Doctor is used as bait for internet scam
Just a week before the General Elections, P.U.P. Public Relations Chief, Yasser Musa, claimed someone had hacked into his e-mail account and was sending off bogus letters to his contacts. Today, it is a Ministry of Health employee who has become the latest target of an email security breech. Maternal and Child Health Technical Advisor, Dr. Natalia Beer, while in Chetumal on a working trip, was stunned to find out yesterday that someone was using her e-mail account to solicit money on phony grounds.
A copy of the e-mail sent to us states in part that Beer was robbed at a hotel while on an important trip in the U.K. and that all her belongings, including her return ticket, were stolen. The con artist, purporting to be Beer, went further to make requests for loans of two thousand four hundred dollars with a promise that Beer would refund the money as soon as she lands in Belize. The loan funds were to be sent via Western Union with the sender asked to relay the Money Transfer Control Number, which the recipient must supply when they show up to collect.
Today, speaking with us on her return from Chetumal, Beer said she is aware of one friend who has already fallen prey to the hoax. At the same time Western Union Supervisor, Danette Burns, says they, along with the Financial Intelligence Unit, are now working together to trace whether anyone else collected money in Beer’s name.
Dr. Natalia Beer, Technical Advisor, Min. of Health
“I just tried to send out e-mails to people that they should disregard any message coming from my email account and ask them that they forward the same message to friends or family that we have in common to try to spread the word around. I also send it to a security contact from yahoo account but I haven’t gotten any response so far and then we alerted Western Union for them to block any transaction in my name.”
Danette Burns, Supervisor, Western Union
“In this particular instance they were asked to do a loan and to come to Western Union and then forward the MTCN to a given address. Things like these, pointers like that should be hints that this is a fraud and people should be aware and try and stay away. Normally we’d have to work with the F.I.U to see how they can best help us and we have already sent this message on to them. We’ve notified all our sub-agents to be on alert for possible customers that come in to send this information to encourage the sender not to go ahead with the transaction.”
Marion Ali
“And if you have any doubts you should call that if you have their number right?”
Danette Burns
“Right.”
Burns said scams like this are not unusual worldwide but that this is the first time she knows that a Belizean’s particulars have been used to carry out the con.
