Video Focuses on Victims of a Genealogy E-Mail Scam

"HCommerce: The Business of Hacking You," is as a documentary online video (sponsored by McAfee) in five segments posted every two weeks at www.stopHcommerce.com, which puts the focus on a family that lost $400,000 in a complex genealogy-related e-mail scam.

The Spears family of Portland, Oregon, lost about $400,000 when Janella Spears fell for the scam promising the lost fortune of a dead relative, J.B. Spears, in Africa. The documentary tells how Janella Spears, avidly interested in genealogy, was convinced the lost fortune of J.B. Spears was out there as the crime group going after her money even showed her a death certificate for him.

"HCommerce: The Business of Hacking You" is a McAfee-sponsored project, and not surprisingly, it tries to scare you a bit. It is full of doom and gloom but most of the problems can be avoided by using a bit of common sense. The video focuses on cybercrime's many dangers, including botnets and distributed denial-of-service attacks, that explains the huge scope of today's problems.

I'd suggest that everyone should watch these videos to be aware of the dangers. Episode 1 is available now and future episodes will become available in coming weeks.

You can view the video at http://www.stophcommerce.com.

Comments

[Ros Bott]

Wow - I've had loads of these type of email scams, but I've never had a genealogical one. Of course most of us know just to delete them straight away, but if you're new to using email you are vulnerable.
Ros

[Lucy Shore]

I received one of these in December purportedly from a lawyer on the Ivory Coast, following the death of a client named Shore, together with his immediate family. I immediately sent it to the place where all such e-mails go but not without sending a copy to my husband (after all, it is HIS name), commenting on the 'new twist to an old scam.'

I'm dismayed to learn that there are still people falling for these old scams albeit with a new twist.

[Geezer]

Dick, could you give us the exact address of the genealogy story?
Or do we have to watch the whole series to see it. I saw the lady cry and the fact that she lost $400000, but no details.i

[Dick Eastman]

The story is available at http://www.stophcommerce.com

Episode 1 is available now and future episodes will become available in coming weeks.

- Dick Eastman

[Gordon Banks]

It is incredible that there are still people out there who have not heard about these African scams. I must get 10 emails a week with some variation about someone with my name has died in Africa and I am apparently their heir. This has been going on for at least 10 years! This explains why I am still getting these emails. Some of them still work!