Computer scam problems

**gma2rjc** · 03-06-2010, 11:55 AM

We've all heard about or experienced scams & viruses related to computers.

This is an email I had in my inbox yesterday from my son-in-law's sister-in-law. There were 4 identical emails of this.

Before I opened it, I was suspicious because it was titled, "Urgent, please help!". Brenda knows me, but she would have contacted her family and close friends before contacting me. Plus, she wouldn't have sent it 4 times.

It’s me, BRENDA . I really don't mean to inconvenience you right now, I made a little trip to UK and I misplaced my passport and credit cards, please I know this may sound odd, but it all happened very fast. I need to get a new passport, and get on the next available flight home. I've been to the US embassy, they're willing to help, but I'm out of cash. Can you loan me some funds? And I'll be willing to pay you as soon as I get home.

Please respond as soon as you get this message, so I can forward you my details to send the funds to me, you can reach me via the hotel's desk phone if you can. The numbers are, 011447045733705.

I await your response
BRENDA BENNETT

My daughter found out today that the hacker who sent this email 'from Brenda' also sent it to everyone on her contacts list. She had been a sales rep for two different drug companies and has a business of her own. So the email went out to over 600 acquaintances, friends, family, business associates etc. on her list.

It gets worse.

It also deleted her contacts list and all of the files and folders she had on her computer.

What a mess!

Barb

UndrThTblNDrumng · 03-06-2010, 12:52 PM

yup! totally a scam! They get access to someones e-mail and then send out a mass e-mail the the entire address book. It's happened to two of my friends. They even get into your facebook account and post to people there. It really sucks. It happened to a missionary family I know. They were over in Papua New Guinea and someone hacked their e-mail and facebook accounts and started sending messages that they had taken a trip to the UK and were robbed and now needed $ to get back. It was a mess because the family was all ready over seas so no one knew what was going on.

it totally sucks.

**gma2rjc** · 03-06-2010, 01:03 PM

What a shame! I hope they came out of it alright.

Barb

AshleyLD · 03-06-2010, 01:04 PM

That stinks! How horrible!

DangerMouse · 03-07-2010, 08:19 AM

I'd know it was a scam immediately.... everyone that know us KNOWS that WE don't have any money to send them! rofl

some tips.....
NEVER open attachments in emails unless you KNOW the person sent it to you and you were expecting it. And even then, sometimes virus' can be present and they may not know it. (it happened to me once, virus scan everything!)
If in doubt for any reason, they make these things called TELEPHONES now that lets you actually call and speak to your friend/relative and ask them what it is.
Procure and USE good anti-virus. I like Avast. ( www.avast.com) it's free for home use.
Others recommended are Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, and Norton. AVG did not see a common virus I found, so I don't know about that one....

DM

Angela · 03-07-2010, 12:03 PM

I don't open anything from anyone unknown. I don't even open odd things from people I do know until I am sure that they intentionally sent them. I didn't even click on a link my own husband posted on Facebook because I kept getting strange links from others on my Facebook that the people said that they hadn't posted. (turns out Hubby actually had posted the link, so I watched it. Quite possibly the cheeziest music video ever. David Hasselhoff singing Hooked on a Feeling)

I hope your daughter had everything backed up! That really sucks.

auxi · 03-08-2010, 12:44 PM

Ugh! That's horrible! That poor lady...

**gma2rjc** · 04-01-2010, 09:20 AM

We had a spam on this thread this morning and I also got another post office scam email this morning to post here. One had nothing to do with the other, but it worked out nicely. I didn't have to search for this thread.

Here my email --

Dear customer!

Unfortunately we were not able to deliver the postal package sent on the 3rd of December in time because the recipient’s address is erroneous.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department.

United Parcel Service of America.

December 3rd!!! Boy o Boy! That darned old "United Parcel Service of America"!

If they would try to be more like the United States Postal Service, they wouldn't have these problems.

I'm waiting to get one that says something like...

Dear gullible customer,
We not unfortunately can't not deliver the packaged postal you sent February 31st. Please attachment open happily. We have surprise for you. Yes, open attachment and fill out form. You like surprise? You like this surprise! You claim package before February 33rd or we send second notice.

United Postal People

Barb

Angela · 04-01-2010, 10:56 AM

That second one is funny! Did you write that yourself Barb? Or was that sent to you as a joke?

I think the other said United Parcel Service of America so the gullible customer would think it was UPS. Maybe?

I get so much spam in my hotmail that I barely look at the subject if I don't know the sender. I always tell people to make a really clear subject line like : "Hi Angela, it's Barb!" when they send me something the first time so I don't delete it by accident!

**gma2rjc** · 04-01-2010, 07:55 PM

I wrote the second one, but it wouldn't surprise me if they sent something like that. lol

I do the same thing with my email. If I don't recognize the name, it's not getting opened. When I reply to something on Craigslist, I always put "CL - name of it" in the subject line. That seems to help.

Barb