| The next time you have an urge to open an email that reads “Urgent Security Notification” or “Your billing account records are out of date”, be on your guard.
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| Cyber criminals are increasingly using psychological games and other tactics scams that are spread through junk email, reveals a study by security solutions provider McAfee.
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| In the study, titled "Mind Games", the primary author James Blascovich, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says: “Scam spam works best by providing recipients with a sense of familiarity and legitimacy. Once the victim opens the email, criminals use two basic motivational processes, approach and avoidance, or a combination of the two, to persuade victims to click on dangerous links.”
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| Blascovich reports on a category of scam emails that targets consumers who are promotion-focused (want to "get ahead") and/or capitalise on consumers’ greed.
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| These messages have such subject lines as “You Won” to entice consumers into thinking they may have won a lottery or sweepstakes, "90 per cent discounts" to trick consumers into thinking they are getting great promotional pricing, or "You are approved" to target consumers who need a loan or have money woes.
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| An important key to the crooks’ success is familiarity. One example is phishing scams which fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and financial data, by masquerading as a familiar or nationally recognised bank, credit card company or even an online auction site.
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| Blascovich points out that by scamming $20 from just .5 to 1 per cent of the US population, cyber criminals can earn $15 million each day and nearly $5.5 billion in a year. |
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