OT: Bdware this email scam

I got an email today from someone I know - it was her email, not a fake one.

The title of the email was Help! and in the body of the email she said that she and her husband - and she gave the name of her husband and it was the correct one - had gone to London (they are in the Air Force and currently stationed in Italy) and been mugged, and they needed money.

Well - the email was her email, but I knew it was a fake.

In the first place, we are mere acquaintances...if she'd really been mugged and needed money there are dozens of people she'd email before she'd email me.

Secondly, she did not address me by name.

Thirdly, she signed her name in full, but this woman always signs her name with a diminuitive.

But, I thought to myself... if you've been mugged and aren't thinking clearly, these things might go by the board.

So I sent an email back - "Sorry to hear about your troubles, of course I'll help, but first, tell me the name of our mutual friend the hairstylist. (For we have a mutual friend who is a hairstylist).

"She" sent an email back immediately, and did not answer my question, merely proceeded to give the London address where I should send some money via Western Union. (And again did not call me by name).

So yet more confirmation that it's a fake.

I know this scam has been around for a while. I've heard on the news...somewhere...where it's normally relatives of teenagers who are targeted...they say they've been arrested and need money to get out of jail or something of that nature. (So why do their relatives think they could possibly have access to an email account in a holding cell?)

Anyway, I phoned our mutual friend - who knows the phone of these folks in Italy - and told her to tell them that their email account had been hacked.

I contemplated calling the police and arranging some kind of international arrest warrant - I'd send money, and cops could be at the Western Union on the other end ready to arrest whoever came for the money... but then I decided that the cops probably wouldn't be interested in arranging such an event - for as little money as I was prepared to send (even though what she was asking for was $1,000.) (I've ready other people complaining about similar things. One guy on a message board said that someone had created a fake credit card with his number and was buying stuff at a Walmart in a state several states away from him...he tried to call to have the guy tracked down and arrested but neither the Walmart involved in the theft, nor the police in that town, would do anything about it. HIs own credit card company gave him a new card...and that's all that they did.

So, to cut a long story short, here's some lessons to be learned.

1. If someone emails you asking for money because of a family tragedy - verify that it's the truth! Are they people who should be using your first name, do they sign their name properly, etc. and etc.)

2. Everyday, check your SENT folder to see if someone is sending emails in your names!