I got this email a few days ago. Not even half way reading it I knew it was a scam. I was getting ready to delete it, but thought in a few minutes it’s a good topic to write here. Having said that, how many people do you think will help this girl out?
Here’s the email:
***I’m writing this with tears in my eyes, my family and I came down here to (Buckingham shire) United Kingdom for a short vacation,unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed all cash,credit card and mobile phone were stolen off us but luckily we still have our passports with us. We’ve been to the Embassy and the Police here but they’re not helping issues at all the bad news is our flight will be leaving in less than 8-hrs from now but we’re having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won’t let us leave until we settle the bills. Am freaked out at the moment! I’ll need your help (LOAN) financially of 2,500 Pounds. I promise to make the refund once we get back home. Please let me know if you can help and i need you to keep checking your email because it’s the only way i can reach you. Regards, Annie ***
I was thinking, out of how many people this person was sending this message to. Do you think one of them tried to help her out? As you know, being human the feeling sorry for these people kicks in. Really, if they sent out these email to the old folks, they will believed in it. Maybe some of them will send some money. As you know sometimes on the spam some emails that goes to your account half of it the names were of your friends. The older folks will really believed that its their friends that are in need and will help out. Little did they know that they are scammed already. Problem is some of them will even give their credit card number or bank account number and they end up with zero balance on their account. Sad but could happen though.
It really reminds me of the scam letters those Nigerian people were sending a few years back. It was even on the news and one of those night time shows like 20/20, Prime Time or others. It was a big scamm then. I think this is the new thing now. They will email you and ask you personally. Gosh, I was hit by one of those before. At first i thought it’s one of our readers here. That one she said she’s stuck in the Middle East and can’t get out until she pays the said amount of money. The name was so familiar because she’s my friend on one of those friendly sites. Later she found out that someone’s using her name and she makes a big post that it was not her. I believed her because she’s not that type of person.
Right now something similar like these were going on here in the Philippines. The certain number will text you and asking you to send load to their number. And they want high denomination like 300pesos or more, they will even say that they had an accident and they want to talk to you. Hmm, they will get load from you and also get lots of your information and can even get to your bank account. I’m pretty sure they know how to talk you out of giving your money to them. Another scam here, a certain number will text you and they will say that you won a lottery on certain company. And have to call them before you claim the price. I know for sure if you won something from some company, definitely they will be the one to call you.
It must be a big money making thing. People somehow giving money or else this thing will not continue on. It’s sad that most of the people that will be falling for these kind of scammed were the elderly. They will be wipe out with their savings and end up with nothing.
So with the active internet scamming right now, be very careful on who you are dealing with. Just a reminder you guys.
Cheers!
This is indeed a scam. I received similar letters from friends, supposed to be on travel and got mugged/robbed and needed a loan. The first thing I do is to call my friend to verify. The letters are indeed very creative and appeals to your emotion so that you will feel sorry for the victim. Beware everyone, this is a SCAM!
Hi David – Definitely… The reason why I wrote about the article to make the readers here be aware of some scam that’s been going on the internet. It’s hard hearing people being scammed. I’m pretty sure that those scam bugs makes money or else they won’t be asking money on the net over and over again. They know that they can get the vulnerable one… Feeling sorry for the victims though.
Thank you for the warning for our readers here too. Have a great day!
Yes, the worst is when some one hack your mail account and use that for scam. It will surely look like it is that person who have send the mail.
I know my friends, i know if they are travelling and i know how the write and express them self, but it is so easy to be tricked.
I have been a millionaire so many times that i can’t count -at least e-mails told me so :-).
Many mails from Visa, from a Bank, from ePay and so on, saying i have to renew my account and send information.
I hope all know that a serious company NEVER ask for information via e-mails – not at all,
My advise is: Never answer or use good offers from spam mail, never never give information in a e-mail, never answer begging for help, even if it is a friend. If you really doubt, then call the friend or contact in other ways – never answer or ask in a mail.
Be safe and have a great day
Hi Axel – Yep, I know. Too many hackers nowadays. Have to really secure the password.
Oh yeah, I know what you mean. I myself was a millionaire too many times too and offered some enhancing products that supposed to be my friends were offering. Really too many on the net that you have to be careful of who to correspond with.
***My advise is: Never answer or use good offers from spam mail, never never give information in a e-mail, never answer begging for help, even if it is a friend. If you really doubt, then call the friend or contact in other ways – never answer or ask in a mail.***
Good advice there you gave for our readers here. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Have a wonderful day!
I remember about 3 years ago I was looking on a dating site. I met a beautiful woman from Ghana and we talked for a few months. Every so often she would let a little something slip that made me wonder just a little. She sent me some pics and I found a scammers web sitethat you could put a persons pic on it and it was matched against the scammer database. Lo and behold there she was.
Fast forward a couple of years and I was watching the news. A man I think was in his 70’s killed himself over a woman he met and had sent his entire life savings to her. They showed the pics of her and it was the same girl I had talked to. Thankfully I never sent her any money!
Hi Rick Heath – Luckily you caught her right away. I felt sorry for the guy that died that was scammed by the same girl. Honestly I’ve heard similar stories like that here too. It’s just so disgusting people will do that kind of stuff just to get money.
I really hope with the information on the net right now, people will read first online or do lots of research first before giving anything.
Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a pleasant day!
I met my wife Meriam on the internet. I wanted to make sure that she was the person that she said she was. So I used Bob’s Pointman PI service. Yes she was the woman she said she was. I have never been happier. Email scams??? I get them all the time. I use Google mail and 99.99% wind up in my spam folder. If a email has an attachment I do NOT open it. I don’t car who it is from. If is has a web link, I don’t click on it.
BTW – With the 120 day TRO on the CyberCrime law I am back making comments. I even have my Facebook account going again. Life is good…. at least for 120 days. 😛
Hi Gary – I’m glad you found the right lady for you. Glad to know that the Pointman PI helped you out on that.Good advice for mail service and the awareness you gave.
I know what you mean about the cyber crime law. Have to be very careful. Good to see you here again and on FB.
Have a good day there in Tagum.
Deareat Paul, I am replying with tears in my eyes and a pain in my heart. You see, early this morning I looked in my refrigerator and found it lacking cold mind-altering beverages, which I so need to survive on a daily basis. My kind nd loving wife left for a shopping spree to Devisorio, and took our SUV. I have nothing but the sandals on my feet and a few measly pesos. Oh, wait, that’s all I need!! Never mind.
Hi Pita (Sta Lucia) Mike – Ha ha ha… 🙂 …LOL…
I got this exact email about a friend of mine who lives in california. When I read it I was laughing my butt off because, my friend’s parents are semi millionaires and I know if something happened to her like that her father would send a private jet. So after reading it, I called her and said “so I hear you are stranded in England”? Apparently, her email was hacked just the week before. We are still laughing about that email.
Hi Feyma,
I am sure that there will be someone that will fall for this scam, and it seems to be older people that cannot tell the difference between scams and genuine emails, so many people that i know who have been scammed in Australia, especially on lottery scams, surely that they are not that stupid to fall for these scams, especially when you have never bought a ticket in any lottery overseas, maybe when they see the word ‘money’ greed takes over.
Funnily enough I got a similar email from a friend in Manila. They even used the same area “Buckinghamshire”…. I only live 10 mins drive from that county so I could have helped.
Of course I phoned his mobile and he was sitting in his home in Manila with his wife and kids !!
NEVER trust emails. 🙂
Hi Femay- This is just one of the hundreds of scams going on world wide. I usually get four or five a week mainly from West Africa and now North Africa since the fall of Col Ghadafi. Would it not be wonderful to help someone shift his/her multi million $ account to yours and obtain X%. Yes there is one born every day and people do fall for these type scams. When the Nigerian scams first started pre internet it was by letter then fax and now e-mail thats progress for you.
The majority of scams are from dodgy bankers who wish to transfer the funds of some deceased dictator, government minister or expat who died in a terrible accident and their next of kin cannot be found but ‘you’ll do’. There should be some kind of internet scrutiny to ensure that the people sending these type of mails are traced and delt with or smart software from the IP sorts them out before they get to your inbox.
Anyway there are no such thing as a free lunch as some people have found our to their cost.
Kind regards.
Jim.
Hi Jim,
I get a fair ammount of those too, quite hilarious some of them.
One was supposedly sanctioned by Kofi Anan, another was from Mubaraks wife wanting help in transferring her millions out of Egypt, and a few via long lost deceased relatives who had fortunes stashed in the Bank of Nigeria, LoL.
Regards,
Chas.
Hi Feyma – I received this this one today:
Facebook Corporate Office, Headquarters
1601 S . California Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304.
RE: CONGRATULATIONS FROM FACE BOOK!
Dear Winner,
We have on this January, 2012, received a payment credit instruction from this
FaceBook Inc. Group and the United State president in collaboration with IMF
and World Bank to credit your account with your full funds valued at
($600,000.00 UNITED STATES DOLLARS ) from the FaceBook Inc. Group reserve
account with our bank Standard Chartered Bank Plc, your javascript:void(0)Name
was among the 20 Lucky winners who won $600.000.00USD (Six Hundred Thousand
United State Dollars) each on the Face book group promotion Award Attached to
ticket number (5647600545189) and Ref No (2551256002/244) Serial Number
(55643451907).
Of course this is only a small portion of the original mail but these people will go to great lengths to steal your personal details.
Regards.
Jim.
Mrs Feyma,
Russia/Ukraine are also major havens for scammers. I know first hand from dealing with a Russian woman online. Take care and have a nice day.