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Colin Butchers
United Kingdom
1487 Posts |
 Posted - 04/08/2013 : 22:24:07
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Yesterday I received an e-mail purporting to be from Mike, saying that he and his family had been mugged in Manila in the Phillipines and had lost all their belongings except for their passports. He said that the police and the British Embassy were not being very helpful, and he appealed for a rapid transfer of funds (£3,000) to enable them to buy return air tickets within 24 hours.
This sounds like a classic scam, but rather than ignore it, I replied that I would be pleased to help them, but that I could not arrange a transfer of cash in under 7 days. I also e-mailed the Foreign office in London, asking them to make urgent contact with Mike.
Since then - nothing.
Has anyone else been contacted, as I suspect that everyone one Mike's e-mail address book would have been sent a similar message. If you have heard, do you have any proof that this is genuine or otherwise ?
Colin Butchers. |
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Colin Butchers
United Kingdom
1487 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2013 : 22:25:30
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Yesterday I received an e-mail purporting to be from Mike, saying that he and his family had been mugged in Manila in the Phillipines and had lost all their belongings except for their passports. He said that the police and the British Embassy were not being very helpful, and he appealed for a rapid transfer of funds (£3,000) to enable them to buy return air tickets within 24 hours.
This sounds like a classic scam, but rather than ignore it, I replied that I would be pleased to help them, but that I could not arrange a transfer of cash in under 7 days. I also e-mailed the Foreign office in London, asking them to make urgent contact with Mike.
Since then - nothing.
Has anyone else been contacted, as I suspect that everyone on Mike's e-mail address book would have been sent a similar message. If you have heard, do you have any proof that this is genuine or otherwise ?
Colin Butchers.
[/quote] |
Edited by - Colin Butchers on 04/08/2013 22:26:12 |
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MaGic_GV
United Kingdom
868 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2013 : 22:26:40
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Colin, I have not received this one but have had similar ones in the past, in one case from someone to whom I had sent a single email...definitely a scam!
Graham
Graham
"I'd rather be happy than right anyday" Slartybartfast, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
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Colin Butchers
United Kingdom
1487 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2013 : 22:28:16
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Thanks Graham. You may have just saved me £,3000 !!
Colin B. |
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McEvoy
United Kingdom
252 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2013 : 23:00:27
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Colin this is a real scam and in one form or another has been going the rounds for some time - ignore and don't waste any valuable triple-M time on it.
Now if he had said that he had just found a long lost K3 or similar and needed funds to ship it home, maybe we might all have been a bit interested.
best wishes
Bob |
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George Eagle
United Kingdom
3237 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2013 : 23:41:01
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Colin
I have received two such emails in the past. One friend whose email folders were used to send such an email to contacts in his address book had to change his email address/server.
George
L2023 |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6119 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 03:41:34
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Colin,
I can report that Mike was nowhere near the Philippines last week and was to be seen at Craigantlet on Saturday past!
And if you go to the email you thought you'd sent to him you'll see that the actual address it went to - not the one that it seemed to be coming from - was very different from Mike's correct address.
A common scam - I get them fairly regularly.
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Edited by - Simon Johnston on 05/08/2013 03:42:07 |
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George Eagle
United Kingdom
3237 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 09:37:41
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Perhaps someone ought to advise Mike his PC might have been compromised by a hacker who has gained access to his email address book.
George |
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Colin Butchers
United Kingdom
1487 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 09:45:43
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Thanks everybody for your guidance. This is the first time that this sort of thing has happened to me - but I do live a very sheltered existence ! So far as contacting Mike goes, I have already sent a message to Carol Willis of the Ulster Centre, so I would imagine that by now Mike is fully aware of what has been going on in his name.
Thanks again,
Colin B.
PS. What a pity that we cannot easily trace who has been doing this. If we could, I would happily lend my hydraulic engine crane so that we could hoist the culprit up by his testicles. |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6119 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 10:06:50
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quote:
Originally posted by George Eagle
Perhaps someone ought to advise Mike his PC might have been compromised by a hacker who has gained access to his email address book.
George
Already done long since (but not by using the reply button for obvious reasons!) |
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mike armstrong
United Kingdom
63 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2013 : 22:37:20
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Thank you to all concerned at my scam/spam plight. BT was informed immediately after I received the first phone call from a friend on my contact list - they were very helpful and traced and blocked the hacker and restored my Inbox and contact lists, which had disappeared, within 48 hours. My current email still works but will change. This type of problem is a menace and causes great upset - and seems to be possible despite malware and antivirus programmes.
Thank you anyway for expressed concerns.
Best wishes. Mike |
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