Earlier today I got a call from Wm Shrewsbury, President of the National Speleological Society. He had received a call from the Philippines in relation to Kyung Sik Woo, the President of the International Union of Speleology (UIS). The caller had enough information about Kyung Sik and his activities to make a convincing case that he knew Kyung Sik. Some of the information wasn't clear due to the phone connection, but Wm was given a number in the Philippines to call back to help. Knowing that I know Kyung Sik and the international scene well, Wm called me to see what I knew. It sounded legit, but I advised to wait and see if he got a call back.
I've now received a couple of messages from Kyung Sik notifying his friends that apparently information about him and at least two other members of the UIS Bureau has appeared in e-mails and phone calls in at least three countries. The caller/e-mailer is saying that Kyung Sik is traveling, attending a funeral, and needs money. Yes, we have seen such scams before but the level of detail in knowing conferences Kyung Sik is attending, in what countries, the areas of those countries, and with who he could realistically be traveling add a big degree of believability that I've not seen before. In short, if you get messages or calls like this about me (I'm also on the UIS Bureau) or anyone, try to reach me or the person in question first to directly verify the legitimacy of the call or e-mail. These Philippine hackers seem to be targeting caving organizations since they have found phone numbers and e-mails of cavers in the US, UK, Germany, France, and of course Kyung Sik in Korea. I don't want to get too paranoid, but if they are going to this much trouble already, the next step would be to troll caving e-lists like this, learn who is going on what trips, and making their stories even more believable. The bottom line is that is you don't know the person contacting you, to not believe anything without checking it out first. Also, just because this seems to be limited to cavers so far doesn't mean they won't attack elsewhere. They probably already have. You're of course very welcome to share this information. George ******************** George Veni, PhD Executive Director National Cave and Karst Research Institute 400-1 Cascades Avenue Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-9215 USA Office: 575-887-5517 Mobile: 210-863-5919 Fax: 575-887-5523 gv...@nckri.org<mailto:gv...@nckri.org> www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org>
_______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
