There is a new possible charity email scam going around

Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 10:58 am

Header image source Pixabay

I happened to be checking my email via my hosting provider recently and I found a very interesting possible scam email.

It’s very similar to older emails that would catch the reader’s attention and may cause someone to email them back. This would initiate a conversation that would eventually ask for money or some monetary investment.

The email

The sender

The sender was Diana R contatti42@tawilax.com.

The email address was a red flag for me and since it had been marked as spam I assume the spam filter that Inmotion Hosting provides knew it was a threat.

The email

The email was pretty straightforward. It was simple yet cordial. The sender claimed they are a doctor originally from the United Kingdom but currently in Gaza with the United Nations (does this sound familiar to anyone?).

The email went on to ask that they wanted to speak with me about an important matter.

Greetings,

My name is Diana, I am from United Kingdom but right now in Gaza Palestine for United Nation humanitarian work . I was searching for a friend’s email contact on google search before I came across yours, I would like to discuss an important issue with you, please Get back to me for something important.

Thanks

Dr Diana

Email text

Here is a screenshot of the original email.

What i found during my research

I found out that tawilax.com is an automated email marketing site. I wasn’t able to visit the site times out and I get an error from Chrome.

Why is this a Scam?

There are a few key factors that make this a scam email.

Red Flag (🚩) 1

The fact that the email isn’t addressed by name It’s a simple Greeting.

Red Flag (🚩) 2

The sender mentions they are currently in Gaza with the United Nations. As you may recall the United Nations (UN) has been used in many scams over the years. Some were stating you had a package delivery while others were stating you would be given money for no reason.

This gets me because the United Nations does help around the world but when I read that the sender was a doctor and was in Gaza I figured this would be the new money scam. Or a charity scam or even an investment scam.

Red Flag (🚩) 3

The mention of finding your email from a random Google search. My question is why would you just email someone at random if the sender was trying to contact a colleague or friend they would address that in an email or add that you had a similar name of said person.

This again reminds me of the Beneficiary scams where the senders needed you to contact them with great urgency.

What does the scammer want?

I would say the scammer would probably ask for money or to donate to a charity since they claim to be working with the United Nations.

The scammer could also ask you to invest in something as a way to support their efforts or those in (insert war-torn country). In this case, it would be helping those in Gaza.

I assume the scammer could also try to clone your email address or get financial info for future fraud.

I thought I’d let you all know because I imagine this may be a new scam trend.