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Hackers Break into US Senator E-mail Account

Some hackers broke into the Yahoo! mail account of Iowa State Senator 'Bob Dvorsky' and used it for sending spam mails to his contacts, as per the reports by Softpedia on July 8, 2010.

The fake mails stated that the Senator was stranded in Scotland because he had lost his wallet and need money to return home.

The scam mails had a subject line "Emergency Please" which further read - hoping that the e-mail would reach in time. Dvorsky forgot to inform (the e-mail recipient) about his trip to Scotland for a Program, The e-mail further sates that Dvorsky is presently stranded in Edinburgh and facing some difficulties because he has lost his wallet on the way to the hotel where money and other valuable things had been kept. The e-mail also reveals that he has a limited access to internet, but need the assistance of 10,000 Pounds to pay the hotel bills and to return home.

Further, the e-mail states that Bob Dvorsky contacted the embassy but they had not replied to the matter properly.

On July 7, 2010, Bob Dvorsky came to know that his private mail account had been hacked when he was told by his friends that they had been getting bogus mails from his email ID. The whole scam was designed around the political position of Mr. Dvorsky, which implies that hackers knew whose account they were hacking.

Senator Dvorsky added that it made him feel compromised. Moreover, he stated that users should be very protective and alert, as per the news by kcrg on July 7, 2010.

As per the reports, Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulrabek came across the e-mail and was the first to inform Senator Dvorsky of its contents.

The Senator thinks his password might have been stolen several months ago when he sent an e-mail containing password to a supposed spokesperson of Yahoo. The e-mail was written on Yahoo letterhead and stated that the firm had introduced several changes and asked for Senator's password.

For making the users aware about the scam, the Iowa Senate Majority's office sent an e-mail on July 7, 2010 to legislative colleagues of Senator Dvorsky, telling them to avoid the e-mail sent from the private account of the senator.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 7/19/2010

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