Earlier, we wrote about the tricks that fraudsters often use on their gullible victims. There’s a prize for you, just pay a small fee to open a bank account (or transport costs, bank fees, overheads etc.), and you will be a millionaire! Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? However, old tricks become stale over time, and readers become alert and suspicious to them. So, the fraudsters have come up with a new variation of an old scam.

The wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William is by far the most popular topic of conversation today. It’s virtually impossible to look at a newspaper or a blog without seeing some mention of the royal newlyweds. And now we are getting in on the act.

And it’s not because we here at Kaspersky Lab take a major interest in the private lives of the British royals. But spammers obviously do – take a look at the offer we received today:

Yes, fake Swiss watches and iPads are so passé – what you need is a replica of Kate Middleton’s engagement ring, originally given to Lady Diana by William’s father Prince Charles. The spammers claim you now have the chance to “own a piece of British royal history”. This royal family heirloom also comes complete with a “certificate of authenticity”.

The revolutions spreading across the Arab world have grabbed the attention of people across the globe, including cybercriminals: so-called ‘Nigerian’ spam emails have recently appeared claiming to be from a variety of “relatives” of Gaddafi and Mubarak. There’s absolutely nothing new about the messages they send: the ‘Nigerians’ don’t always introduce themselves as the solicitor of some anonymous oil tycoon or a dying widow of an innocent civil servant who was murdered; increasingly, they are legally-appointed executors or relatives of well-known people who have suffered in one way or other at the hands of political opponents.

For instance, some time ago we received an email from an Olga Patarkatsiashvili who wrote in poor English asking to help her transfer the millions of the late Badri Patarkatsiashvili (a Georgian businessman and presidential candidate who died in 2008), emphasizing that she herself has been denied access to his funds. Following the wave of protests affecting Arab countries there has been a steady stream of Egyptian- and Libyan-themed ‘Nigerian’ spam.

A certain Barrister Alexander James Williams, who claims to be a representative of Hosni Mubarak, asks for help in transferring 29 million pounds. He claims that a UK resident is required to process the transaction, but the email was sent to a Russian resident who has an account with the Russian email service mail.ru.