In a typical 419 scam message, we usually see lottery winning notifications, mentions of next of kin, or fake business offers. Often we observe spammers creating fake stories tying in with disasters or news linked to users' emotions. In a recent targeted scam tactic, spammers have created a fake story threatening users about a DDoS attack on their website.

In this latest spam campaign, the spammer claims to be a hacker owning a huge network capable of a DDoS attack, and threatens users that their website will be brought down with a DDoS attack if they fail to shell out $200. The domain name mentioned in the spam message is legitimate and its registrant dates are old. There are intentional spelling mistakes in the message in an effort to evade content-based antispam filters.