Hacking Hell

I immediately recognized the email address. It was from a friend, a pilot instructor.

The subject line was a plaintive: “Help me”.

My mind first went to “scam”, the type of communication that I occasionally get from a third-world country. If only I would contact them I would collect funds left to me by a recently deceased, long lost uncle.

But this was from Jason. I know him. And the lead-in said:

“Hi, I really don't mean to inconvenience you right now but I made a quick trip to the United Kingdom and I lost a bag which contains my passport and credit cards.”

That sounded very plausible too. Maybe he had made a quick business trip?

The hour was 7 a.m. in Houston. I pictured Jason in London, mired in U.S. embassy limbo, with no cash, no credit cards to pay for a ticket home. How could he even prove who he was? It would take a while, for sure.

Thinking that each of a few of his friends would make a contribution, I was ready to make a donation and get him home quickly. The note also said that he would gladly pay us back when he returned. That sounded like him as well.

But as I started to type a response that little voice of caution became a shout.

“NO, send him a text message first.”

I did:

“Gd. Tues a.m. 2 you. R u stranded in London or has your email acct been hacked big time? Pls call me @ xxxxxxxx. Dennis”

One minute later I got his text response:

“Hey Dennis, I was hacked. Sorry for the scare. I’ve actually been locked out of my email and cannot access. Thanks for checking. I appreciate it.”

So in fact it was a scam. An ingenious ploy to get the entire address book of my pilot friend to:

“Please reply as soon as you get this message so I can forward the details as to where to send the funds.”

Again, not an unreasonable request had the story been genuine.

Talking with another friend it turns out that someone she knows had had the exact same thing happen to him.

Using his hacked email address the please-send-money began with:

“I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,i came down here to London, England for a short vacation and i got mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where i lodged all cash, credit cards and cell were stolen off me.”

The plea includes a request:

“please i need you to lend me some money so i can make arrangements and return back I am full of panic now…..”

In both instances the bonanza - KA CHING - comes to the scammer when the friends in the address-book send their donations. And remember that the victim of the attack - potentially you - cannot even get to your address book to warn your friends of the impending doom.

The moral of this story is, sadly, that you can’t necessarily trust your email, even when it comes from a true friend or acquaintance. Also take your time and investigate before sending a dime or providing any financial information whatsoever.

P.S. I personally have never maintained an address book at Yahoo or similar portals; I simply save select emails to my laptop, or add the addresses to a Word document on my C drive. You might be wise to do the same. What good are you to a hacker if you have no hackees as potential piggy banks to suck dry?

Send this article to a friend!

Copyright 2010.  All Rights Reserved