{“lastseen”:”2026-04-17T16:05:09″,”description”:”When we read about this new malware tactic, or that novel social engineering approach, it\u2019s easy to forget that there are scammers out there making a living from ancient methods.\\n\\nRecently, one of our researchers received this variation on the good old Nigerian advance-fee scam.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u003e From: Mrs.Inga-Britt Ahlenius. \\n\\u003e Internal Audit, Monitoring, Consulting and Investigations Division \\n\\u003e UNITED NATIONS SCAM VICTIMS COMPENSATIONS PAYMENTS.\\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e Attn; Dear Scam victim\/Beneficiary;\\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e United Nations have Approved to pay 150 scam victims $5,000,000.00 (FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLAR) each.\\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e You are listed as one of the scammed victims to be paid this amount, get back to me as soon as possible for the immediate payments of your $5,000,000.00 compensation funds.\\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e You can contact the paying bank United Bank For Africa (UBA) on the below information\\n\\u003e \\n\\u003e Name: Dr. Kingsley Obiora \\n\\u003e Email: kingsleyobiora@gmail.com \\n\\u003e Whatsapp Number, +234 913 998 1014 Sincerely yours, \\n\\u003e Mrs.Inga-Britt Ahlenius\\n\\n* * *\\n\\n\\n\\n### Scam or legit? Scam Guard knows.\\n\\nTRY IT NOW\\n\\n* * *\\n\\nThe scammers got a few details right. Anyone looking up the names in the email will find that they exist and are associated with the mentioned organizations.\\n\\n**Inga** -**Britt** Monica Stigsdotter **Ahlenius** is a Swedish auditor, public servant and former Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations.\\n\\nThe name \u201cInga\u2011Britt Ahlenius\u201d has been reused across many such 419\u2011style advance\u2011fee scams, sometimes claiming she is a UN fund monitoring agent or under\u2011secretary general distributing tens of millions in \u201ccompensation\u201d or \u201cunclaimed funds.\u201d\\n\\n**Kingsley Obiora** is a Nigerian economist who served as the Deputy Governor of Economic Policy at the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2020 to 2023. Which lends a degree of credibility to the Nigerian country code (+234) in the number they want us to contact by WhatsApp.\\n\\nSo, we decided to put our \u201cfriend\u201d Tess to work once again. Loyal readers will remember how Tess almost fell for a task scammer. So maybe she\u2019s eligible for that five-million-dollar compensation.\\n\\n\\n\\nThey came right to the point. We\u2019d have to pay a courier fee to get our $5 million dollar ATM card. And I\u2019m pretty sure that if we agreed to pay that, additional costs would swiftly follow. Once you’ve invested a bit of money, you\u2019re likely to keep going since you don\u2019t want to lose what you’ve already paid.\\n\\nSo, I offered to pick up the ATM card in person. Always wanted to see Nigeria.\\n\\n\\n\\nFor a while I thought they saw through my bluff. Maybe I shouldn\u2019t have disclosed just yet that I work for Malwarebytes. But it quickly became clear they trusted me about as much as I trusted them.\\n\\n\\n\\nI\u2019ll play along as long as I can, but after giving me the physical address of the UBA bank in Lagos, Nigeria, they started to make it more difficult to pick up the ATM card in person.\\n\\n\\n\\nA week is not a long time to arrange a trip to Nigeria, so I tried to get an idea of how much the \u201ccourier\u201d would set me back before they gave up on me.\\n\\n\\n\\nI didn\u2019t expect it to be that much, to be honest. Maybe they thought they could raise the price since I contemplated to pick it up in person. Or they just wanted to get rid of me. You\u2019d expect them to charge maybe \u20ac75 for the courier and then come up with \u20ac200 for stamp duty and \u20ac600 for insurance later on.\\n\\n## Consequences are real\\n\\nIt\u2019s easy to laugh at talk of five\u2011million\u2011dollar ATM cards, but campaigns like this still make money. Behind every \u201cDear Scam victim\/Beneficiary\u201d is someone who is lonely, in debt, or simply overwhelmed by official\u2011sounding language. Once they\u2019ve paid the first \u201ccourier fee,\u201d the sunk\u2011cost effect kicks in, and it becomes harder and harder to walk away.\\n\\nThis is especially true for people who have already been victims of scams, who are clearly the target here.\\n\\n## How to stay safe\\n\\nTess\u2019 efforts have helped us highlight the red flags in this type of scam:\\n\\n * Receiving news of a huge payout out of the blue should definitely trigger the \u201ctoo good to be true\u201d alarm bells.\\n * For important communications, free webmail and WhatsApp are rarely the official contact channels.\\n * Scammers apply pressure to act quickly and ask you to pay a fee before you receive anything.\\n * They often use vague job titles and ask you to keep things quiet.\\n * Odd language and capitalization can be a clue, although AI is making these less common.\\n\\n\\n\\nAny one of these signs is a reason to stop and delete the email. Together, they spell out a classic advance\u2011fee scam.\\n\\nFor Tess this was a safe experiment: no money lost, just a few evenings spent sparring with a \u201cUN compensation officer\u201d on WhatsApp. For the people these criminals really want to reach, the stakes are much higher. \\n\\nIf you, or someone you care about, ever receives a message promising life\u2011changing money in exchange for a small courier fee or processing charge, treat it as a warning sign, not a windfall. \\n\\nClose the tab, delete the message, and, if in doubt, ask a trusted friend or advisor before you act. \\n\\nThe easiest way to recognize a golden\u2011oldie scam is still the simplest: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn\u2019t true.\\n\\n* * *\\n\\n### **Something feel off? Check it before you click. ** \\n\\n**Malwarebytes Scam Guard** helps you analyze suspicious links, texts, and screenshots instantly. \\n\\nAvailable with Malwarebytes Premium Security for all your devices, and in the Malwarebytes app for iOS and Android. \\n\\nTry it free \u2192”,”published”:”2026-04-17T14:34:17″,”modified”:”2026-04-17T14:34:17″,”type”:”malwarebytes”,”title”:”This old-school scam is still working”,”source”:””,”references”:””,”id”:”MALWAREBYTES:08FA2EA2BF0637EFB83C337D670F0ABD”,”bulletinFamily”:”blog”,”cwe”:null,”cvelist”:[],”sourceData”:””,”sourceHref”:””,”cvss”:{“score”:0,”severity”:”NONE”,”vector”:”NONE”,”version”:”NONE”},”cvss2″:{},”cvss3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””,”cvssV3″:{“version”:””,”vectorString”:””,”baseScore”:0,”baseSeverity”:””,”attackVector”:””,”attackComplexity”:””,”privilegesRequired”:””,”userInteraction”:””,”scope”:””,”confidentialityImpact”:””,”integrityImpact”:””,”availabilityImpact”:””}},”href”:”https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/blog\/news\/2026\/04\/this-old-school-scam-is-still-working”,”category_name”:”News”,”post_link”:””,”product”:””,”version”:””,”vendor”:””,”ai_description”:””,”ai_severity”:””,”ai_vendor”:””,”ai_product”:””,”ai_version”:””,”ai_score”:0}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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