419 scams: The Iraqi war angle

Fraudsters attempting to perpetrate the infamous 419 scam have updated their pitch to include a topical war angle - hoping it will give a new lease of life to their well-known crime.

Traditionally recipients of this scam email are contacted by somebody purporting to be a West African businessman offering a share of a vast unclaimed fortune in return for allowing the money to be laundered through their bank account.

However, the scam, which originated in Nigeria, soon gained a notoriety that undermined its credibility - leaving scammers searching for fresh new angles to try to lure the gullible and the greedy.

Edward Venning, spokesman for The National Criminal Intelligence Service, which is fighting these scammers, told silicon.com that Nigeria has now used up its "trust capital" - meaning it is now so inextricably linked with this fraud that unsolicited emails from within the country are often regarded with suspicion. As such many of the scams now give the appearance of originating in South Africa, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and further afield - though past investigations typically unveil a web of criminals from various countries perpetrating the crime.

And some scammers are seizing upon the war in Iraq as an opportunity to update their pitch. The latest 419 scam on the scene offers the recipient a share in the fortune of an Iraqi land owner, called Farouk Al- Bashar, who wants to get his family's money out of Baghdad for fear of it being lost in a bombing raid on the capital.

As with all these scams, the best course of action is to report the email to the sender's ISP - and remember, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

The war in Iraq has provided cyber criminals with a many new opportunities. Already we have seen an instance of a virus writer using people's curiosity about events in the Gulf to spread a malicious worm around the world. Similarly there has also been an increase in incidences of hacking and website defacement.