Internet Scam

[FemMecha]

I just encountered a relatively impressive internet scam. I received an email from someone from my inbox asking for money to be sent to London with the promise of it being repaid with interest. The claim is that the friend is traveling and lost their wallet. Because it is a familiar name, it could increase the chances of a person responding. In my case it is a professional contact and someone who I am certain would not email me asking for money. Also the tone of the email doesn't fit the person. It is disturbing to have the spammers inside my address book, but I know they have been able to access that sort of thing for years. Have any of you encountered this?

 

[Vasilisa]

I'm sorry, Toonia. I haven't had this happen to me, but this is a very prevalent scam. Read about it here. Someone who knows you may have been hacked outright.

 

[PuddleRiver]

Yes, this happened to my husband and me. Same scenario. So, we e-mailed (friend) her and she, of course, knew nothing about it. I don't know what became of it but we've not been bothered since.

 

[CzeCze]

Be paranoid - super paranoid - about anything online. I had my id hacked and it is such an incredible pain in the ass experience. I get emails from "friends" all the time from hacked/virused accounts.

 

[Nonsensical]

This HAS happened to me! Well, to my grandparents.

Legit story:

My grandparents live in Florida and I live in New York. One day, they get a phone call from someone pretending to be me telling them I've gotten in a car crash and gotten arrested. They went on to describe how I was in jail, was too scared to call my father, and needed $5,000 as a bailout..so my grandparents sent it immediately through western union.

These scammers even made up fake lawyers and attourneys and stuff. Crazy shit. They called me that night and told me they were so glad I was out of jail...I had no idea what they meant.

 

[Phantonym]

^

This is just so messed up, OWS. However, it also makes me wonder what kind of "friends" you have.

 

[Skyward]

^

This is just so messed up, OWS. However, it also makes me wonder what kind of "friends" you have.

They're an ENFP. SO I would say 'all kinds.'

But yes, thanks to how technology and the internet work, anything on it is up for grabs if one knows how to get to it. Geniuses aren't all good and nice. Some are ENTPs!

 

[Betty Blue]

I just encountered a relatively impressive internet scam. I received an email from someone from my inbox asking for money to be sent to London with the promise of it being repaid with interest. The claim is that the friend is traveling and lost their wallet. Because it is a familiar name, it could increase the chances of a person responding. In my case it is a professional contact and someone who I am certain would not email me asking for money. Also the tone of the email doesn't fit the person. It is disturbing to have the spammers inside my address book, but I know they have been able to access that sort of thing for years. Have any of you encountered this?

I've had this too. I only found out because people emailed me regarding it. I checked my sent box and found tons of emails (i had not sent) telling people that i had just bought a fansatic phone at a great price and they should try it too. The webpage & company name changed with each email but what was worrying was that they had addressed it as if i had been sending it...it opened like this
Hi.... it's been so long, hope you are well. Just wanted to let you know about this great deal, i couldn't believe it when i first saw it....etc etc

Suffice to say i had to send everyone an apology and change my email address, pain in the bum.

It's some kind of malware that attaches to your email account when you give your email address to something....antivirus didn't pick it up....hmmmm

 

[Fluxkom]

got that Mail too:

"'m writing this with tears in my eyes,I came down here to Wales,United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately I got mugged on my way to the hotel,all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off me,luckily for me I still have my passport.

I've been to the embassy and the Police here,but they're not helping issues at all my flight leaves in less than 4hrs from now but I'm having problems settling the hotel bills($1,500) and the hotel manager won't let me leave until I settle the bills,I'm freaked out at the moment....Let me know if you can get help to me right now."

The thing is, I hadn't directly heard from that guy in 6 years but was worried nevertheless. He cleared it up on Facebook as it was an old email account of his, that got hacked.