One such email scam pretends to come from the Scottish minister for culture, tourism and sport.
The emails, which have the subject line "Greetings from Scotland.", have been spammed out to internet users claiming to come from Patricia Ferguson, a member of the Scottish Parliament. The emails requests the recipient's help in moving $40 million out of the United Kingdom "for safekeeping" and contain links to the MSP's personal website.
However, experts have warned people that this is a trick to steal personal details, and the scammers are using this information to steal money from bank accounts and commit identity fraud.
"Not only are these scammers sullying the name of Patricia Ferguson, but they are also trying to take advantage of people's temptation to earn a small fortune for little effort. Internet criminals use a wide variety of tricks to try and steal sensitive data from computer users in their attempts to empty the public's bank accounts," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Email users should be on their guard not to believe everything they receive via email, and think before sharing their personal information with others."
