I'm sure we're all familiar with the old e-mail scam of a 'friend' being on holiday who has been mugged, lost money, cards etc and who needs money sending out to him.
A colleague mailed me on Monday with what he took to be a new variation on this scam ...... but he wasn't too sure. The mail that he'd received read [I have changed the names]
""Hoping this finds you all fit and well.
Jane & I made a trip to Istanbul, Turkey, unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel we are staying, all our cash, bank cards and mobile phones was stolen off us but luckily we still have our passports with us, Jane was traumatized at this incident and was rushed to the hospital.
I have been to the embassy and reported to the police here but their response was too casual, I have also made contact with my bank but it would take me 3-5 working days to access funds in my account, the bad news is our flight will be leaving very soon but I am having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until I settle our bills.
I know this is a big ask but I need to be honest and direct and ask you if there is any way you can help/LOAN of ï½£2,300, I'll appreciate what you can give if not all and I promise to reimburse you once we are back home.
Please let me know if we can count on you and I need you to keep checking your email because it's the only way I can reach you.
Sorry to have to burden you with this.
God bless
Tom""
The clever bit, and it was certainly new to me, was that the scammer had been through Tom's e-mails - he knew the name of his wife and referred to her a couple of times - and he knew that Tom, a 'born-again' Christian, signed off his e-mails with 'God bless' - the only person I know who might have done this. In addition, Tom's e-address contained a double-l which had been subtly changed to two 1s for the reply.
Needless to say, Tom has been feverishly changing all his passwords.
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>> The clever bit, and it was certainly new to me, was that the scammer had
>> been through Tom's e-mails - he knew the name of his wife and referred to
>> her a couple of times - and he knew that Tom, a 'born-again' Christian, signed
>> off his e-mails with 'God bless' - the only person I know who might have
>> done this.
The key in is usually through Facebook. People reveal sufficient about themselves there to enable this type of hack easily.
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I'd like to think I know enough about my closer mates, those who may ask me for such help, to recognise whether the email (and it's content) was in their style.
But it is all to easy to get caught. The tricksters are very cunning these days.
Last edited by: smokie on Wed 2 Aug 17 at 13:46
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".........to recognise whether the email (and it's content) was in their style."
The tricky bit for everyone was the sign-off ......... "God bless"; a very neat touch.
The give-away was the fact there weren't enough spelling mistakes!
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As an outsider, the wording seems odd, but perhaps that's the way your friend writes. I would have written "Jane & I went to Istanbul", not "made a trip to Istanbul". similarly "we were mugged in the park", not "at the park", "all our cash, bank cards and mobile phones WAS stolen...". The whole tone of the email is odd - but then again, I can smell a scam, hoax etc. a mile off :-)
But I can see people falling for it.
Last edited by: Mike H on Wed 2 Aug 17 at 21:04
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Easily resolved by asking him to phone you...
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New version of old scam.... - Zero
