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When it comes to exports and Guatemala, we generally think coffee. However, while poring over our Mobile messaging data, we discovered another Guatemalan export: Nigerian-style scam campaigns.
Over the past two to three years, mobile phone users in the USA have been receiving SMS messages, originating in Guatemala, informing them that they have won a cash prize and an automobile.
Here is an example:
An example landing page used by this scammer[/caption]
This scam accounts for 22% of all international spam arriving in the USA. However, we found that these Guatemalan scammers have not only been sending text messages to the USA. In fact, the bulk of this campaign has been directed towards other Latin American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Uruguay. It would seem that the lure of $60K and a car is enough to tempt people, whether in a first world or developing country. The single-language nature of this campaign suggests that the spammer is targeting a specific list of Spanish-speaking users.
Whatever their success rate, these scammers are availing of cheap-rate international SMS rates to spam - and ultimately - scam people out of cash.
felicidades! CLARO y TIGO te informa que GANASTE $35,000.00 y un VEHICULO TOYOTA comunicate al tel:01150248XXXXXX llama ya
We have only seen this attack in the Spanish language. The above roughly translates to:congratulations! CLARO and TIGO informs you that WON $ 35,000.00 and a TOYOTA VEHICLE call 01150248XXXXXX to claim
The scam works like this: The unsuspecting recipient calls the number to be informed of the details of their prize. In order to receive the prize, they must hand over various personal information, bank account details, etc. To pick up their brand new automobile, they can either come to Guatemala in-person or it can be delivered to them directly. Therein lies the catch: they must pay the import duty, taxes, so-called "landing duty", etc. involved. This will ultimately be the only transaction that occurs for those unlucky enough to fall for the scam. Well, that is unless their identity is stolen... The scammers have dedicated personnel on-hand to answer queries. In fact, they only operate during normal business hours, directing weekend callers to get back to them on Monday morning. In addition to this, the scammers have also created a number of blogspot pages, purporting to belong to major mobile carriers. Once the user has contacted the scammer, they are directed to one of these blogspot pages. To the less savvy user, these fake pages can provide the scammer with an air of credibility: [caption id="attachment_4511" align="aligncenter" width="475"]
An example landing page used by this scammer[/caption]
This scam accounts for 22% of all international spam arriving in the USA. However, we found that these Guatemalan scammers have not only been sending text messages to the USA. In fact, the bulk of this campaign has been directed towards other Latin American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Uruguay. It would seem that the lure of $60K and a car is enough to tempt people, whether in a first world or developing country. The single-language nature of this campaign suggests that the spammer is targeting a specific list of Spanish-speaking users.
Whatever their success rate, these scammers are availing of cheap-rate international SMS rates to spam - and ultimately - scam people out of cash.