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DNA targeted in latest scam

05/Jan/2011

By Chris Leitch

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A SCAM asking people to send a sample of DNA and their credit card details overseas has been uncovered in WA.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection Anne Driscoll said several people have received a package claiming to be from DNA Technologies, a legitimate company.

But she said there was no connection between the scammers and the company that operates under that name and that the claims it made were false.

The mailed package, which look professional, contains a cotton swab in a sealed bag and asks the recipient to send a DNA sample and their credit cards details to an address in Canada.

A letter within the kit makes extravagant claims about how DNA can be configured to increase health and social status.

It asks the recipient to send a DNA swab and their credit card details, to charge a $39.99 processing fee.

“What is more alarming is that the kit also contains an offer to enter into a $10,000 prize giveaway by providing personal information in a questionnaire,” Ms Driscoll said.

“We advise recipients of these kits to throw them away and not to respond to unsolicited mail.

“Providing personal and financial details to unknown persons is fraught with danger.”

University of WA professor Richard Allcock said releasing credit card details was of bigger concern for people than sending a cheek swab.

Professor Allcock, an associate professor with UWA’s School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, said it was unlikely that any harm would come to a person from sending a sample.

“It is not dangerous. People send them through all the time. There is no danger to senders or receivers,” he said.

Professor Allcock said although samples could be examined to obtain genetic information, the most likely scenario was that they would be binned.

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