trust not!

Accustomed as I am to getting fraudulent email purporting to be from Nigerian barristers holding millions of dollars on my behalf, earlier I was surprised to receive an email purporting to come from an actual friend in real life, originating from a known and trusted email account. It was a tale of woe about stolen luggage containing a passport and credit cards in a foreign country, and requested my help.

….The embassy is willing to help by letting me fly without my passport, I just have to pay for a ticket and settle Hotel bills. Unfortunately for me, I can’t have access to funds without my credit card, I’ve made contact with my bank but they need more time to come up with a new one. I was thinking of asking you to lend me some quick funds that I can give back as soon as I get in. I really need to be on the next available flight.

I can forward you details on how you can get the funds to me….

Riiiight.

Rather than answer the email, I thought to check my friend’s Facebook page first, where I saw many of her friends discussing the email. Turns out my friend’s yahoo account was hacked.

These hacker/spammer/scammers are getting better and better at what they do. The odds of being caught are slim to none, and the odds of being punished if caught are undoubtedly slimmer than that. It might be fun to try to outsmart the scammers by playing along and tracking them down to wherever they are, but if the countries they live in are corrupt and compliant, what would be the point?

My advice is that if a friend asks for money online (even from a trusted email address), verify independently that it’s really that friend requesting before you even think about “helping.”