Phishing Alert: Fake Nelson Mandela Foundation Email Scam

The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) has warned of a new email scam circulating online. The scam is soliciting money from Internet users in the name of NMF, the official website reports.

An appeal for donations in the scam email attempts to sound plausible which may potentially trick many gullible computer users. It gives details about the "Center of Memory" which apparently captures eternally the living as well as the era of ex-South African President and world famous freedom fighter Nelson Mandela.

The fake email says the money collected will be used for the creation of an unprecedented facility for people doing research on the living as well as the era of Mandela.

Further down the message, it shows deterioration in its English language quality. However, what it means in the last paragraph is that people may kindly and willingly donate for the survival of children in distress. So, people may donate at a given contact information through Western Union or money gram. They can send a reply to the email, the paragraph says. The message then finishes by extending pleasantries on behalf of a "Dr. Zulu Ken" whose India-based hotmail ID appears in the message.

Chief Executive of the Foundation, Achmat Dangor, says that those behind the scam were doing everything unlawful as they did not ask for Mr. Mandela's permission.

However, the NMF website states that although the Foundation welcomes people's voluntary grants to help it in its work, the Foundation is currently not processing donations via the Internet.

Consequently, in case people wanted to donate, they needed to write to NMF on the Foundation's email address or contact it through its phone numbers. Another option was to send the priced gifts to the NMF postal address as mentioned on the official website.

Finally, security analysts stated that email scams have become increasingly sophisticated, with certain recent email frauds preventing their easy detection like in the Nelson Mandela case.