Hoaxer hackes into Sudanese journalist email
By Nissar Hoath
August 11, 2007 (ABU DHABI) — A hoaxer hacked into an Abu Dhabi resident’s e-mail account and sent a fake message to his friends, claiming he was stranded in Nigeria and needed urgent financial help.
Mayom Alier, a senior journalist at the Emirates News Agency, was shocked to receive a flood of calls from friends inquiring if he was safe.
More than 50 people he had previously contacted using his Google-run Gmail account received the bogus mail.
“During the last couple of hours, I have received more than 10 calls from friends to check if I was in the UAE,” said Alier. “I hope none of my friends will be fooled by this e-mail into sending the money to a crook sitting somewhere in Nigeria.
“I have been shocked and embarrassed by a flood of calls. I believe all my friends here and around the world must have received the e-mail.
“If people know me well they should not fall prey to such a cheap scam. I have been trying to find out how an email address, managed by a reputable organisation like Google, could be misused.” The language and the contents of the e-mail, titled “An Emergency Help Needed”, have been drafted to match Alier’s background.
Alier, from southern Sudan, is known for his social and humanitarian work and frequently travels to Africa to take part in such programmes. When he is not seen in Abu Dhabi for a few days his friends assume he must be in Africa for a short visit.
The fake e-mail talks of the sender being in Africa to participate in a social development programme. But the conman made the mistake of misspelling Alier’s first name at the end of the appeal for help.
Muzamil Abbass, a colleague and friend of Alier, said: “Today I received a call from a friend to alert me about the scam email. Had I not been warned I would have fallen for this scam because when I don’t see Mayom for some days I know he must be abroad.” A spokesman said the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority could not look into the case as it involved hacking into Google’s own network.
But, he said the authority was in the process of launching the Computer Emergency Response Team, a cyber security network to help protect computer users in the UAE.
“The network will be launched soon,” he added.
(Emirates Today)