The Metro Film Society in Kochi, India, disclosed on January 15, 2009 the hacking of its blog and e-mail ID by a cyber criminal in Ghana.
The incident came into light when some of the members of the society received an e-mail in the name of Mr. Gopinathan, the secretary of the film society. The e-mail said that he was trapped in Ghana without money.
The mail reads - "You need to help me with the hotel bill and I also require $1050 to feed and support myself back home. So, please help me with an amount of $1600 to solve my problems here. I require this support on time as I am in a terrible situation here".
The cyber criminal also asked them to transfer the amount through Western Union or Money Gram to the address Gopinathan M., Ghana (country), Accra (city) and 00233 (zip code). The e-mail also has an optional mail address for them to respond, which is a normal feature of scam mails.
Some of the members suspected the mail and inquired about the mail. It is during the inquiry the society officials discover about the scam. Then, the society officials sent another mail to the members saying that society's Gmail ID and blog had been hacked.
The mail sent by the executive committee of the Metro Film Society advised the members to avoid such mails in future. The society has also commenced the process of creating another mail ID and blog.
Security experts claimed that cyber crime has become a nuance in Ghana and it has emerged as a hobby for some young men in the capital of Accra. Further, the security is not adequate enough in dealing with the issue. Lately, a former Information Minister of Ghana disclosed that almost 82 cyber crimes in the country every month, which means almost 1,000 crimes per year.
In addition, phishing has become very common in India. As per thelatest report from MessageLabs, growing markets like BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are at a greater risk of cyber crimes.
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