Beware of scare emails from friends
I got this from my mail today I thought I cud share this to QL members.
A former colleague reported to us recently of a scam that was attempted on her. It's a variation of a scam we wrote about in June: A fake, panicked note from a friend who needs money fast. That one involved Facebook accounts and chats. This one is simpler. She received this e-mail (the name of the sender has been changed):
From: Jane Doe [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 1:12 PM Subject: URGENT !!
Hello,
I'm sorry for this odd request because it might get to you too urgent but it's because of the situation of things right now, i'm stuck in London with family right now. I came down here on vacation, i was robbed, worse of it is that bags, cash and cards and my cell phone was stolen at GUN POINT, it's such a crazy experience for me, i need help flying back home, the authorities are not being 100% supportive but the good thing is i still have my passport but don't have enough money to get my flight ticket back home, please i need you to loan me some money, will refund you as soon as i'm back home, i promise.
Thank you
When our colleague went to reply, the destination was not the gmail.com address that she knew was correct for Jane Doe, but [email protected]. The message appears to have had Jane's real address spoofed as the from: address and the Reply-To: address, a separate mail header, set to the operamail.com address.
The idea of this scam is to get the victim into a conversation where they will be asked for money to be wired, probably by Western Union.
Our former colleague reported that other friends of theirs had gotten the same scam, indicating to me that Jane's Gmail account has been compromised. The scammers are sending this to everyone in her address book. This is yet another bad thing that can happen if your mail account gets phished.
The answer for you is to be skeptical and observant of e-mails you receive, and this is tough advice to get. Few people really scrutinize their e-mails in this way. But all you have to protect you is your common sense.
