View Full Version : A cruel scam or for real?
I am a bit concerned about a friend of mine who is well known in Caithness , I wont say more, who i have received emails from saying she is in Contonou, Benin (I think this is Africa), and that she has been mugged and the hotel wont give her belongings and passport etc till she pays the bill so that she can fly home. She has asked me for £1,700 which she will pay when she gets home but no address to send it to. There is no reply from her mobile or her home phone in Caithness.
I am quite worried now. Is this some sort of scam or is it for real.? Have any of you had similar experience?
I have heard of such a scam.
I have had the same email too Fran and I think its a scam, after all how would she have all our email addy's with her for a start. I am assuming that someone has managed to get hold of all her email addy's. She would have been out all day today as usual. They want you to pay the money to western union, which was in a scam I know about, that's what made me think this was a scam as well.
Tubthumper
15-Nov-09, 18:07
Unless you can think of a good reason why your friend would be in Benin, I would steer well clear. Not an expert but it sounds like a scam to me, like someone's got hold of her mailing list.
dragonfly
15-Nov-09, 18:07
I;ve had that same email Fran - would the first name begin with C?
dragonfly
15-Nov-09, 18:08
I have had the same email too Fran and I think its a scam, after all how would she have all our email addy's with her for a start. I am assuming that someone has managed to get hold of all her email addy's. She would have been out all day today as usual.
its same person then! yes its a scam, probably got a virus on her email thats sent the email to all in her address book [evil]
Kevin Milkins
15-Nov-09, 18:13
I think you might want to hold fire on that one one, Fran.:confused
There was a copy cat type scam going on in London a little while ago, but can't remember the details or were I read about it.
cuddlepop
15-Nov-09, 18:19
If in doubt do nout,works for me.:)
oldmarine
15-Nov-09, 18:44
Sounds like it could be a scam. There are all kind of scams. Yesterday, I received a notice from someone who wanted to sell me an anti-virus program with the information that my computer had 4 different viruses on it. They kept trying over and over again and again to sell me their anti-virus program. I already have sufficient anti-virus protection. I checked it out with my ISP and they replied that there are some unscroupulous ones out there on the internet trying to sell their programs in that manner. I have a firewall and did find that it blocked 4 different viruses trying to get into my computer. I am not a computer expert, but I am a very suspicious person.
It is a scam. Someone hacked her email account and she is gutted.
She sends her apologies, even though it isn't her fault, to everyone that got the email. :D
There are a few of these kind of things going about, a virus/trojan affecting the likes of Hotmail accounts.
There are a few of these kind of things going about, a virus/trojan affecting the likes of Hotmail accounts.
I'd heard of the hotmail accounts being hacked, but this person was yahoo, so was quite surprised.
toodiemac
15-Nov-09, 19:33
I got one as well, and I was just about to reply to let her know she had perhaps been hacked into, when I noticed the spelling of the surname - two t's instead of one.
The grammar was so poor as well, it was obvious as a scam. Not a nice thing to happen though.
I was so pleased to speak to her by phone at her home and know she is ok. what a cruel scam. i too had noticed there were 2 extra letters in her name instead of the 1.ThANKYOU to you all for your replies.
DanaFlett
15-Nov-09, 20:16
I got the same e-mail,just ignore it.
Thes kind of people recieve nice emails in return from me........ I lure them into thinking i am suckered, and then treat them to a nice attachment in form of a screenshot (to prove i have sent them money). Pro active i like to think.
Glad you lot didn't get sucked in.
As said above, one of the 1st give aways, is the terrible grammer.
Gumtree is targeted by lots of these scammers also. beware.
achingale
15-Nov-09, 20:26
Fran, thanks for sharing that with us. What a horrible thing to happen to you and to all the others, but the Org is a great place for these kinds of warnings.
http://www.scambuster419.co.uk/
Some of these tales had me in stitches.
I had my business number briefly hijacked by these types, ended up with people from Pakistan trying to fax me their details in the belief they would be getting billions in return.
Similar scam happened a few months ago using one of my dad`s carers as the supposedly mugged person, but she was with him when the email came, so they knew it was a scam, but some other friends were taken in by it.
Dog-eared
15-Nov-09, 23:44
Next time you get an email from a friend in trouble in deepest Africa, or anywhere else, first ask yourself "Are they really there ?"
Friends dont just dissapear off to funny destinations.
I can see your concern, though.
Lots of scams about like this.
If its out of the ordinary, check - as you did .:)
I am a bit concerned about a friend of mine who is well known in Caithness , I wont say more, who i have received emails from saying she is in Contonou, Benin (I think this is Africa), and that she has been mugged and the hotel wont give her belongings and passport etc till she pays the bill so that she can fly home. She has asked me for £1,700 which she will pay when she gets home but no address to send it to. There is no reply from her mobile or her home phone in Caithness.
I am quite worried now. Is this some sort of scam or is it for real.? Have any of you had similar experience?
Well i would say it was a scam and if your computer is riddled with spyware that would explain how they got a name of your friend if your that bothered about print the email and contact the police.
Well i would say it was a scam and if your computer is riddled with spyware that would explain how they got a name of your friend if your that bothered about print the email and contact the police.
I understand your sentiments and appreciate where your coming from.
But, this is just a tiny,tiny,tiny,tiny, insignificant part of a huge problem it really isn't worth wasting the time.
I got in touch with officer dibble with (what I thought) some pretty good leads. A string of numbers, locations where these things were emanating from, contact details of potential victims, source emails etc. etc. etc.
But they have seen these tens of thousands of times before, and it is all spun off fake id's from stolen credit cards from around the world.
Best advice to all is to take care, and beware of what you read!
My personal advice is to obtain your own email / web domain with webmail facilities.
It may cost you a couple of quid a year but you have total control and you don't get the spam, spyware, virusususis, trojans and general pooh you get with Yahoo, BT, Hotmail, Gmail, Googlemail, MSN etc. etc. etc.
My computer is virus free and I always check it. It was her pc which was hijacked, mine is ok.
hi,
i also got this email, i was shocked, think it is really bad of people to do this and makes you wary!!!!!!
Bill Fernie
16-Nov-09, 12:43
I am a bit concerned about a friend of mine who is well known in Caithness , I wont say more, who i have received emails from saying she is in Contonou, Benin (I think this is Africa), and that she has been mugged and the hotel wont give her belongings and passport etc till she pays the bill so that she can fly home. She has asked me for £1,700 which she will pay when she gets home but no address to send it to. There is no reply from her mobile or her home phone in Caithness.
I am quite worried now. Is this some sort of scam or is it for real.? Have any of you had similar experience?
I received the same email.
As I get masses of such things on a daily basis I deleted it along with all the others. It is perturbing to note well known local name being used. It just means you need to be even more switched on to things that arrive in your email, by fax or at the door.
Many of us on here can pick up on possible scams - and I use the general rule not to reply to most things if I do not know the source. However folk new to using the internet, elderly folk and others may not be so clued up sowherever possible warn folk not to reply to unsolicited emails. The problem is that scammers continue to improve their techniques and eternal vigilance is the only way to keep them at bay.
A read through one of the many advice web sites is useful from time to time.
My computer is virus free and I always check it. It was her pc which was hijacked, mine is ok.
It might be anti virus free but is it spyware free?
I've been asked to point out that it was Yahoo that was hacked in this case. The person concerned is vigilant as far as spyware etc goes and the pc didn't have any bugs when it was checked out :D
i got the same email,thats a horrible thing to happen!! x:(
tell her to do this:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/
dx
I know the basics when it comes to the computer but the technical side baffles me. Can someone explain to me how someone managed to contact me by email supposedly through caithness.org when my email or real name is not listed here.
This email arrived this morning containing the following.
Hello,It is my pleasure to contact you after going through your profile at www.caithness.org on my search for friendship,please contact me on this address so that i can send you my picture and tell you more about myself.I will be happy to know a little about you and hobbies.
Mercy
Any answers please?
It might be anti virus free but is it spyware free?
Yes, both.
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.