Digital Trends

Scammers have come up with a new wrinkle in China to hit the unsuspecting in two different ways - and it's ingenious.

Websense Security Labs have discovered a new scam in China that’s ingenious. Not only does it hit unsuspecting victims in two ways, it uses search engine optimization to make the fakers seem legitimate.

The first move is for the criminals to post real company names like Sina and Taobao, but with fake phone numbers to BBS. This establishes the “legitimacy” of these numbers associated with real companies, and gets them ranked high in search engines by clever use of search engine optimization.

That’s followed by a wave of spam, saying recipients have won a lottery, but need to contact the sender by phone with personal details. The wrinkle is that the e-mail suggests “winners” use search engines to establish the veracity of the numbers – many of which are active in case people call.

Then, to hit people twice, to claim their supposed winnings, they have to call premium-rate numbers, bring more money to the scammers and adding a twist to the vishing scam.

Most of the phone numbers associated with the scam are in China’s Hainan province