E-mail scam

[NickB]

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If anyone gets an e-mail purporting to be from a local resident (or anyone else for that matter) saying they are stuck in Spain (or anywhere else) with the implication that they need help/money, ignore it.

It is a fairly common scam where the alleged sender's e-mail account has been hijacked to send this email to their contacts. If you look closely the 'reply to' address is subtly different.

[jimcee]

This was a very plausible email, and we took steps to try and send money to the distressed.
Fortunately although we tried through two different banks - RBS and Barclays to send money through Western Union, in both cases they rejected our efforts - in the case of Barclay's to the extent of phoning us while we were still in the process of trying to send the money and suggesting that it might be a scam, and in the case of RBS to phone the following day to query the request which they had refused.
If it had not been for the intervention of Barclays we might well have seen £400 down the drain.
In retrospect, on looking at the two communications we received from the scammers, there were subtle clues as to it maybe not being genuine, but at the time it played on a desire to help a friend in need.
So, the lesson to be learned from this, is to treat any sob story received through the internet with a very large pinch of salt.
But also, a feather in the cap to Barclays bank for reacting very quickly to the likelyhood of a scam - but don't depend on it.

[NickB]

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Hard to believe you fell for this Jim. If you had thought about it, did it really sound like the sort of e-mail the alleged sender would send? This is a very common scam, usually using hijacked hotmail, gmail or yahoo email accounts. It is particularly clever because it sends from a known e-mail address to their contacts and does not specifically ask for money.

Here's a simple rule for people:

ANY e-mail that appears to be asking for money or personal details IS A SCAM. If you assume there are no exceptions you can't go far wrong.

Anyone who reads this who suspects they might be being scammed or who receives an e-mail they are concerned about is invited to forward it to me or to contact me by PM for my considered opinion - I have more experience than most with this type of thing. Alternatively post it on the Bits and Bytes forum. Same for virus or malware problems on your PC.

[canUsmellthat]

I got an email like this, knew it was a scam...I emailed the person that the scammers were using and told them that their email address was being used by bandits...

Haven't had an email from a rich Nigerian for a while...

[NickB]

I got an email like this, knew it was a scam...I emailed the person that the scammers were using and told them that their email address was being used by bandits...

Haven't had an email from a rich Nigerian for a while...

As (I think) Canu is pointing out there is no point in replying to a hijacked e-mail account unless you want to give scammers your email address. I phoned the person in question and left a message on their answering machine.

The rules for staying safe are quite simple:

~ If an e-mail sounds strange or worrying ignore it.
~ Don't open attachments unless you are expecting them and are 100% sure what they are.
~ Don't ever click on links in an e-mail unless it is from a trusted source.
~ No financial or official institution will ever send you a link you must click on.

If you suspect your web-based e-mail account (eg hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc) has been compromised then change the password immediately.

And while we are at it, please don't send bogus virus warnings to all the contacts in your address book. These chain e-mails are in themselves a type of manually transmitted virus. They clog up the internet and usually also display your entire list of contacts to everyone else on that list. If you must send e-mails to everyone then use the BCC function or some other method that does not give your contact list to everyone on it.

Stay safe . . .

[Beetlejuice]

A friend's hotmail account got infested with the "please send me money" thing. After sending out e-mails to everyone in his address book it totally wiped his contacts list.

[DonnieC]

Just received a few emails purporting to be from Nat West suggesting my online account has had a few login attempt failures.

I don't have such an account.

I can only imagine that when you open their link they'll ask for your bank details.

It looks perfectly plausible so if you have a Nat West account - Be wary!!

Stay safe!!

[Beetlejuice]

Most banks and building societies have a "phishing" address that you can forward suspect e-mails to. Don't know whether they actually do anything about them, but it's worth sending them on anyway.

[Pentlandpirate]

You can tell if they are false or not by entering a really, really nasty password made up of very, very rude words and it accepts them quite happily, although of course not giving access to your account. I just hope the phishermen at the other end read them.

There is a whole website just for those who want to get back at scammers www.419eater.com Even if you are not tempted to bait them, it's a place where you can keep abreast of the latest tricks scum are using to deceive you.