July 20, 2006
The latest twist in the Nigerian 419 Scam is an email promising a cure for HIV/AIDS. Computer security experts say its purpose is to trick recipients into revealing personal data.
The emails, which originate from a Yahoo address, claim that the writer has stumbled across an herbal root that miraculously helps AIDS sufferers to recover. It claims that patients with AIDS are no longer HIV positive and asks for help in bringing this discovery to a mainstream market.
Once a recipient has been drawn in, follow up requests are made by the scammer for private information which may lead to requests for money, stolen identities and theft.
Experts at computer security firm SophosLabs say they stopped thousands of messages related to the 419 email scam. 419 relates to a section of the Nigerian penal code, where many of these scams originate.
Most 419 scams involve requests, allegedly by a member of a deposed royal family, to smuggle a fortune to safety in the United States.
