Kin/Beneficiary for US$20 Millions

Becoming a millionaire has never been so easy but  there are some spam emails which tempt us to believe so. Here is the recent one from my SPAM trap.

"Hi,

 Re: Next of Kin/Beneficiary for US$20 Millions

 Thanks for your email.

 I am a staff of one of the leading banks here in Europe, Twenty Millions US Dollars was lodged since 2000 in our bank and the beneficiary died in 2004 South Asia Tsunami with his family while on holiday in Thailand.

 All attempts to trace any of his relatives was not successful. Now, I want you to stand as next of kin/Beneciary for the fund release since you have the same Last Name with him, and we will share this money together, so that I can invest my share in Real Estate in your Country.

 If you are interested, send me your complete names, address and phone numbers and I will give you all the details.

 Please I want this deal to be very secret and should not be disclose to anyone,

 reply me through my private email address RAYCHMAIL@aol.com

 Yours ,

Charles"

To completely understand the motives behind such emails first of all we need to understand what the author of such emails can do with the required information i.e. Complete Names, Address and Phone numbers. Well one can use this information to send you spam advertisement either in form of MAIL or SMS.  Once can start using your identity for making some frauds etc.

But I guess snatching initial information is just the first step, once someone will reply showing his/her interest in this crafted story they will reply back with more incentives and asking for more information and so on. In subsequent emails they might ask for your SSN or even bank account information to transfer you the money etc.

Atif Mushtaq @ FireEye Malware Intelligence Lab

Question/Comments : research SHIFT-2 fireeye DOT COM