*Wednesday, October 01, 2008
ABC Radio Australia*
Internet scams are nothing new, but developing countries with new
internet users are offering scammers a whole new pool of fresh victims.
And Cambodia with about 44-thousand people connected to the web is a
prime target.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Amy, Cambodian actress; Bill Caelli, Institute of Information
Security at Queensland University of Technology.
Click here to listen: Windows Media
COCHRANE: When 21-year-old Cambodian actress Amy checked her email
earlier this month, there was an unexpected message waiting for her.
AMY: When I checked it said that I won the lottery from the UK and I get
an amount on this, maybe a lot of money and then I feel surprised and I
replied to them with their requirements, like write down my name, write
down my phone number and my email address.
COCHRANE: She didn't know it at the time but Amy was being lured into an
internet scam that fools people into giving away millions each year. For
Amy, there was extra reason to be hopeful. Her sister-in-law had
recently won a visa in the annual American visa lottery and Amy thought
perhaps she really had won the 300 thousand pounds the email offered.
But there were signs that something was suspicious.
AMY: After I send them, they send me back immediately and say that
contact this bank and contact that bank. In the end I find that they
want to see my account, so I feel wonder and think why do you need to
see my account, and I'm not sure with that, so I need to tell my friend.
COCHRANE: Initially, Amy's Cambodian friends were excited about her good
luck, but still she had doubts.
AMY: So I ask my British friend and he told me, 'They cheat you Amy,
they cheat, they cheat you.' I'm very very hopeless and I still don't
believe that so I asked him, 'Why, what's the reason that you know that
I was cheated by them, why?.
COCHRANE: The reason the British man knew, was that internet scams are
well known and avoided by most internet users.
But in countries like Cambodia, where the internet is still emerging,
innocent users are prime targets for scam artists trying to steal money
or identities. The lottery scam is a variation of what's known as a
"419" scam or a "Nigerian scam", so-called because they first started in
Nigeria using a legal loophole known as clause 419. Typically, scammers
send out thousands of emails telling people they have inherited or
embezzled millions of dollars and need a bank account to stash the
money, in exchange for a slice of the spoils. In Nigeria, there's even a
cheeky pop song that boasts of ripping off gullible foreigners. It might
seem like a joke to some, but police say millions of dollars are lost
each year, a fact hidden by the victims reluctance to admit they were
fooled and report the crime. A UK study in 2006 found that 150 thousand
pounds a year was lost to these scams, with each victim losing an
average of 31 thousand pounds. That led to failed businesses and broken
marriages, said the study. Bill Caelli is from the Institute of
Information Security at Queensland University of Technology. He says
there's little a government can do about protecting the gullible.
CAELLI: The problem here is basically one of education and awareness,
that's about the best thing we can do at the present moment. Even the
concept of trying to block the source of those particular messages won't
work because the scammers simply change their addresses.
COCHRANE: New technology might help, but until internet users realise
that anything that seems too good to be true, is probably a trick,
scammers around the world will continue to chop the dollars from foreign
bank accounts.
