Be ever VIGILANT re emails !

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings from New Zealand.

Be ever VIGILANT re emails !

As reported else where on this site, I have been using a unique, one word, email address through a small New Zealand provider for research, ever since I wanted to research in Russia. My research address is some ten years old, and can be found all over the net.

Some time ago I was invited by a leading British Agricultural Society to supply an article which was published on the web. That article closed with my research email address, and on that site a hotmail.com email address was also published in the full name of the Societies Secretary. This lady, and many of the members are associated with leading universities in the UK, and their communications with you, via email correspondence, always reflect their education. Tonight this email appeared in my research email in box.
--------------------------------------------------------
TO: SECRETARY’S FULL NAME

[NOTE not to my email address or my name]

FROM: SECRETARIES FULL NAME

Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 5:57 PM
Subject: sad news please help me soon!

I am in hurry writing you this message and i hope you get it on time, sorry I didn't inform you about my trip in Malaysia for a Program. It has been a very sad and bad moment for me here, the present condition that i found myself is very hard for me to explain. I am really stranded here in Malaysia. because I was attacked and robbed on the way to my hotel, all cash, document's and cell phone which i have all my contacts were stolen off me.

Presently I have limited access to internet, I will like you to assist me urgently with a soft loan of £2,400 to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with, I'll Refund the money back to you as soon as i get home without any delay. Please use the details below to send the money to me via Western Union money transfer . because that is the only way i could be able to get the money fast and leave. Here's my info below...

Name : SECRETARIES FULL NAME
Address: 7, Jalan Usahawan Seksyan, Bander Melaka, Malaysia

After you have send the money, email to me the money transfer control number or you can attach and forward to me the money transfer receipt so that i can pick up the money fast and leave.
Thank and get back to me soon.

Secretaries given name,

followed by the secretaries full UK postal address and hotmail dot com email address.
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As far as I’m concerned this is a SPAM fraud, and as such have notified my service provider, and placed emails referring to this SPAM, with other members of that Society. so that they too are informed about what is going on.
Be warned !

Alan SHARP.

[Currie]

Hello Alan,

The address in Malaysia is also mentioned in this ‘complaint’ by an individual who says that someone claiming to be Hotmail sent him an email asking for his Hotmail password etc and he gave it to them. It seems they accessed his Hotmail account and that was where they got the list of potential victims. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complain ... 98629.html

Perhaps the Secretary, or someone associated who uses the same hotmail address, fell for the same trick and you were but one of many.

All the best,
Alan

[Currie]

A few more from the same site but probably not all of them will admit to doing something silly.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search= ... Everything

Alan

[Montrose Budie]

If you are ever in doubt about an email like this, one thing to do is to Google the subject matter, or something contained in the email.

A recent development is folk's email address books being hijacked, and such an 'appeal mail' being sent to everyone in the address book.

Just a few weeks ago I received an eminently believable email sent to me by a fellow member of APG (Association of Professional Genealogists).

An email to the APG member's own email (not the 'new' one, see below), obtained elsewhere, produced the horrified reply that the person concerned wasn't aware that their email address book had been hijacked.

Apart from the original mail's appeal for money, it also gave a new email address for the person.

The lesson?, always but always be very suspicious of such emails.

mb

[wini]

Alan,
This is just an adaptation of one that has been doing the rounds here in West Australia, different slant to it but basically
the same.

Our recent ones are by telephone telling me they are from Microsoft and my computer has been affected by a virus and they want to fix it. Told him tae go and bile his heid.
The other one was this holiday I was supposed to have won and if pressed 1 I would get more details same response from me

wini

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings Wini and Australia.

You are not alone, the same is happening here in NZ.

Our news papers have just posted a warning to businesses about a new one.

A middle aged man of continental bearing, wearing a sweat shirt monogrammed NZ TRANSPORT ran into an owner operated shop, in a tourist town, carrying a parcel delivery for the owner, and asked them to pay the small delivery fee, with their card through his wireless, efpost swipe machine. (They are quite the nom here in New Zealand. At big events banks even put golf carts amongst the crowds with a “teller” and a security guard for issuing cash, after collecting the card info, and wireless transmitting the details to the bank. Restocking delivery vehicles [drinks vendors etc] also do it with their real time stock movements.)

No sooner out on the road he was using the captured details to clean out her business bank account.

Be ever vigilant !

Alan SHARP.