E-mail Scam Victimizes Man and his Friends

According to the news published on March 16, 2010 by The Leader, approximately 40 contacts on Geoff Nicholls' e-mail address book became stunned when they received an extremely weird e-mail from him. It said that Nicholls of York, UK while traveling in Wales was robbed at gunpoint, and therefore he urgently required some money.

The message also stated that during a related tussle, Nicholls' right hand got hurt, and he also he lost his mobile phone, credit cards and entire cash.

According to the fake e-mail, Nicholls thus hoped the reader would give him 1,000 pounds in loan so that he could clear the hotel expenses and reach the airport. Additionally, although he contacted the local police, no help could be obtained, while currently his means were insufficient to have him out of the place.

Thereafter, the e-mail urged the recipients to wire any amount of money they could afford through Western Union at Premier Inn Wrexham (UK). Notably, although the e-mail gave the hotel's postcode, it wasn't right albeit it did associate with a different region of Wrexham.

However, on March 11, 2010, Nicholls reassured his friends that no one robbed him. He said that while he was quite all right, otherwise, an e-mail scam had victimized him, as reported by THE PRESS on March 11, 2010. Nicholls further said that although the scam hadn't successfully tricked anyone, he was worried that in case a similar incident happened with others, someone could be actually duped into wiring cash to the fraudsters.

Moreover according to Nicholls, it appeared that somebody had forcibly entered into his address book to dispatch to each of the e-mail addresses, the fraudulent message, believing that somebody would become convinced and wire the cash.

Commenting on the issue, a North Wales Police Spokeswoman stated that they knew about the incident. In fact, a few similar incidences had occurred in the locality. Police, therefore, advice the public that it shouldn't reveal personal security details, the spokeswoman added.

Furthermore, a Premier Inn Spokesperson stated that its Wrexham staff have been informed about the phishing e-mail, but substantiated that the hotel had no involvement in the overall case.

Related article: E-Crime Reporting Format To Be Launched in July

» SPAMfighter News - 3/29/2010