Email Account belonging to Councilwomen of Mansfield Hacked

Ellen haring, councilwomen of Mansfield city (Mansfield Ohio US), had her email address list hacked by scammers intended to trap friends and acquaintances into "rescuing" her by writing money to them via western union, stated by mansfieldnewsjournal.com on 31 December 2011.

The false claiming to be from haring but in reality it was send by scammers read: " I am currently trapped in London, UK for short holiday unluckily I was robbed at the park of the hotel where I stayed, all money, credit card and cell were stolen off me but fortunately for me I still have my passport with me. I contacted to embassy and the police but they are not helping in these issues at all and my flight will depart in less than 6 hours from now but am facing problems settling down the bills of the hotel and the hotel manager won't let me leave until I settle the bills".

Haring got several phone calls from their concerned friends as an instant feedback.

According to the reports of mansfielnewsjournal.com dated 31 December 2011, the Mansfield police detective Cecil Burton said no suspects have been recognized.

Unluckily, haring was trapped by the "stranded in London" scam. It is a well-known type of the advance fee fraud, security expert add. Security expert commented that this scam has been around for long time, but there are various variations to it.

This scam basically works like this. A person contacts his friend and tells them they are in London and have been robbed by robbers. They are fine but have lost all their money and have no mode to go home. They are struck in foreign country unless the friend can help them out. the friend is expected to wire them money for plane fare and therefore they can go home.

Thus, to avoid being victimized by such email scam, the email recipient is advised by the security expert to contact that person in case of haring using face book, twitter or by phone to confirm the story. However the best thing is to inform the person that his/her email account has been hacked. But don't send any money, concluded by security experts.

Related article: Email Security – A Big Challenge to Companies & Individuals

» SPAMfighter News - 1/11/2012