Have you seen this scam yet?
You receive an email sent from one of your friend's own email addresses with your friend's own email signature at the end, asking for money because of an emergency.
Here are two variations I have seen so far:
1. How are you doing? I am sorry I didn't inform you about my traveling for a Program called Science, Health and Environmental Reporting. It is currently held in Nigeria, Sweden and Kenya. I am presently in Nigeria. It has been a very sad and bad moment for me because i got robbed on my way to the hotel where i lodged. My ID, cash and other valuables i have with me got stolen, I contacted the embassy here to help me out but it will take some time to get back to me. I urgently need your financial assistance of $2,600 to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home. I will really appreciate your help and i promise to pay you back immediately upon my return. Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards,
2. How are you doing? I am writing you this message with
sorrow because of what I am going through right now. Am in a
great sorrow written you this note, I could barely type or
think straight right now, I hope you come to my
aid....something very terrible is happening to me where I
am, I seriously need help from you urgently, I had a trip
here in West Africa {Nigeria} for a conference.
Unfortunately for me I got robbed on my way to the hotel
where I lodged along with my Cell phone, bag where my
passport was and since then I have been without any money, I
am even owing the hotel here. So I have limited access to
emails for now, I urgently need your financial assistance.
The total sum of money that I would need would be $2,475 to
sort-out the bills so I can make arrangements and return
back, I'm in a panic now, the police only asked me to
write a statement about the incident and directed me to
the embassy, I have spoken to the embassy here but they are
not responding to the matter effectively, I will return the
money back to you as soon as I get home, I am so confused
right now. I wasn't hurt because I complied
immediately. I'll wait to hear from you so I can
send the Western Union information to use in sending the
money.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Number 2. is obviously written in spam-ese; but Number 1 could almost pass for a native english speaker. If the bad guys ever learn proper syntax, spelling and grammar, we will be in big trouble. But I digress.
Evidently the spammers hack someone's into email address book, and send out an email blast looking as if it came straight from that person.
If a friend replies to that email, I would imagine the hacker has the reply rerouted to the hacker's op center, where a response goes back out telling where to wire the money.
The person whose email was hacked never knows anything happened until one of her friends says something like "Gee, I didn't know you had traveled to Nigeria, but I hope the money I wired you helped."
The creative nature of man guarantees that there will always be a negative counterpart to our use of technology.
I received an email from a past client saying they were stuck in England and someone stole their wallet and they needed $$. Hope they got home!!
Cheryl, I saw a similar one come up on an email list. These spammers are getting pretty creative. Best to delete these.
Cheryl, I did get this....a version of #2. It was from an old friend I recently reconnected with on FB whom I have spoken to since. I did not send money (although I'm not sure if it was her) but I have been getting a huge number of emails from her lately which I'm afraid to open. I can't even find her number to ask her....
Wow... As if I don't have enough to wade through... Didn't get one yet but will be on the lookout for bogus pleas for help.
There have been several discussions of "voice" in the past here on AR. This scam kind of gives a new spin to thinking about "voice". If the plea for help isn't written in your friend's "voice" ... doesn't use words and grammar the way your friend usually does ... its probably bogus... :-)
Yeah number one could almost pass for native English speaker... "the hotel where i lodged." I have not received one personally but I have heard about people getting them.
Cheryl, it happened to a co-worker of mine a few months ago.
I had just said hello to him in the hall when I got this email.
I walked to his office and told him.
Yes by then it had been sent to everyone in his address book.
Thanks for posting here to get the word out....oh yea, his said he was in New Orleans taking care of a sick aunt. NOT.
I can't beleive people fall for these but they do. I once had a new agent call me because she got a note from a wealthy prince who was trying to get money out of the country by spending millions on real estate. These notes would never work if people didn't beleive them.
It's true about the people not knowing English well. If they ever hired someone to write up something that sounded like it actually came from an American, there would be a lot more people falling for it!
Seriously why cant they find something else to do with their spare time.
This is called a 419 Scammer. It's an old trick. There are also the following scams that prey on peoples greed.
The fake 1 year paid in advace tenant.(craigslist FRBO scam)
The fake overseas girlfriend (match,facebook,AFF)
The fake ebay purchase. (they send you a fake check for too much money, and you western union the difference back)
The fake business opportunity. (I want to send you money in the millions for your business. And you need to pay 600USD for start up)
The list goes on and on. It's called 419. They are mostly in Benin,and nigeria. But have moved all over the world.
And they dont have much to do. So no they don't have much to do. They are a dirt poor country and 100 american dollars goes a long way in Africa.
those emails always crack me up
I am most patiently awaiting your reply....as soon as I see that I weep as I know they need my money now. So I pull out my credit card, login to PayPal and send them money. I'm saving the world and proud to do my part to keep scammers alive and well.
Honestly who still falls for these emails anymore?
This has also been going around on hacked facebook accounts, sometimes claiming the person is in the UK [usually London], and there have been instances of the scammers calling the elderly and claiming to be a child or grandchild stranded and in need of cash. For people recognizing a legitimate family member's account, especially those who are not very internet savvy, I can see where it would be easy to fall for.
I have received both of these in one form or another. A person would be pretty gullible to fall for it but the addition of the signature might get some folks! Thanks.
Thanks for the heads up. We haven't seen this yet but it never amazes me how creative people can get.
Has anyone gotten one from people with Chinese investors that need to buy something in the next month? They never give any criteria, just ask you to send listings, then pick one and try and get your bank account number to wire a deposit. Slick.
We get them all.
I would need to be possessed by pod people to fall for any of them. Yet I'm sure it happens all the time.
An article I read lately said that Nigerians report being the happiest people in any country in the world. No wonder. They pull the wool over silly Americans all the time... ;)
Hi Cheryl, There are tip-offs in the way the email is writen but still very clever. Take care !
Cheryl,
Thanks for the heads up, I never cease to be amazed at the creative ways people use to steal from good hearted souls.
The thing is this, in this new twist the email actually comes from someone you know, and it displays that person's email address.
If the scammers ever master the english language, and if they make up a pausible story (grandmother in New Orleans seems more likely than conference in Nigeria, but hey what do I know) :-) .... well, then, I can see people getting taken in by it...
Yes, got one from a past Religious Leader who was stuck in England, lost her passport, needed money yada yada.
I knew better than to respond, but easy to get hooked in.
Cheryl, whenever I see Nigeria in the text of an email, one nanosecond time duration passes, then DELETE!!
You mean they are fake? No wonder why my freinds never repay me. I am sure some people would fall for it, but I would call a friend before wiring and if they were a clsoe enough friend to ask for money, i would definitely know when they were taking a trip out of the country. Tnaks for posting.
I have been seeing these too, but once I see those countries listed I know better!
I did receive one from someone (a friend) in London asking for money to be wired with specific instructions.
Almost every single email asking for money of personal information is a fraud. If you think it is them pick up the phone and find out.
There seems to always be some scam out there. As long as the english is like most comingout of Africa we are going to be okay. But there are a few now that are getting harder to discern i.e.Maddoff
#1 seemed much to formal to be anything that would have been written by a friend in distress. While it may have seemed to be almost proper grammatically, it certainly didn't sound realistic. And hopefully by now we all know never to believe an e-mail that mentions Nigeria.
Thanks for the post!
The tip off is usually thier grasp of the English language. : )
I have heard about this and it hit close to home last week. A friend got a message through Facebook from another friend who was traveling through Europe. The message said they had been been robbed. You know where the story goes from here. What surprised me and my friend was that the criminal hacked Facebook so they knew A Lot of personal details about the traveler. Keep in mind when trying to verify a message you need to ask the most obscure questions. Something that would Never have been put on the WEB.
Oh yes, it's up here in "the Live Free or Die State of NH" Yikes....every day I get at least 15 or more of these lately.
What can we do to stop it?
Patricia/Seacoast NH
I just had a friend tell me about receiving an email like this apparently from someone he knows. There too, he did't even know that person was traveling in England! Thsese scammers are becoming quite creative.
I have gotten two of these emails from different friends.
The first one was a Pastor who lives in another state. If I had not heard of this scam I may have fallen for it. Who doesn't want to help out a Pastor?
When I emailed his wife to make sure it was a scam, she teased me about sending the money to her "correct" address instead of the scammers! Ya Gotta love 'em!
I probably delete these before I read them. It surprises me that these work anymore with anyone.
Check www.snopes.com for any suspicious e-mail you receive and NEVER NEVER EVER reply to an e-mail about passwords, money or your personal information!
I think the first thing I would do is attempt to call my friend or contact, or their family!
www.GarrigusRealEstate.com
Cheryl - Yes, and there's another version that has hit Facebook twice over the past year. A "friend" will try to contact you via the chat feature, and they'll say that they are in London (or elsewhere) and their belongings were stolen, then ask for a very specific amount of money (e.g. $783).
Hi Cheryl -- I never click or respond to anything like that. My friends know to call me and I know who they are.
I DID have this happen to me once.
The guy from somewhere that is loaded and needs me to help bring in the money for a HUGE pay day is more frequent though.. lol
What I did when the above happened is called my friend to see what was up. That is how I knew it was bogus...
Hope this helps.
I haven't seen anything like this. I agree you're right about the syntax and the grammar.
I think that if I had a friend close enough to be asking for this type of money, I'd know they were leaving the country and/or I'd have other friends/family I could verify with.
It's amazing at what these scammer come up with these days... and to hack someone's email account too..... Hmmmm Thanks for the heads up
HA HA HA . . . I would know this was a SCAM the minute I read it.
WHY?
My friends know one thing about me: I don't have any money!
HA HA HA
;-)
Thanks for sharing, Very informative. I'll keep an eye out.
Howdy and Mornen Cheryl
I've heard about four folks that have gotten those kind of e-mails. At least the ones that I have heard of, no one in their familys have fallen for them.
These emails are too funny after they stopped being annoying to me. I just laugh...anyone who really needs money from me would have to do much more than send me an email...and besides, I'm not a bank...LOL
It is amazing that more real estate agents don't have their identity stolen since we give away just about everything about our lives on all the "social networking" sites. But, then again, maybe that's WHY no one steals our identity? LOL.
Did get one about three weeks ago. When I saw the senders email address I knew it was fraud. I immediately contacted my contact.
He now has a new email address
Honestly, would you believe that a friend would actually EMAIL you a true request for help? I would seriously question any of my friends or relatives emailing me such a request. I'd be on the phone in a heartbeat to see what they really needed.
Sad that there are gullible people out there that would actually think this is real.
I actually got one of these a few weeks a go. It was a variation on the same: client said she was in London with her family and got robbed. Initially I bought it, but I knew that she had just returned from a European vacation a few months before so I thought it was weird. Unfortunately these scams are so prevalent!
I get them all te time.
Cheryl this seems to be so indicative of where the economy is and the direction that it is headed.