Important Notice. Please read.

[rajahh]

Both of my e mail accounts have been used by scammers but I have learned to change my password every couple of months,

Hotmail at one point blocked my account and warned me that this had been happening.

Thankfully since I have started changing my password on my e mail accounts I have not been hacked ( touch wood).

Jeannette

 

[nitram]

"...I opened it because the name of the poster made me think of a poster here on TP..."

Potentially confirming that your email address was valid and therefore saleable to other spammers. If you allow images all the spammer has to do is include an invisible image with a unique URL, if a download occurs on this URL 'bingo'a valid address.

To avoid this use an email client and not webmail, don't view the message even in preview, if you want to know the content you can read it via properties or similar depending on client.

You could also preview and filter using http://www.mailwasher.net/ this is free for one mailbox, for multiple boxes you have to either pay or use the 'last free version'with multiple box support http://www.oldapps.com/mailwasher.php V2 I think but DYOR

 

[Skye]

Hi everyone.

Many thanks for the messages, phone calls and emails in support - some even offering to send money!

I've made and signed my statement, and mow have my crime number. The police are taking it very seriously, as it was a fraudulent request for money. I doubt if they'll find the perp, but they're definitely going to try. I'll let you know if anything happens.

It's been a nightmare day, but hopefully it's sorted now.

Love,

 

[Izzy]

Time for a dram Hazel!! X

 

[maryw]

Poor you Hazel... we had a similar scam happen last year. A friend of ours phoned from Germany to say he had received an Email from a very dear friend of his who had been mugged in London and needed money. He wanted us to help as we were near London. Warning bells sounded so we chose not to get involved, but did Email the chap concerned to tell him to contact our German friend directly. He did that, and our dear German friend, who lives in a small town in Bavaria and hardly knows the first thing about computers, transferred £1,500 to some account at a shop His wife, who found out later, was horrified!! He did get in touch with his friend, who had had his passport stolen with Email addresses of his friends inside.....

Horrible.....

So sorry for your upset Hazel.

 

[Skye]

That's awful, Mary. This guy wanted 2,720 euros, or 'whatever you can afford'. My friend was so worried for me, amd would have sent it if others hadn't re-assured her.

They're so clever, these people. Some of my friends emailed me direct to check on me, but these emails went to his cloned account, I didn't receive any of them. I didn't get any emails at all between 2am yesterday morning until BT had deleted his account. And of course my phone was tied up for most of the morning as BT tried to sort out the problem, so people had no means of checking I was OK.

As you say, horrible.