Got this email late tonight from the email address of somebody on my list of contacts. It is phoney

[applegrove]

isn't it?

"Hope you get this on time, Sorry I didn't inform you about my trip to Spain for a program,am presently in Valencia and am having some difficulties here, it's so hard for me to believe this happened to me, i was robbed on my way to the hotel. Cash,credit card and cell-phone was taken from me also.I need you to help me with a loan of 2,850 Dollars to pay my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I've been to the embassy and Police but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with, I will return the money back to you as soon as i return, let me know if you can be of any help! I don't have a phone where i can be reached. I am so confused right now. please let me know immediately.
Thanks "

[NYC_SKP]

1. A lot of my friends, usually Yahoo Mail users, have had their accounts hacked.

I have no idea how it happens, but it does at the rate of 3 or 4 friends per year, sometimes the same person more than once.

I had one very similar in nature to yours, and on a Yahoo account.

Nothing against them, they are my primary email service provider.

[applegrove]

3. Thanks. It is as I thought.

[NYC_SKP]

6. I guess it works often enough...

maybe with older people.

I put my folks in a home on Tuesday, at their request thank God, and had a call yesterday on their home phone from who was clearly a scammer predator of older folks.

Fucker.

Anyway, your email tells me that older people might fall for it because younger sharper people would probably know to call or text this individual first, or recognize a writing style.

Glad you see through it, applegrove.

Take care....

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Phoney as fuck.

Very common scam. If you don't believe it, contact the person by phone or other method to confirm, but I'm 999,999 out of a million certain you're being had.

[applegrove]

4. Okay. I will not worry another wink about it.

[mimi85]

5. Yeah, I think s/he got hacked!

Is it someone you know personally or ? Then you would know for sure. I'd let him/her know so they can ck into it. Jeez, the net can be scary sometimes. I've had CC numbers used - and they were always in my possession. Feels super creepy - like an illegitimate rape. Thank goodness most of the CC companies can spot it somehow. Chase credit cards are particularly good for notifying you of attempted theft - at least in my experience. We bank at BofA (jerks!) and should switch. Just haven't gotten around to it. Good luck to your friend!

[LisaL]

7. I got a very similar one from one of my contacts. It's fake.

But if they actually were in Spain, I still wouldn't send them money.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Yeah. I get those every so often, but it's not that you got hacked...

anybody you ever sent an email to could have been compromised and gotten your email addy. Wouldn't worry about it, though-- not much more than send you spam that they can do to you.

(But I'm still waiting for my $12 million-- I sent that Nigerian prince my check three weeks ago.)

[Art_from_Ark]

9. I've seen two emails *exactly* like that one

supposedly from people who have worked for the company in the past.

[jmowreader]

10. My dad fixed one of those scammers...

My dad is 82. One fine day he got a call.

"Hi, this is your son-in-law. I'm in jail in Toronto and I need you to send me a thousand dollars to make bail."

'Is this John?'
(John obviously isn't his name, but it's what we'll call him. BTW John is blind and Dad & I had just spent the morning with him...and we weren't in Toronto.)

"Yes. Yes it is."

"And you're in jail in Toronto?"

"Yes."

"Then you need to stay there. Call me if you ever get out."

[HopeHoops]

11. I keep getting them with names of Facebook friends - link to something bogus.

You can tell by the URL that it's a trap. They're just using data harvesting tools to pull out the names hoping people are suckers. Apparently it's working because they keep doing it.

[geardaddy]

12. Phoney.