Phishing scams ‘target developing world scientists’

The new online scams are more sophisticated Copyright: Flickr/ebel

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Phishing scams ‘target developing world scientists’</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><span>Developing country <a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/">climate</a> scientists are being targeted by an elaborate ‘phishing’ scam that invites them to attend conferences and asks for advance payment.</span></p>
<p><span>The conferences are fake but are advertised on websites that look authentic and falsely claim support from big companies, such as the energy company BP, and governmental departments. </span></p>
<p><em>BBC News</em><span> said it has seen emails from two African scientists who were planning to speak at such conferences in London but pulled out when asked for money.</span></p>
<p><span>One website, currently live, advertises a conference organised by the ‘Global Warming Volunteer Group’ and hosted by the Crown London Hotel — giving the same address as the real-life Crowne Plaza, which has nothing to do with the scheme.</span></p>
<p><span>‘Climate-phishing’ dates back to 2007, when an email sent to scientists read: "Random Selection as Development/Campaign Partner… We hereby notify you that you have been selected as a partner in the World Campaign against Global Warming … "</span></p>
<p><span>But the new online scams are more sophisticated. Some list names of existing climate experts, such as the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and claim funding from the UN General Assembly.</span></p>
<p><span>What they have in common is they ask for travel or accommodation costs of around €200–300 (US$273–410) to be paid up front, which will be reimbursed later on. </span></p>
<p><span>Langston James "Kimo" Goree VI, of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in the United States, told <em>BBC News</em>: "The scammers have lifted entire portions of the IISD website, doing a search and replace to find IISD and replace it with their own fake name and creating a fake website that they use to fool people into believing that they are legitimate."</span></p>
<div>"The fake website is very cleverly done … they do speak the ‘lingo’ fluently."</div>
<p>They are after money as well as personal details, such as e-mail addresses, said <span>Carole Theriault, a spokeswoman on security issues with online security company Sophos. "So if you’ve replied to an e-mail invitation you’re saying ‘hi, this is me, this is my email address as of now’ — that’s valuable."</span></p>
<div><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12219472" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full article on <em>BBC News</em></a></div>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/phishing-scams-target-developing-world-scientists/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/phishing-scams-target-developing-world-scientists/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Developing country climate scientists are being targeted by an elaborate ‘phishing’ scam that invites them to attend conferences and asks for advance payment.

The conferences are fake but are advertised on websites that look authentic and falsely claim support from big companies, such as the energy company BP, and governmental departments.

BBC News said it has seen emails from two African scientists who were planning to speak at such conferences in London but pulled out when asked for money.

One website, currently live, advertises a conference organised by the ‘Global Warming Volunteer Group’ and hosted by the Crown London Hotel — giving the same address as the real-life Crowne Plaza, which has nothing to do with the scheme.

‘Climate-phishing’ dates back to 2007, when an email sent to scientists read: "Random Selection as Development/Campaign Partner… We hereby notify you that you have been selected as a partner in the World Campaign against Global Warming … "

But the new online scams are more sophisticated. Some list names of existing climate experts, such as the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and claim funding from the UN General Assembly.

What they have in common is they ask for travel or accommodation costs of around €200–300 (US$273–410) to be paid up front, which will be reimbursed later on.

Langston James "Kimo" Goree VI, of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in the United States, told BBC News: "The scammers have lifted entire portions of the IISD website, doing a search and replace to find IISD and replace it with their own fake name and creating a fake website that they use to fool people into believing that they are legitimate."

"The fake website is very cleverly done … they do speak the ‘lingo’ fluently."

They are after money as well as personal details, such as e-mail addresses, said Carole Theriault, a spokeswoman on security issues with online security company Sophos. "So if you’ve replied to an e-mail invitation you’re saying ‘hi, this is me, this is my email address as of now’ — that’s valuable."

Link to full article on BBC News