The Better Business Bureau has heard of almost every scam. The scam described below has gone on for years, using almost identical messages and money amounts. Similar to the famous "grandparent scam," where the scammer wants a would-be victim to think their help is urgently needed by a grandchild, this scam seeks to convince recipients of an e-mail message that they have a friend or family member who needs their immediate help.
This case is more personal than the many scams that are reported each day to the BBB. In this case, I have a very good friend who uses a Yahoo.com e-mail address as his primary e-mail. A few days ago I received a message, appearing to be from my friend. The message said:
From: (Friend's Name Removed)
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 12:12 PM
Subject: SAD NEWS!!!
Hello,
This message may be coming to you as a surprise but I need your help. Few days back I made an unannounced vacation trip to London,UK. Everything was going fine until last night when I got mugged on my way back to the hotel.They Stole all my cash, credit cards and cellphone but thank God I still have my life and passport. Another shocking is that the hotel manager has been unhelpful to me for reasons I don't know. I'm writing you from a local library cybercafe..I reported to the police and after writing down some statements that's the last I had from them.I contacted the consulate and all I keep hearing is they will get back to me. I need your help ...I need you to help me out with a loan to settle my bills here so I can get back home tomorrow. I'll refund the money as soon as I get back. All I need is $2400..Let me know if you can get me the money then I tell you how to get it to me.Thanks.
(Name Removed)
First, I called my friend. Not to my surprise, he was at home in Louisville. All was well. When I described the e-mail that I received, he was surprised and concerned. Over the next few hours, he heard from scores of friends who received the same bogus e-mail. In fact, everyone in his e-mail contact list and everyone with whom he had traded e-mail in the past appears to have received the same message.
When the friend attempted to go to his Yahoo e-mail account, he found that he could not. The password on the account had been changed. At this point, he and I knew that the account was being used by the e-mail hijackers as if it was their own account.
My friend immediately went about contacting the Yahoo e-mail security team to alert the company to the breach of his e-mail account. Meanwhile, I decided to conduct a test, by responding to the e-mail that I had received.
Replying to what appeared to my friend's e-mail, I wrote:
From: Charlie Mattingly
Subject: RE: SAD NEWS!!!
To: (My friend's e-mail address)
Date: Thursday, June 10, 2010, 12:22 PM
I would like to help. Call me at 502-583-1099 to let you know how I can help.
Charlie Mattingly
A reply came promptly, again appearing to come from my friend. It said:
From: (My friend, with his real e-mail address)
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 12:31 PM
To: Charlie Mattingly, Better Business Bureau.
Subject: URGENT!!!
Oh, thank you so much,...it's so devastating at the moment. l wish l could call but l don't have access to phone at the moment. I have nothing left on me and i'm grateful to God that i still have my life and my passport because it would have been worst if they made away with my passport and right now i need your financial help so that i can get myself out of this mess.
Still lacking instructions on how to help my friend, I e-mailed back:
From: Charlie Mattingly
Subject: RE: URGENT!!!
To: (Friends Name and E-mail address removed)
Date: Thursday, June 10, 2010, 12:42 PM
How can I get financial help to you?
Charlie Mattingly
A reply with the "needed information" came quickly:
From: (Friend's name and e-mail removed)
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 12:52 PM
To: Charlie Mattingly, Better Business Bureau.
Subject: INFO NEEDED!!!
Am very happy that you replied back,well all i need now is just $2400, you can have it wired to my name via Western Union i'll have to show my passport as ID to pick it up here and i promise to pay you back as soon as we get back home. Here's my info below.
Name - (Friend's Name Removed)
Location - 547 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7HS, United Kingdom
As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number, let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now??....i owe you a lot
Having no intention of "heading to Western Union," I nonetheless replied:
From: Charlie Mattingly
Subject: RE: INFO NEEDED!!!
To: (Friend's name and e-mail removed)
Date: Thursday, June 10, 2010, 1:02 PM
It will take me some time to round up the money. Please be patient. But I should be able to help by later today.
Charlie Mattingly
The scammers first replied with a simple "thank you, I understand" and "let me know when you are ready to wire the money." But only minutes later, they became impatient. I received this message:
From: (Friend's name and e-mail removed)
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 1:55 PM
To: Charlie Mattingly, Better Business Bureau.
Subject: RE: INFO NEEDED!!!
What's going...i have limited time here
These e-mail exchanges occurred within the space of less than two hours. The message above is the last I heard from the scammers/e-mail hijackers. Shortly after this last message, I expect Yahoo's e-mail security team had reset the account password, locking the hijackers out of my friend's e-mail account and returning the account to its rightful owner. As the scammer(s) surmised, "i have limited time here."
This story ends happily. To the best of our knowledge, no one on my friend's contact list fell for the scam. And thanks to prompt action by Yahoo, it wasn't long before the scammers lost use of my friend's e-mail account.
What can we learn from this case? At least three things:
- Never wire money unless you know the person to whom you are wiring the money and have very high trust in this person.
- Even if you think you are wiring money to a friend, be careful. Verify that the friend will in fact recieve the money you are wiring. Unless you can talk to your friend by phone and have complete confidence that the person is actually your friend, don't wire the money.
- Scams such as this one continue because it only takes one person in a hundred, or even one in several hundred, to fall for the scam in order for the scammers to have succeeded.