My Relatives Are Dying Like Flies?

Twice today I’ve received spam emails (obvious phishing attempts). They look like the standard Nigerian 419 scam attempts — but with an interesting twist.

In the first one, the person writing was claiming that a Scott G.Brownsword of the 2nd Battalion,505th Parachute lnfantry (sic) Regiment,3rd Brigade combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Ft Bragg NC had passed away and they were asking if I’d stand in as an heir since I had the same last name.

As a retired soldier, I could easily verify this so-called deceased person’s identity by simply logging into the Army’s portal and doing a search, but why bother?

The other one claimed that a James Brownsword died in a Gulf Air flight crash in the Persian Gulf back in August 2000. I think I know why that plane crashed; I think I’ve received at least 1,000 emails about standing in for the next of kin for deceased passengers on that flight, so it obviously crashed because it was way overcrowded and hence overweight.

Again, the interesting part of these particular scam / phish emails is that they used my last name and suggested that I would be a good candidate to stand in because of that. So it looks like the criminal scammers are resorting to new and desperate tactics to keep the flow of cash coming in.

Just say no. A matching last name still means a scam.

Thanks,
Tom