Today’s scam came from an email that I received earlier today.  It appeared to come from a friend of mine whose name I recognized.  The email, which I copied below, is a bad example of a type of scam that has been effectively done through emails, Facebook postings and even telephone calls.  In the message, the friend implores you to send money to help them out in an emergency.  The problem is that there is no emergency.  There is only a scam artist, the only criminal that we call an artist who is appealing to your better instincts to get you to send money to help a “friend.”  The particular email that I got is a poor example of this scam.  The email appeared to come from my friend, but it was also addressed to my friend so it was apparent that his email had been hacked.  It is also interesting to note that the salutation does not even use my name, but merely says, “hello.”  This certainly is suspect.  When I clicked to see where the email had come from, I saw that it originated at an entirely different email address which most likely was the result of another person’s computer being hacked and being turned into a part of a botnet to hide the source of the email.  The language and grammar of the email also appear to be that of people not familiar with English as a first language.  It certainly was not an email from my friend.

TIP

If you get such an email, you should ignore it although you should alert your “friend” about his or her email being hacked so that they can send out an email blast to warn their real friends to ignore such emails that may appear to come from him or her.  If you have even the slightest thought that such an email may be true, you should merely call your friend at a phone number that you know is accurate whereupon you will be delighted to learn that they have not been mugged in the Phillipines.

“Hello,

I’m writing this with great grievance . I’m presently in Manila
Philippines.with my Family for a short vacation and we’re stuck..And really it
was unannounced.We were attacked by four armed robbers on our way back to the
hotel where we lodged.we were robbed and completely embarrassed.

All our cash,credit cards and cellphone were stolen. We’ve reported the incident to the
embassy and the Police but to my dismay they seem not bothered…their response
was just too casual.Our flight leaves in few hours but We’ve got to settle our
bills before We’re allowed to leave….Now am freaked out….Please I need you
to me loan some money,I promise to refund you as soon as I’m back home. All i
need is $1,650 .. Please Let me know what you can do?Write me back so I can tell
you how to get it to me..”