Hoax eMail from Fellow Cruiser (or not)

[S/V_Surya]

Originally Posted by easterly38

In reality, do any of us have friends who would ask for money via email?

Raises Hand.......

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by easterly38

In reality, do any of us have friends who would ask for money via email?

I have asked for and received money from relatives via e-mail (one was my sister who is trustee of a trust the other is my brother) both are extremely difficult to get hold of by phone and my sister also wanted the e-mail for documentation. All my friends know I don't have any money anyway, though the ones I lent money to back when I did keep in touch via e-mail and propose ways of paying me back.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by sailingmonica

I received yesterday an email allegedly from a fellow cruiser asking me for money. It is nothing but a hoax. The "Nigerian" uses my cruiser's friend full name and boat name and had set up an email address in his name too. Pretty smart so far, but the email itself is not. Who the heck writes like that?

You should learn to play with the toys that are given to you

[Sand crab]

Here's one that's real. Broke ski bum/yachtsman needs dough to tune skis/patch sails. Please send $2500 and I'll be your friend.

[fullandby]

In reality, do any of us have friends who would ask for money via email?

Do any of us have friends WITH money to ask for?

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by fullandby

Do any of us have friends WITH money to ask for?

Do any of us have enough money so our friends will ask us for some.

[Intentional Drifter]

Do tell your friend that their email has been hacked. I had a similar email a few years ago from a friend with almost the exact same scenario. This was before this particular scam had received much attention. Fortunately, I had her son's email and phone and was able to confirm that she really was OK, not out of the country, but was unaware of the hack.

ID

[Factor]

Originally Posted by sarafina

I have noticed recently that the spammers seem to be getting smarter. How's that for a scary thought?

This morning we had one caught in the filters. The guy had actually posted a *make sense for the thread* kinda post before attaching the spam link to whatever he was pimping.

I had to read the damn thing twice to be sure it was spam...

Ought'ta be against the law!

Was that an insurance seller from india, I caught a very sophisticated one today as well in a forum I moderate, where the spammer post was directly relevant to the discussion, but clearly designed to get you to his web site.

[Brian in Az]

Originally Posted by skipmac

I'm won't be worried until these guys learn grammatically correct English.

You obviously haven't perused the various forums on the internet. The grammar and spelling in that spam email was much better than at least 50% of all the posts and threads that I have read over the years.

Unfortunately, because it was much better written than most scams, he will succeed in conning a few people.

I also agree, forward it to the 419 eaters, someone will grab that one to play.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by sailingmonica

I received yesterday an email allegedly from a fellow cruiser asking me for money. It is nothing but a hoax. The "Nigerian" uses my cruiser's friend full name and boat name and had set up an email address in his name too. Pretty smart so far, but the email itself is not. Who the heck writes like that?

It is titled "Emergency Help!" and goes as follows:

"Hello,

How are you doing hope you are keeping fine? I do hope that you receive this email in good health. I am presently in United Kingdom to be with my ill Cousin . She's suffering from a critical uterine fibroid and must undergo a hysterectomy surgery to save her life, am deeply sorry for not writing or calling you before leaving but the news of her illness arrived to me as an emergency and that she needs family support to keep her going, I hope you understand my plight and pardon me.

I want to transfer her back home to have the surgery implemented there because hysterectomy surgery is very expensive here, Am wondering if you can be of any assistance to me, I need about $2,500 to make the necessary arrangement, I traveled with little money due to the short time I had to prepare for this trip and never expected things to be the way it is right now. I'll surely pay you back once I get back home, I need to get her home ASAP because she is going through a lot of pain at the moment and the doctor have advised that it necessary that the tumor is operated soon to avoid anything from going wrong. I'll reimburse you at my return.

Anticipating your reply at the earliest to my request!!!

Regards

Real name of my friend
s/v his boat's real name"

That happened to someone I know. The people asked to help out the "stranded" sailor were ridiculous choices and it was pretty obvious, but it is definitely going around. Whoever does it has found a way to hack into at least some people's email and get their email list. They probably can tell how frequently you email someone.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by easterly38

In reality, do any of us have friends who would ask for money via email?

I forget how the whole email went when it happened to my friend, but there were explanations for everything.

[capn_billl]

Let your friend know his E-mail was hacked. The only way to stop this is pick a better password.

My wifes has been hacked repeatedly, mine never has. If you pick, phone number, birth date, aniversity, even dog's name. Someone will find it.

Clever passwords, IE "password", or "hello", or your name backwords, are not so clever, if you thought of it, a hacker will too, believe me they are more clever than you, and have more time on their hands.

I have access to password lists, I was shocked at how many were the exact same word.

One of my old, obsolete passwords, H9&98jny*8*^%5hJ(U, try guessing that one.

Now I use even more complicated passwords; numbers, symbols, caps, and small letters. All of my newer passwords are generated by an encryption formula, and translated into ascii.

The only way to stop these guys is use a lock, (password) that works.

[MacG]

Nigerians have a particular way to write a mail (or letter). No one out of my circle will ask me if I am doing fine. The sheer stupidity of those mails is that if someone is my friend I know exactly how his family fares and never will such a mail opening with the question if I am doing fine.

[captain58sailin]

My friends at ATT, bankamerica, americanexpress, send me nice letters asking for money every month. And if I don't respond in a timely fashion they certainly get insistent.

[jackdale]

Your email need not be hacked. They can simply spoof your account by using your name in the "Your Name" box in the account settings.

How they linked you and your friend is another issue.