Most people have probably learned that anybody who had a relative who was a high potentate in some African country and needs to get millions of dollars out of some bank and into the United States are not going to cut you in for thousands of dollars in thanks for your giving them access to all of your banking information (though, sadly, some older newebies to the internet still do fall for that scam, I fear).
They came up with a new one within the last few months. You get a message supposedly from a friend of yours (they have your friend's name) saying that s/he has been mugged in some foreign country and all of his/her documents and money has been taken, and they need your help.
The letter I got from my "friend" Mary Briggs (a name I have never heard of before), read:
I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,We came down here to England for a short vacation and i was mugged at gun point last night,at the park of the hotel where we lodged all cash,creditcards and cell were stolen off me, thank God we have our life and passport.
I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all,they asked us to wait for 3weeks but we can't wait till then. Our flight leaves in less than 4hrs from now and we are having problems settling the hotel bills.
The hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the hotel bills.you can speak with him through this number +447024032708 or +447024058752 his name is Richards James. we are freaked out at the moment,you can wire the money to me through westernunion all you need is Name on my passport and location below
Receivers Name:Mary Briggs
Location;59 Hide Park Gate - Kensington London 5dd United Kingdom
Amount:$2,450
I'll def refund your cash as soon as i get home.
(In addition to the total grammatical mess that this is, I particularly like that "Mary" is staying at "Hide" Park Gate!)
A friend of mine received a message similar to this, supposedly from a real friend of hers. Fortunately she's intelligent enough to do some checking, but others have heard supposedly from their grandchildren...and what loving grandparent is going to refuse to help their grandchild in trouble?
I don't fall for stuff like this, but I was amused by the latest attempt to get my money, which came today:
We are writhing to know if it's true that you are DEAD? Because we received a notification from one MR. GERSHON SHAPIRO of USA stating that you are DEAD and that you have giving him the right to claim your funds. He stated you died on a CAR accident. He has been calling us regarding this issue, but we cannot proceed with him until we confirm this by not hearing from you after 7days. Be advised that we have made all arrangements for you to receive and confirm your funds without anymore stress, and without any further delays.
All we need to confirm now is your been DEAD Or still Alive. Because this
MAN'S message brought shock to our minds. And we just can't proceed with
him until we confirm if this is a reality OR not But if it happened we did not hear from you after 7days, then we say: MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE"
YOUR JOY AND SUCCESS REMAINS OUR GOAL.
May the peace of the Lord be with you wherever you may be now.
Your Faitfully,
Mrs Farida Waziri
I love that Mrs. Waziri is e-mailing me to wish me perfect peace in the afterlife.
Well, I'm sorry, but I truly am alive and well, though I am assuming that if I fail to respond to "my faitfully" Mrs. Waziri in 7 days, she will assume that I am dead and perhaps I won't hear from her ever again.
But perhaps there really is a small fortune waiting for me. In that case, Mr. Gershon Shapiro is welcome to it, as a reward for for creativity, if nothing else. Maybe he can send it to my grandchildren when they are mugged near Hide Park.
Congratulations to Tom and Laurel, who each ran the Santa Barbara marathon in under 5 hours today! Tom beat his time from when he last ran the marathon six years ago (even though he's six years older!)
"Here comes Daddy!"
6 comments:
Hi Bev,
This is the Mary Briggs you've never heard of, here to say hello -- though not from a hotel in London. I happen to be just on the other side of town. While you've never heard of me, my husband happens to have been your son's best friend and former roommate, and one of your other sons was in our wedding. Most likely, you were in my address book because I sent you an e-mail years ago on the anniversary of Dave's passing. That e-mail, likely to tell you how much Dave continues to mean to my husband, meant that you were in my contact list.
That contact list was a link that brought the Nigerians to your in-box. On Friday, they were able to decode my password, get into my e-mail and mail every single person in my address book. Here's the amazing part: Once they had my password, a computer program automatically altered the settings in my account, setting up a bogus return address that was only one letter different than my real address. Also, all my e-mail was forwarded to the new account, so friends who replied to see if it was *really* me received a reply from the fake me. They were also able to get into my Facebook account (which had been linked to my e-mail address), and the bogus Mary initiated FB chats with my friends. Once they'd infiltrated my FB account, they had access to personal information, including my husband's name. I know of at least 5 people who receive these fake IMs before savvy friends reported it to FB and my account was suspended. One of the messages, when a h.s. friend asked if I was okay, read, "Yes, I'm fine, but Brain [sic] has some bruising around his neck. I'm so freaked out." I should say, all of this happened between 5-7 AM, while I was snug in bed, far from London...but I feel mugged, just the same.
There are benefits to having a sister who works for the Secret Service. One of their specialties is investigating fraud, with more agents dealing with fraud cases than protecting dignitaries, though many people don't know about their multiple missions. I was fortunate enough to speak with one of their computer forensic specialists, who indicated this was indeed, likely a Nigerian scam, and this is becoming increasingly common. Facebook, likewise, also seems aware of the newer methods of setting up forwarding and initiating these chats. When the Davis PD came to make an incident report, the officer I spoke with says this happens ALL THE TIME. I heard back from 7 people that this has happened to friends and family members.
Sadly, while I was able to regain control of my accounts, the scammers deleted my entire contact list, so the only way I was able to warn people was if I knew their e-mail offhand, had their addresses in my work e-mail, or I spoke with them directly. It was amazing the people who called and reached out. My insurance agent called my in-laws to see if he should open a claim. High school friends called their parents, who called my mom. A former student who has e-mailed me letters/updates and stories in the past few years e-mailed another teacher in tears because all she could envision was her poor third grade teacher, stuck across the ocean with no money. One friend, who caught on about 6:30 in the morning and spoke to my husband, had fun with the scammers and e-mailed the fake me with all sorts of suggestions about how I could earn money for my return trip. Overall, however, I wasted a full day of work, reporting it to the police, changing all my passwords, notifying the credit reporting agencies (as there may have been sensitive information about within my e-mails), and fielding non-stop calls from people letting me know what was happening.
This is a very long comment from someone you've never heard of, but I wanted to pass along a few tidbits to bring to light the experience of someone whose name and e-mail was used by these hackers. It was embarrassing and a waste of time I don't have to waste. Though no one sent money, as far as I can tell, many people -- bright people who live in the world of the internet and all the scams -- were initially caught off guard by the replies and personal information in the e-mails, as well as the fact it came from my personal account.
I've always tried to be very safe on Facebook, never playing quizzes or games that require access to my personal information, and I don't respond to phishing e-mails or calls. The Secret Service agent said it most likely happened as the result of a "brute force" attack against my e-mail password. While it was not an obvious one, they have very sophisticated programs that just try many combinations of dictionary words, etc. His tip was to make as strong of a password as possible. Here's a link to a resource about creating strong passwords: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/create.aspx
I suggest, given that these people used your e-mail address, you ensure your password is immune to such attacks. I would hate for you to have to deal with this type of experience. I never wanted to end up in the blog of my husband's best friend's mom. Not like this, at least.
Also, I have to say that att/sbcglobal was very helpful, as was Facebook. The Davis PD were also thorough, though they made no claims that they'd be able to catch these people. Their job is to make reports so that patterns emerge. The Secret Service does the same, and sometimes they catch these people when they cross international borders.
Thank God, we're doing fine :)
As you may know, I was one of those hacked and supposedly stranded in London. I think if I were stranded in London, I would just stay there...
I blamed the "upgraded" provider, who did not protect me before the break-in but closed down my account afterward. There is even a website describing the scam -- not to mention the pages I wrote about it myself.
I'm very glad you're not dead. (Hoping, of course, that Mr. Shapiro is not writing in your place.)
http://consumerist.com/2010/05/just-for-the-record-your-friend-wasnt-mugged-in-london.html
Wow, Mari. What a story. Of course I know Brian, but never made the connection. I"m going to link this reply to my FB account and also mention it in my journal tomorrow as a warning for others!
Thanks for taking the time to write.
(Interestingly, someone in my FB list, someone who was connected with Lawsuit, so may also have been in your address book--I can't remember who now--had some message on his account this morning, which made me smile because it talked about Brain. I wish I knew who that was.)
Hi Bev, I am writing this from London. I got mugged by Barrister Michael of Nigeria. He wasn't happy that I did not send the check. All is well here. I visit the queen today.
Now if you could sent a few shilling for bus fair to Buckingham palace.
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