Email Fraud Alert received from: Not Tim
I recently received an email with this subject line: Emergency and I am concerned that it could be an attempt at defrauding me. Let me know in the comments section what you think, please.
Not Tim has the following thoughts/comments on this suspected fraudulent message:
There is a disturbing number of people who have their yahoo.com, gmail.com, hotmail.com e-mail accounts hacked and then the perpetrators send out messages such as these to everyone on the hacked e-mail account recipient list.
Hallmarks of most of these phishing messages are:
- The sender ‘didn’t inform’ or ‘had to go urgently’ to some country in Europe that doesn’t have English as a first language
- Some story about crime
- Money being owed
- Ineffective police / government support
- And – the kicker: no phone, only limited internet access
You have been warned
The full contents of the e-mail appear below:
Sorry I didn’t inform you about my trip to Spain for a Program, Unfortunately for me all my money along with my bag where my passport and valuable things were got stolen at gun point on my way to the hotel where I lodged, since then I have been without any money, I am even owing the hotel here, so I will like you to assist me with a loan of 2200 Euro to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I have reported the incident to the police here but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will appreciate whatever and any amount you can afford to assist me with, I’ll Refund the money back to you as soon as i return,let me know if you can be of any help. I don’t have a phone where i can be reached, i only have access to internet here. Please let me know immediately if you can be of any help to my situation.
Regards,
Tim Singiswa
The above email was sent by “Tim Singiswa” from this email address: singiswatim@yahoo.com