Dissecting a 419 Scam

It’s been a little while since we dived into a scammer video.. and even more so since it’s been on a Sunday. Yeah, we actually have a proper Scammer Sunday! Ah, that takes me back a year or so to when I actually tried to keep up with a regular schedule and theme of articles.

Anyway, here we have another interesting video from the always-awesome Jim Browning regarding scammers, in this case the classic 419 scam. This video in particular goes into the details on discovering the true origins of a scammer email based on SMTP header data located within the email itself.

These headers indicate the actual origins, and data flow path of the email message through the internet.  Naturally, with tools to figure out the physical location of IP addresses, this can very well tell you the general area (usually down to a city or major city section) of the origin of a given email.

Useful data if you want to try to bust a scammer, obviously!

Enough lead in, let’s get to the video. It’s short and to the point, and ends with a rather hilarious final image. I would hope that most of my viewers are aware of what the actual image is but if not, well… don’t goo looking for it. Trust me, some parts of the internet are best left in the past.

Enjoy!

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