Scammers take to the web to exploit Mubarak and Egyptian unrest

In yet another example of the lengths cyber criminals are prepared to go to make their tawdry living, Symantec.cloud's MessageLabs Intelligence team has unearthed a new 419 scam exploiting the recent unrest in Egypt.

This particular email was of the 419-style variety, which usually involve the scammer promising the recipient access to untold riches on the proviso that they pay some kind of upfront charge first.

As Symantec.cloud senior software engineer Nick Johnston, wrote in a blog post, 419 scammers are usually quick to react to breaking news. This newly uncovered example is of a German language 419 scam claiming to be from former Egyptian president Mubarak's lawyer.

The scammer asks for the recipient's help to retrieve $2.5m of the president's funds, frozen in a Belgian bank account, adding that he'll pay for assistance.

"The recent uncertainty about Hosni Murabak's whereabouts and health, as well as reports that many jurisdictions are considering seizing his assets could perhaps lend credibility to this particular 419 scam," he added.

"As usual for many 419 scams, the message is poorly constructed, and has probably been automatically translated to German."

Incredibly these scams must work on a very small percentage of the recipients, in the same way that more general spam does, otherwise the scammers would give up and try another tactic. The byword, as always should be caution.