicking on such emails and opening attachments unless they are from authorized sources. Updating antispam signatures regularly can help to prevent personal information from being compromised. Symantec is closely monitoring spam attacks related to sporting events to ensure that users are kept up to date on the latest threats.