It’s not unusual to get phishing scams in the form of lottery “winnings” or that appear to come from legitimate businesses or nonprofits (see the Habitat for Humanity job offer scam). But this scam is more creative than most. It arrives as a nice-looking 4-page PDF attachment from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (well, nice looking if you ignore the creative spelling and the fact that the typeface and font color changes with every paragraph). It starts out “PLEASE HELP PROTECT/SAVE OUR PLANET” and has a photo of Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton walking arm-in-arm. It then informs me that the “NELSON MANDELA FOUNDATION and WILLIAM J. CLINTON FOUNDATION in Collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has held an Internet Raffle Draw” and selected my email address! And it’s signed by Desmond Tutu. Of course, they need my contact info, including:
1. Full name………………………….
2. Country…………………………….
3. Contact Address…………………
4. Telephone Number……………..
5. fax Number……………………….
5. Marital Status…………………….
6. Occupation………………………..
7. Date of birth………………….
8. Sex……………………………
9. Alternative email address…………………….
I hope the wild variety of fonts and colors alone are enough to tell the world this is a scam. Here’s what it looks like:
My boss got this, too. My first thought was that it looked very unprofessional. It seems to me that the UN would have someone on staff who could put together a better announcement than this.
I just got this today. Foolish people, indeed!
the contact name has been changed to Michael Clarke,
Country code on the phone # is 44-
My boss received this today.