It’s back!
An email scam is circulating the Internet that claims the sender is traveling abroad and has been mugged. It then requests funds.
This week it was a Gwinnett County Imam’s email account that was hacked. The opening line of the email reads, “Assalamu Aalaykum,” a common greeting among Muslims. The rest of the email reads, in part:
“I’m writing this in tears, I came traveled to Spain for an urgent program, but unfortunately I got mugged at the park of the hotel where I stayed – all cash and cell were stolen off me but luckily for me I still have my passport.
“I’ve been to the embassy and the Police here but they’re slow in helping issues. My return flight leaves in 3 hours but hotel manager won’t let me leave until I settle the bills.I Need your help with a loan to pay the hotel bills and I’ll surely pay back when I get back home.”
A similar scam circulated in years past. According to a 2011 report in The Guardian, the emails could be a result of the 2010 Gawker hack.
In January of this year, Arizona House Rep. Cecil Ash was targeted by the same scam. Experts called it a common money-wiring scam.
If you have been the victim of this or similar scams, change your password and alert your contacts. A strong password typically includes uppercase and lowercase letters, at least one number and a symbol.