My friend stopped using a personnel email account last Christmas but didn’t delete it, someone managed to get into the account and sent the following email out to all the contact address’s:

Subject: Urgent Help…............................................Kate XXXXXX
Hi,

Just writing to let you know our trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has been a mess. We were having a great time until last night when we got mugged and lost all our cash,credit card cell phone.It has been a scary experience, I was hit at the back of my neck with a pistol. Anyway,I’m still alive and that’s what’s important. I’m financially strapped right now and need your help.

As we speak i need $1,000 to add up and sort my bills,don’t worry i will def refund it as soon as we get home,the fastest and safest means you can get money to me is via western union,Here’s my info:

Name: Kate XXXXXX
Location: Level 47, Menara Telekom Off Jalan Pantai Baru,59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I wait to read from you

Thanks
Kate

I’m sure this scam has been mentioned on the forum before but i couldn’t find it via search. My friend told me a friend of hers had rang her Mum up and was very distraught. haha. This scam is actually pretty good because my friend goes travelling a lot.

Eeyup. Bog-standard email scam. Most folks are wise to the now-traditional Nigerian scam, so they switch gears.

I predict that in a decade or so, they will have switched to flat out asking for money.

I had one of these from a friend last year around the time of the Icelandic volcano upheaval.  I was instantly skeptical about it, since he was claiming he was in the UK, and I’d only seen him two days earlier, and all of Europe was a no-fly zone…

And yes, my friend did confirm that someone had hacked his email account.

So it’s basically an online version of this scam.