Thursday 13 September 2012

WARNING !!!!!!!

For the second time in a six months period I have received the email below,  sent from the email accounts of two different bloggers, both known to me, using the full name of the bloggers as I know them; not for one minute do I believe that the emails are genuine.

SORROWFUL TRIP  (I NEED YOUR HELP)


Hello (no name)

My regrets for this sudden request, On my trip to Madrid,Spain. I got mugged and all my belongings cash,cellphone and credit cards were all stolen at "gun point". It's such a traumatic experience for me.i need your help flying back home as I am trying to raise some money.i have made contact with my bank but the best they can do is to mail me a new card which will take 2-3 days to arrive here.I need you to lend me some money (2,600 Dollars) to sort my self out of this predicament, will pay back once I get this over with.

Western Union Transfer is the fastest option to wire funds to me. Let me know if you need my details(Full names/location) to effect a transfer. You can reach me via email.

I'm freaked out at the moment.

Thanks.
G....  (first name as known to me)

I can only image that somebody has hacked into bloggers' accounts and is using that access to try and con other bloggers into sending them money.

53 comments:

  1. Scam with a capital S. I had one from Nigeria claiming I'd won this fantastic prize but needed to send my bank details so that they could pay it into my bank. Har har.

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  2. Seen this many times before. Definitely a scam.

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  3. Once I was lost in Spain as well, until I met a couple of goats and their care taker, received fresh milk and the way to go.

    Made me wonder why he, if this would indeed be real, wouldn't contact the embassy to help. Certainly way too clear of being a hoax. Sad though, that they still seem to work.

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  4. Yes...happens with more and more frequency.

    Good to remember to change passwords and that most e-mails are not securely sent.

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  5. Thanks Friko, I would like all of our fellow Bloggers to do a quick post when things like this happen. I too have received emails from a fellow blogger with correct name and all but I knew immediately it was not (really) from my friend. These incidents motivated me to put a post on my blog stating that if any of my blog friends received a suspicious email purported to be from me and it seemed 'odd' it most likely would not be from me. Oh I do really hate all of this scammy stuff. I think I'll have to go and do a reminder post right now.

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  6. Obviously a scam, but a timely warning nonetheless.

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  7. This went the rounds in Costa Rica last year...

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  8. Yikes! I suppose there are enough people taken in by this to make it worthwhile for the crooks. Thanks for the warning.

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  9. yep got the same email today and contacted the blogger....ugh....hate hackers and spammers and virus makers...

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  10. Sometimes, I just love that Delete key.

    Let's not let these scam folks mess up our community.

    xo

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  11. Yes...I received an identical email from a work associate. The tip-off, for me, was that (a) he had many closer friends than I, and (b) I had seen him just the evening before at a meeting.

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  12. yup, they need to change their email passwords.
    I actually answered one of those emails, and the guy was dumb enough to tell me where to send the money.

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  13. Thanks for the tip. These type of things have been going on forever.

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  14. Yeah, I've received these before. Really I can't imagine that anyone would fall for such a thing.

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  15. Yes, I'm suspicious of, and do not open obvious forwards, nor do I click on ANY link sent to me by a friend that does not also include a note in their distinctive 'voice'

    When in doubt, I contact and inform the friend that they may have been hacked.

    Thanks, Friko

    Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^=

    > < } } ( ° >

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  16. Oh my gosh. This is terrible. I have been spammed lately too. I have not had letters/emails such as these, but have had spams. We report them to our service provider. It is a good thing to let the person know they have been hacked too so they can check into it all.

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  17. Egads. I haven't gotten these. Who would fall for this?

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  18. I cannot imagine anybody thinking something like that is real. And what is going on anyway? I haven't seen this, but now that you've mentioned it, I'm probably next...

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  19. I guess everyone has gotten one of these. Sigh.

    b

    www.retireinstyleblog.com

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  20. Dear Friko, my friend's computer has been hacked, some months ago, she got big problems. There it was even worse, because they had her address list and all her friends, including me, got this e-mail - BUT - saying it was she who was in trouble, and the location was London, and they asked to help her. Immediately after it, I received an e-mali, which my friend sent from another PC, saying that of course this was all a hoax, that she was fine, and that her PC has been intruded. Of course, probably no one would take this serious, and of course every one would investigate first, before taking action. So what do they get out from it?

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  21. Hello:
    About a year ago we received a very similar email, allegedly from a friend of ours. We were immediately very suspicious and, of course, it turned out to be fraud. It is wise though to be constantly on one's guard.

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  22. Das passiert leider jeden Tag, es wird mit falschen Daten betrogen, da gilt es unbedingt wachsam zu sein...

    Lieben Gruß
    CL

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  23. And yet, so many people fall for these fraudulent e mails. Good and honest people (a lot of the time elderly) who are doing what they think is the right thing.
    In my community there are people who call a senior posing as a grandchild and ask for money which is handed over. It is a sick world.

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  24. I had a similar one from one of my friends (she has Hotmail).

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  25. Thanks for the warning, Friko. I get emails saying I have won some prize worth an obscene amount of cash! Sigh.

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  26. Yes, a real con e-mail. I hope readers take note - Dave

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  27. We've had two of these recently, the first as from from an elderly aunt in California, cleverly claiming to be in trouble on a visit to Wales, which is, of course, where we live. The more recent one also mentioned Madrid though I think the wording was different. Can't remember who it purported to be from as I deleted it as soon as seen. It's a pain and sadly I think some less experienced computer users probably do get sucked in.

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  28. Friko, it's a bit of a nightmare, and gauges our gullibility. I confess I once got sucked into sending money to Russia, home, of course, to many whoopsy-daisies. It's the immediacy of the technology that fools us into thinking it's real, when, of course, the whole thing is generative of human imagination.

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  29. I've gotten a few of these
    not from bloggers but from people I used to share a forum with
    a long time ago!
    amazing how fraud thrives on the internet

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  30. Thanks for this info Friko.

    Does the request appear in email page or go directly into spam? I ask in that I never read spam - just delete it.

    Anna :o]

    PS I will check my spam now...

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  31. My computer was hacked early this year. Advertisements from Canadian companies were sent out to some on my mailing list.They were for male products.I ended up having to change my password and the emails stopped. We got a similar one from a friend traveling in England...we called and he was home in Florida...not England.Sad that some have nothing else to do but cause another person grief. Thanks for posting about this...we all need a reminder once in a while.
    Balisha

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  32. The more I read about Blogger, the more convinced I am that Word Press is the way to go. I pay a small annual fee to belong and never get these emails via my blog site. I do get emails like them, through my regular email, but my spam catcher stops most of the bogus mail.

    Thanks for the warning. Looks like someone has hacked into your ID. and knows who you "see." I am sure you have reported it to Blogger. Dianne

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  33. Yup, I've had that a few times too. Twice with blogger.. both had already become aware of the issue before I could let them know. In the third case, it actually caused a problem between to unwilling "sender" of the note and one of the recipients. They believed it to be true and felt angry at the request. Nothing anyone could say would make that person believe that it was not the "sender's" fault.

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  34. I have received that email
    several times also.
    Do they think anyone would believe their story...

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  35. I received a similar mailing a few months ago. The person they mentioned was a friend but I knew instantly it was a scam. Who would send money on the basis of an E-mail? Beware of E-mails with no titles that may come from someone in your address book. They often contain a link. If you press on the link your address book will be compromised. This happened to us last year - the sender was a business we deal with, so my husband clicked on the link. An E-mail then went out to our whole address book with a similar unsavory link.

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  36. This one has hair on it. I am still surprised people fall for this sickening crap.
    XO
    WWW

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  37. Ugh. Should my account ever be hacked, I'd hope for a hacker with better grammatical and punctuational sense. I'd also hope said hacker never uses the word "punctuational."

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  38. Your assumption is correct. Last one I had, the email account hacked into was hotmail - not sure if that's meaningful or not! I've told my email contacts that if ANYTHING looks odd in their email, I'll delete it without question. So far, I haven't been sorry!!

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  39. Me too - I've gotten that message. And each time - it kind of freaks me out. The wonderful world online???

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  40. I enjoyed reading the back posts that I missed. I have visited many waiting rooms lately and no one talked to me. In each room there was a large TV on the wall showing “Fox News” a very conservative channel that shows their views on the news, so in each case I found a chair as far away from the TV and there was no one close by. I also enjoyed reading about your outing to Bath – it has been a while since we went to a play and I miss that.

    I have received several emails like the one you mentioned. I read that if you have your email account open and search something on the Internet you can get hacked very quickly, it kinds of “jump” into your account. I also receive many spam messages on my blog, at least 5 to 8 a day but Blogger stops them thankfully.

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  41. Dear Friko, a friend of mine got "hacked" and so I received the same e-mail from her several times. Ultimately, she sent out an e-mail to her entire address book letting them know that she wasn't sending these annoying e-mails about work. Peace.

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  42. Oh, my. One of my customers was hacked about six months ago and sent this very email to about 300 people in his business contacts list. ;)

    He wasn't on blogger - no idea how they got into his mailbox. In any event, nearly everyone realized it wasn't his because he always sends emails in all caps. Irritating as that is, it was the immediate tipoff of a ripoff.

    For a time, I was getting a lot of spam link emails from people who use sbcglobal. That seems to have stopped. The old wisdom used to be "trust, but verify". I think how the new slogan should be "don't trust, and always verify". Well, at least re: emails asking for money or information. ;)

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  43. All this sort of spam is almost always caught on my email, possibly some of my other security checks help deflect it. So far so good -- cross my fingers. Have received alerts from others who have had their address books invaded and I've rec'd a few messages sent by the invaders but can usually detect they're phony.

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  44. Yes, I've had this, too. I thought it was such a good idea that I sent a similar one to all my friends, that I was stuck in Swanage without enough money for fish and chips and a pint of lager and lime, so could they mail the money right away. No replies. My friends are rubbish.

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  45. Not just bloggers, email in general. I've received this one, too -- and from people who most likely would be traveling, which either shows clever research or great good luck. I think everyone's email is at risk, probably mostly by pranksters or would-be swindlers like this one.

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  46. Yes, these are busy busy bees, in a negative sense for sure. Mining the internet for stray money.

    Seriously, I don't think anybody I know would try to get ahold of me through email. That, in fact, is a funny thought.

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  47. I'm currently engaged, under a nom de guerre, in an email correspondence with a Pastor in Ghana who assures me he has access to £95 million hidden away by the unspeakable Charles Taylor. Trouble is, the nom de guerre is taking on a life of its own, and now the Pastor is declaring undying love as well as asking for the bank details. I wonder when he'll discover that the address and phone number he's been given belong to the City of London Fraud Squad?

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  48. Nobody in their right mind falls for this... or do they?

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  49. I have received a couple of such mails.
    First read it is scary and it takes some time to realize that the account is hacked.

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  50. Oh, Friko, I hope you didn't receive anything purporting to be from me. A friend of ours in the US did receive something "from" me (not at the e-mail address you use for me) and he let me know immediately.
    I love the solution being used by Autolycus, above. It's perfect.
    Meanwhile, I'm sorry I haven't been commenting on your blog recently. I've been unwell off and on (mostly on) since Easter, and my husband has had surgery (he's fine now) so my blogging responsibilities have taken second place, or even third.
    So I'm catching up on the news from your world now, because I found myself thinking about you earlier today.
    K

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  51. Not too long ago it was revealed that hackers found a way to link google with amazon accounts and were able to get into them. The only way to prevent this is to make sure a different password is used in each case and in google to use the 2 step sign in method.

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