Email scams exploit real 2014 Air Algerie plane crash
Email scammers have been involved in a despicable trend where they mention horrific real-life events in order to bolster their online grifts and make them appear more legitimate to their recipients. Exploiting plane crashes and the victims of plane crashes seems to be one of the latest tactics utilized by email scammers. Previously, email scammers were claiming to be the bank manager of a 2019 plane crash victim and now email scammers are sending fraudulent messages in which they claim to be Charles Brown, the employee of a commercial bank in Nigeria who is in charge of a large amount of money belonging to an American property magnate who died in North Mali West Africa alongside his family on the Air Algeria flight on July 24th, 2014.
In one of the latest email scams, scammers are claiming to be Charles Brown, an employee at a bank in Nigeria who is in charge of millions of dollars belonging to a plane crash victim. The email says that the owner of the money died alongside his family on a fatal Air Algeria flight that killed everyone on board. The email then shares a link to a CNN article titled “Official: No survivors found amid wreckage of Air Algerie plane in Mali.”
Example:
BANK TRANSACTION !!!
From Charles Brown
Reply-To babarraq@gmail.com
Hello !!!I am Charles Brown. I work in one of the commercial
Banks here in Nigeria. I am contacting you in regards to a huge sum of money Sixteen Milli0n,Seven Hundred Thousand United States D0llars only,in an account with my bank since last year (2014), belonging to an American property magnate,now deceased.The owner of the funds died along-side with his entire family on Air Algeria flight that crashed in Northern Mali West Africa on the 24th July 2014 killing all 116 people on board, you can get more details on the website below:http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/africa/air-
algerie-flightThe proposition is to move this fund out for us to prevent my bank from claiming it. Kindly respond
promptly with the following information :(A) YOUR FULL NAMES
(B) ADDRESS
(C) YOUR COMPANY NAME AND ADDRESS ( If any )
(D) PHONE NUMBERS .
(E) YOUR AGE,MARITAL STATUS & NATIONALITY.
(F) OCCUPATION & POSITION.The money will be shared in the ratio of 60/40. This
business is (100%) risk free. Get back to me ASAP.Regards,
Charles Brown.
The email message claims that they have a proposition: They need to move this money to prevent the bank from claiming it and they need your full name, address, phone number, and more. The message finally says that the money from the victim’s account will be shared 60:40 and to get back to them.
This type of email scam is typically employed to obtain personal information such a full names, home addresses, company names, phone numbers, ages, marital statuses, and more which can be used for unknown purposes including other scams and identify theft, or sold and shared online. In addition, email scammers that employ this type of scam will often reply to messages claiming that an advanced payment or shipping fee is needed before they can send money. However, once the target sends money the scammer stop responding.
