Scammers Use Online Calendars to Phish Victims

You’ve been here before: You’re at work, you get a notification via a popup, then an email, then a text reminding you of an appointment on your calendar. For most busy professionals, this is pretty normal because you know you need multiple points of contact to remind you of your schedule so you don’t look like a fool and miss an appointment. Online calendars rock, and they beat the heck out of paper calendars.

But this particular appointment that just popped is unfamiliar, you don’t recall making it, and you wonder if maybe it’s a mistake or you had too many Scotches last night. It shows up in your calendar like this:

When: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11am – 12pm Eastern Time

Calendar For Robert Siciliano

Dear Robert,

Writing with humanitarian heart, my name is Mrs. Rita Kennedy, and I was married to Mr. Kennedy director of MWB Industries Cote d’Ivoire. We were married for years with only one child, who was 11 years old, our only daughter Grace. My husband died after a Cardiac Arteries Operation and left both me and little Grace.

Recently when I went for medical examination my doctor told me that I might not last for the next Eight months due to my cancer at this advanced stage (cancer of the liver and partial stroke). Before my husband died last year, there is this sum of ($6.4 Million US Dollars) that my late husband deposited with a Bank here In Ivory Coast. Presently this fund is still in the Vault of the Bank.

Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to any good God fearing brother or sister that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. Going by my health unstable state, I am only worried about little daughter Grace and what will her life be if I die, this is why I am looking for any God fearing whom I will entrust both Grace and the money and secure her future. I prayed for one who will use this money according to the desire of my late husband to make sure that Grace is given the best and is being looked after the way we would have done for her if we were alive.

I want you to always remember me in your daily prayers because of my up coming surgery, and please after reading this letter, indicate on what you could do to help.

Hoping to read from you ASAP

Mrs. Rita Kennedy

SOOOOOOOOOOO…. Now while this particular calendar appointment is an obvious Nigerian 419 scam, not all are this obvious. So beware.

The goal here is for the victim to respond, engage with and ultimately pull money out of one’s pocket in an “advanced fee” scam. But really, all you need to do is ignore and delete.