Phishing Alert – Please Take Notice
Early this morning, I received an email from a high school friend of mine. The person, who I speak to every 3-4 months, was supposedly in London and her bag had been stolen.
Thankfully, I’m buddies with this person on Facebook, and I know because of her status messages that she was recently at her home in a neighboring state. I messaged her via Facebook and found out she was perfectly fine.
Apparently someone had hacked into her Hotmail account and sent the message to many people. Because I’m aware of these types of phishing schemes, I was certain when I read the message that it was fraudulent. However, the mail is pretty convincing – there are no references to transferring money to Nigeria or other telltale Phishing signs.
The message here is to constantly stay alert and be skeptical of such emails. Phishers and hackers are getting smart with their methods and techniques of scamming us.
Note, my friends name has been changed in this pasted email, to protect her identity.
I’ll paste the full email below for everyone’s reference:
Hi, I really don’t mean to inconvenience you right now but i made a quick trip to London,UK this past weekend and had my bag stolen from me in which contains my passport and credit cards. It happened real fast leaving me document less & penniless right now. I’ve been to the US embassy and they’re willing to help me fly without passport but I just have to pay for the ticket and settle the Hotel bills i resided at. Right now I’m out of cash plus i can’t access my bank without my credit card here, I’ve made contact with them but they need more verification which could take more time for me wait. I was thinking of asking you to lend me some funds now and I’ll give back as soon as I get home. I need to get on the next available flight.
Please reply as soon as you can if you are alright with this so i can forward the details as to where to send the funds. You can reach me via email or May field hotel’s desk phone, the numbers are, 011447024043675 or 011447024051751 or instant msg me on my BB: shelly_smith@yahoo.com
I await your response…
Thank you
——————— Shelly Smith Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. -John F. Kennedy
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