Post by bobw on Jul 5, 2011 1:53:23 GMT -8
Last week I received an email addressed to "undisclosed recipients" from a friend of mine who is a very well-known and highly respected entomologist. It explained how he had been robbed at gunpoint in Madrid and had all his belongings stolen and neded to borrow some money to get home as his bank could only send him a replacement card which would take about 5 days to reach him.
I responded and said I could lend him some money to get home if he could repay it immediately on his return, he seemed to be in trouble and I've no reason not to trust him. He then said he need £1,500 and could I send it straight away by Western Union. I was surprised by the amount but under the circumstances Western Union seemed the only real option.
I told him I could do it but needed details of where he was and I asked him to send me some piece of personal information that would prove to my satisfaction that it was a genuine request from him. The reply gave me location details but ignored my request for personal information. When I repeated my request explaining that I needed proof it wasn't a scam I never heard from him again.
It seems clear to me now that someone had hijacked his email account and was using it to try to make money from his contacts. He often travels to far-flung places where he probably has no access to email for months at a time so he probably has no idea this has happened. It was cleverly done; the scammers had clearly studied his emails as it was written in the same sort of style that he would use.
Beware in case something similar happens to you. If I hadn't suspected something and asked for the personal information they could easily have stolen a significant amount of money. It's quite possible that other people fell for it.
Bob
I responded and said I could lend him some money to get home if he could repay it immediately on his return, he seemed to be in trouble and I've no reason not to trust him. He then said he need £1,500 and could I send it straight away by Western Union. I was surprised by the amount but under the circumstances Western Union seemed the only real option.
I told him I could do it but needed details of where he was and I asked him to send me some piece of personal information that would prove to my satisfaction that it was a genuine request from him. The reply gave me location details but ignored my request for personal information. When I repeated my request explaining that I needed proof it wasn't a scam I never heard from him again.
It seems clear to me now that someone had hijacked his email account and was using it to try to make money from his contacts. He often travels to far-flung places where he probably has no access to email for months at a time so he probably has no idea this has happened. It was cleverly done; the scammers had clearly studied his emails as it was written in the same sort of style that he would use.
Beware in case something similar happens to you. If I hadn't suspected something and asked for the personal information they could easily have stolen a significant amount of money. It's quite possible that other people fell for it.
Bob
