I have just received an Email, from a very close friend, which at the top of the message showed my friends photo. It went something like. “We are stranded in Kiev, and have been robbed, we only have our Passports, but there is a Hotel bill of £2,200 which we have to pay before we can leave, the flight back home leaves in 8 hrs, we will refund you the money as soon as we get home”
To all of you that have my phone number be aware of this scam, fortunately, I knew that my friend was not out of the Country, but the same has happened to him, and all his friends contact list has been compromised, all over the world.
Has anyone any idea as to how this can be rectified?,This was received on my mobile phone, not on my computer.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Lincoln 7 - 3rd September 2014 at 12:01
It amazes me that despite all the warnings and all the attendant publicity the most popular passwords are 123456, password, 12345678 and qwerty!! And relatively few users combine small and lower case letters with numbers. Incredible! I am not suggesting that is the case here but password security is crucial in the fight against the hackers. Using multiple passwords and changing passwords can also help.
I agree Chas, however, if one is on many different sites, ie, Ebay, have an Amazon account etc, one HAS to have a little “Black book” and write them down for future reference. My friend had purchased a brand new Laptop, and had, supposidly had everything from his old hard drive transferred to the new laptop. by PC World, Kaspersky was also installed, but somehow they slipped through the net upon the first start up.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Lincoln 7 - 3rd September 2014 at 11:54
Thanks for the intel Bruce. Despite, Kaspersky, and all the other protective measures one takes, they seem they can find a way past them.and screw you up big time.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: charliehunt - 2nd September 2014 at 11:08
It amazes me that despite all the warnings and all the attendant publicity the most popular passwords are 123456, password, 12345678 and qwerty!! And relatively few users combine small and lower case letters with numbers. Incredible! I am not suggesting that is the case here but password security is crucial in the fight against the hackers. Using multiple passwords and changing passwords can also help.
By: Bruce - 2nd September 2014 at 11:02
Yep – big password change. If they can send this stuff, they can read your mail as well, so make sure you use a secure password. Use letters, numbers and other characters as well. You can use on online password generator too.
Bruce
By: Lincoln 7 - 2nd September 2014 at 00:40
I agree with what you say, it’s one of those things we all think will never happen to us then TSHTFPDQ.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: jbritchford - 1st September 2014 at 17:39
Scammers are getting more clever every year, it’s just one of those things.
With email accounts they tend to get hacked with alarming regularity, I’d suggest your friend change his other passwords as well asap.
By: Lincoln 7 - 1st September 2014 at 11:19
Thanks Moggs, it would appear that this hacking was done on my friends phone/ comp contact list. A.O.L. who he is with, were informed, who knew about the scam, and have issued him with a new password, so I hope things are sorted. This has caused my friend a lot of trouble, as he now has to let all his friends know of the new contact address.
Thanks for the link, these hackers want hanging up by their B***s.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Moggy C - 1st September 2014 at 09:50
Your friend is not alone.
Moggy
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September 1, 2014 at 9:40 am