RPCA Newsgroup A Heads up

Hoptis sent me an email telling me that she got an email from one of our
Posters named Winne; which I have not seen in a long time, asking for money.
Hoptis newsgroups on her internet server are acting funny so she ased me to
post this asap.
Here is the email IF this is true I am sorry but Winnie and Hoptis are
not close enough friends to ask for money and she has not had any contact
with Winnie since last xmas. This is what was sent to hoptis at 11pm last
night


Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:25:21 -0700
From: I REMOVED THE EMAIL FOR PRIVACY JUST IN CASE
Subject: Hi
To: Hoptis

I really hope this gets to you in time, I was robbed during my trip to
Swansea, Wales. All my belongings including mobile phone and credit card
were all stolen. I asked my bank to cancel my cards and place hold on my
account to avoid unauthorized access. I need your help flying back home.

Am cash strapped at the moment. I've made contact with my bank but the best
they could do was to send me a new card in the mail which will take 3-5
working days to arrive here. I need you to lend me some money to sort my
self out of this predicament, I will pay back once I make it out of Wales.

Western union is the fastest option to wire funds to me, let me know if you
can help me with the funds i need so that i can send you the details you
will need when sending the funds.

I await your response.

Winnie

On 2012-07-12 1:14 PM, Matthew wrote:
Snip tale

This is certainly a scam. I got a couple of these - one, a year or so
ago almost word for word the same supposedly from an aquaintance who was
actually out of the country at the time, so some people in our circle
panicked a bit, although I think no one sent money.

All it means is that someone's managed to fake an email from Winnie.

One of the ones I got was actually a bit funny, when you stopped to
think about it - this person was supposedly in dire straits and
absolutely penniless and without ID, but could still send emails and
make arrangements to receive money...


--
Cheryl

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On 2012-07-12 1:14 PM, Matthew wrote:
Snip tale

This is certainly a scam. I got a couple of these - one, a year or so ago
almost word for word the same supposedly from an aquaintance who was
actually out of the country at the time, so some people in our circle
panicked a bit, although I think no one sent money.

All it means is that someone's managed to fake an email from Winnie.

One of the ones I got was actually a bit funny, when you stopped to think
about it - this person was supposedly in dire straits and absolutely
penniless and without ID, but could still send emails and make
arrangements to receive money...


--
Cheryl


I got one of these too, but it was signed by someone I had never heard of.
Needless to say, no money was sent anywhere.

Jay

Cheryl wrote:
On 2012-07-12 1:14 PM, Matthew wrote:
Snip tale

This is certainly a scam. I got a couple of these - one, a year or so
ago almost word for word the same supposedly from an aquaintance who was
actually out of the country at the time, so some people in our circle
panicked a bit, although I think no one sent money.

All it means is that someone's managed to fake an email from Winnie.

One of the ones I got was actually a bit funny, when you stopped to
think about it - this person was supposedly in dire straits and
absolutely penniless and without ID, but could still send emails and
make arrangements to receive money...

W-e-l-l--- there ARE "internet cafes" and Western Union, but why would
anyone but family or a really intimate friend be likely to lend money in
such circumstances? (Also, that's one reason developed countries
maintain embassies - to assist citizens who have that kind of misfortune.)

On 12/07/2012 4:45 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


Cheryl wrote:
On 2012-07-12 1:14 PM, Matthew wrote:
Snip tale

This is certainly a scam. I got a couple of these - one, a year or so
ago almost word for word the same supposedly from an aquaintance who
was actually out of the country at the time, so some people in our
circle panicked a bit, although I think no one sent money.

All it means is that someone's managed to fake an email from Winnie.

One of the ones I got was actually a bit funny, when you stopped to
think about it - this person was supposedly in dire straits and
absolutely penniless and without ID, but could still send emails and
make arrangements to receive money...

W-e-l-l--- there ARE "internet cafes" and Western Union, but why would
anyone but family or a really intimate friend be likely to lend money in
such circumstances? (Also, that's one reason developed countries
maintain embassies - to assist citizens who have that kind of misfortune.)



But Internet cafes and Western Union tend to want payment or ID or both
from the 'penniless' person! I suppose you could make an international
collect call, but you still have the problem of being able to identify
yourself to get the money, and of course you can't get on a plane these
days without at ticket AND ID!

Getting repatriated as a distressed citizen isn't all that easy either,
especially if you're not near an Embassy, but naturally a real victim
would be dealing with the local police, the Embassy (if they're in a
capital city with one - I think this one wasn't) their insurance, their
immediate family, etc.

And I must admit that although one of my first thoughts when I got that
one purportedly from a friend who was in the country although not the
city named, was 'Why on earth would she email ME? We've always been
friendly, but she's got lots of friends and relatives who are much
closer to her and most of them probably have more money than I do'. And
then I thought, it's in good English, but doesn't really sound like
her... So I wasn't at risk of sending money to a crook, and since a lot
of the addresses that had been stolen were for people in a smallish
group, it was easy to get word out that it must be a scam, and then word
directly from our friend, horrified that someone had broken into her
email account.

--
Cheryl

Cheryl wrote:
On 12/07/2012 4:45 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


W-e-l-l--- there ARE "internet cafes" and Western Union, but why would
anyone but family or a really intimate friend be likely to lend money in
such circumstances? (Also, that's one reason developed countries
maintain embassies - to assist citizens who have that kind of
misfortune.)



But Internet cafes and Western Union tend to want payment or ID or both
from the 'penniless' person! I suppose you could make an international
collect call, but you still have the problem of being able to identify
yourself to get the money, and of course you can't get on a plane these
days without at ticket AND ID!

I've never used an internet cafe - I thought all you needed was small
change for coffee (or whatever they sell). I was suggesting a collect
telegram/call to your intended lender, asking them to wire funds.
(Presumably, if they know you well enough to lend you money, you'd have
no problems identifying yourself.)


Getting repatriated as a distressed citizen isn't all that easy either,
especially if you're not near an Embassy, but naturally a real victim
would be dealing with the local police,

....who would put you in touch with your embassy (or consulate), right?

And I must admit that although one of my first thoughts when I got that
one purportedly from a friend who was in the country although not the
city named, was 'Why on earth would she email ME? We've always been
friendly, but she's got lots of friends and relatives who are much
closer to her and most of them probably have more money than I do'.

Exactly! A bit better thought out, but on a par with those E-mails from
"sweepstakes" you never entered, informing you that you've just won
untold millions; or people you've never heard of, offering to share
large sums of money for your illegal assistance in getting it out of
their country.

"Matthew" wrote in message
ng.com...

Hoptis sent me an email telling me that she got an email from one of our
Posters named Winne; which I have not seen in a long time, asking for money.
Hoptis newsgroups on her internet server are acting funny so she ased me to
post this asap.
Here is the email IF this is true I am sorry but Winnie and Hoptis are
not close enough friends to ask for money and she has not had any contact
with Winnie since last xmas. This is what was sent to hoptis at 11pm last
night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have received messages from various people, often using almost the same
words as in "Winnie's" message. I placed Winnie in quote marks because it
undoubtedly was not from her. One of my messages was from a good friend who
supposedly was stranded in London--but I had had lunch with her only a
couple of hours earlier! Some of these people could probably earn a good
salary if they would spend as much time and effort on a real job as they
spend trying to cheat people out of their money. They are harvesting real
names from various groups, and they are even good at making their email
addresses look legit. This undoubtedly was not from Winnie, and she
probably does not know anything about it. Incidentally, this is one of the
reasons why I always use Bcc when I send messages to a group of people so I
don't reveal a whole list of addresses.

MaryL

"MaryL" wrote in message
...


"Matthew" wrote in message
ng.com...

Hoptis sent me an email telling me that she got an email from one of our
Posters named Winne; which I have not seen in a long time, asking for
money.
Hoptis newsgroups on her internet server are acting funny so she ased me
to
post this asap.
Here is the email IF this is true I am sorry but Winnie and Hoptis are
not close enough friends to ask for money and she has not had any contact
with Winnie since last xmas. This is what was sent to hoptis at 11pm last
night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have received messages from various people, often using almost the same
words as in "Winnie's" message. I placed Winnie in quote marks because it
undoubtedly was not from her. One of my messages was from a good friend
who
supposedly was stranded in London--but I had had lunch with her only a
couple of hours earlier! Some of these people could probably earn a good
salary if they would spend as much time and effort on a real job as they
spend trying to cheat people out of their money. They are harvesting real
names from various groups, and they are even good at making their email
addresses look legit. This undoubtedly was not from Winnie, and she
probably does not know anything about it. Incidentally, this is one of
the
reasons why I always use Bcc when I send messages to a group of people so
I
don't reveal a whole list of addresses.

MaryL

Which is why is use a fake email eddy Just wanted to give the group a
heads up I remember as Cheryl stated when we had a group member email get
hacked and the scammers did the same thing

"MaryL" wrote:
"Matthew" wrote in message
ng.com...

Hoptis sent me an email telling me that she got an email from one of our
Posters named Winne; which I have not seen in a long time, asking for money.
Hoptis newsgroups on her internet server are acting funny so she ased me to
post this asap.
Here is the email IF this is true I am sorry but Winnie and Hoptis are
not close enough friends to ask for money and she has not had any contact
with Winnie since last xmas. This is what was sent to hoptis at 11pm last
night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have received messages from various people, often using almost the same
words as in "Winnie's" message. I placed Winnie in quote marks because it
undoubtedly was not from her. One of my messages was from a good friend who
supposedly was stranded in London--but I had had lunch with her only a
couple of hours earlier! Some of these people could probably earn a good
salary if they would spend as much time and effort on a real job as they
spend trying to cheat people out of their money. They are harvesting real
names from various groups, and they are even good at making their email
addresses look legit. This undoubtedly was not from Winnie, and she
probably does not know anything about it. Incidentally, this is one of the
reasons why I always use Bcc when I send messages to a group of people so I
don't reveal a whole list of addresses.

MaryL

I wish more people learned to use BCC it would save a lot of problems.
--
Adrian

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
"MaryL" wrote:
"Matthew" wrote in message
ng.com...

Hoptis sent me an email telling me that she got an email from one of our
Posters named Winne; which I have not seen in a long time, asking for
money.
Hoptis newsgroups on her internet server are acting funny so she ased me
to
post this asap.
Here is the email IF this is true I am sorry but Winnie and Hoptis are
not close enough friends to ask for money and she has not had any contact
with Winnie since last xmas. This is what was sent to hoptis at 11pm
last
night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have received messages from various people, often using almost the same
words as in "Winnie's" message. I placed Winnie in quote marks because
it
undoubtedly was not from her. One of my messages was from a good friend
who
supposedly was stranded in London--but I had had lunch with her only a
couple of hours earlier! Some of these people could probably earn a good
salary if they would spend as much time and effort on a real job as they
spend trying to cheat people out of their money. They are harvesting
real
names from various groups, and they are even good at making their email
addresses look legit. This undoubtedly was not from Winnie, and she
probably does not know anything about it. Incidentally, this is one of
the
reasons why I always use Bcc when I send messages to a group of people so
I
don't reveal a whole list of addresses.

MaryL

I wish more people learned to use BCC it would save a lot of problems.
--
Adrian

Most of us know how to use it, but sometimes we forget.

Joy