KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) -- If you are offered exclusive access to
subscribe to Facebook’s IPO shares, there’s a good chance that it is a scam,
said Symantec.
Symantec Security Response recently spotted a 419 scam message offering a
"FACEBOOK (IPO) SUBSCRIPTION PARTNERSHIP PROPOSAL".
The use of an all uppercase heading is a common hallmark of such 419 scams,
it said.
The scam claims to be sent from a finance firm with offices in multiple
locations worldwide.
The exact nature of the scam is unclear. The scam mentions loaning money
under ''soft'' or generous terms to buy Facebook shares and then selling them back
to the company at a price higher than the original purchase price.
Symantec said a strong indication that it is a scam is the email address to
reply to.
"It is an amateurish-looking address at a common free Web-based email
provider.
"A legitimate company would almost certainly use an email address from its
own domain rather than a free Web-based address," it added.
The email address and name in the "from" header of the message are also
different to the email address and name used in the message body.
Given the high profile nature of this IPO, Symantec expects scammers to take
advantage of it in the same way that they have done so with previous news
stories and events. -- BERNAMA
MSL AS