Have you come across the “urgent request from a friend” money-making email scam? Well, someone is making money with these ones, but it won’t be you. You could lose money if you’re not careful.
The way it works is you receive an email that originates from the real email address of a real friend of yours with “Urgent” or “Emergency” in the subject line.
Even the email headers look correct.
The body of the email contains an explanation about that friend’s trip abroad (they apologize for not letting you know that they went) along with an urgent request for money because they’ve been robbed.
If the language used had sounded more like my friend, I might have been fooled with the first one I received — because the signature used exactly the same script that my friend uses.
Fortunately, the writing in these emails is usually horrible, which should make you stop and ponder the message more closely.
Here are 2 examples.
I am in a hurry writing you this message cause I don’t, have much time on the pc here, so I have to brief you my present situation which requires your urgent response Actually, I had a trip to Africa. yesterday but unfortunately for me all my money got stolen at the hotel where I lodged due to a robbery incident that happened in the hotel.I have been so restless since last night cause I have been without money, I am even owing the hotel here as well moreover the Hotel’s telephone lines here got disconnected by the robbers and they are trying to get them fixed back. I have access to only emails at the library because my mobile cant work here so I didn’t bring it along, please I want you to help me with money.please can you send me 1,500.Pounds To enable me return back I would refund it back to you as soon as I get home, I am so confused right now and don’t know what to do, you can have it sent through western union money transfer with my name and the address bellow.
Name : [friend's full name]
name and the address bellow.
Name : Calvin Brennan
Address is: 30 Leicester Square
City : London.
country : United Kingdom.
zip code : WC2H 7LA.
Thanks a lot for your kindness;I will really appreciate your quick response.
Best Regards,
Don
I Hope you get this on time,sorry I didn’t inform you about my trip in Cyprus for a program,I’m presently in Nicosia and am having some difficulties here because i misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept.I want you to assist me with a loan of 2500Euro to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home.I have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively,I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with,I’ll Refund the money back to you as soon as i return, let me know if you can be of any help. I don’t have a phone where i can be reached. Please let me know immediately.
Archie
The really sad thing about this scam is that those of your friends from whom these emails originate have just had their email accounts hacked — which for most people is a major hassle.
So, 2 words of warning here. Don’t be fooled by this email scam and don’t let your email account be subjected to a hacker. Change your password regularly!
About Rosalind Gardner
Scammers are just coming up with newer ways to try and steal people’s money. This is the first I’ve heard of this particular scam. Thanks for the warning. Hopefully, not to many will fall for this!
Yeah, I received this exact email but I knew the friend it was supposedly from wouldn’t do those things–it was really bizarre! Quite a few misspellings/grammar errors in the one I got too… be careful, everybody, of this and also of the ones that supposedly come from “your bank.” They can look awfully real too… banks never ask for info that way though… and the originating address will be close but not correct.
Scams like this are reviewed on the ScamBusters.org mailing list. High quality resource, and they’ve been sending their weekly emails each Wednesday morning for something like 10+ years. From Lanford, Inc., a sharp husband-wife team.
As for email… Some email services offer 1-time passwords that you can use at public internet terminals where spyware/keyloggers might be installed, stealing your password and sending it back to a hacker in Russia/China/etc. I think Hotmail may have begun offering that recently; not sure. For years I’ve been paying for my email and most recently have been very happy with FastMail.FM. They also offer multiple passwords for 1 account – keep the admin pw tucked away and never use it, then log in with the low-access password on a regular basis. If it’s stolen, you can login with the high-security one and terminate the hacker’s access easy.
-J
Thanks Ros,
How stupid can they be! Thanks for the warning, I`m seeing all kinds of scams
coming in. Don`t be foolish, use common sense, bert
Hi Rosalind,
Thanks very much for warning us about this scam. I wonder if webmail is more protected than mail directly from an ISP. Fortunately I have not encountered these or those other money scams. Maybe the spam filter automatically takes care of that for me. Like you say bad English is often the giveaway.
Hi Ros,
Thanks for the reminder on this email scam. Strikes me as ridiculous though, as most of us know the whereabouts of our “true” friends at all times. And, yes the writing is just terrible.
Latest scams for me today? And I should say not just today, but getting to be daily sadly – I’ve won the Microsoft Italian email/lottery draw three times this week, and if I would just send my info, well, I’ll never have to work again. I wish.
And of course, there are three more widows today. Their “Doctor” husbands have died unexpectedly but they just can’t get at their bank accounts. Being the kind compassionate person they know I am, could I please find it in my heart to help a woman with small children to feed? I’ll get a huge reward just for being nice.
Two new loan offers today as well. One from Scotland, and one from Italy. Just send my info, and a huge amount of money for my immediate needs (because we all have them you know, and times are tough) is available by the end of the business day.
I could go on and on, but the email scams that bug me the most, are the ones re the “widows with children to feed.” Upsets me to know that truly kind and caring people are targetted and some will fall for that.
What a pity these thugs exist. But–exist they do, so thanks for the heads up on this one.
-Sandy
These scammers keep coming up with new angles and we need to be on our toes at all times to avoid them. Thank you Ros for alerting us to this latest one.
Michelle Jayes
I get emails from my niece all the time trying to get me to click on a link and make money online! The problem is, I KNOW it’s not my niece. :-/ This is a really despicable scam. Do these people think we are all really that stupid? I don’t get it.
Thanks for the reminder on changing your email password to avoid getting hacked.
Funny that you should mention this scam as I opened one not 10 minutes ago from my “friend”. The address looks authentic, but the wording & the fact that I just saw her, proved it was not from her. I have to let her know her email account was hacked.
There is no end to the things that some “people” will do for money.
Thanks!
Hi
Received the following from one of our clients:
QUOTE
I’m writing this with tears in my eyes,my family and I came down here to Madrid.Spain for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.
We’ve been to the embassy and the Police here but they’re not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in less than hours from now but having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won’t let us leave until we settle the bills,
I’m freaked out at the moment
UNQUOTE
The scary thing about this is that these particular clients of ours are due to travel to a different part of Spain on one of OUR holidays in a couple of weeks time. We were going to try and call them to see if we could help, until we realised their mobile phone had been stolen as well – so how could we help?
A couple of days later we received an email from the client explaining it was a scam and giving us his new email address!
Changing passwords is excellent advice.
Penny
I recently received a similar email scam, using my aunt’s email. I thought it was odd that none of us knew she was on a trip in Europe!
The scam email was sent to her whole list of friends and family. It said she had been beaten up and mugged in London. It was pretty scary at first, but then became obvious it wasn’t coming from her. I called her cell and she was at the Library!
We think her email was compromised through Craigs List when she had recently listed something for sale. I have also gotten “scam” emails after posting on Craigs List. BEWARE!
I got one of these and almost fell for it. The email was written much better than the example shown above – it was very short and to the point, and said he only needed the money for a short time and then would pay it back immediately after getting back home.
Plus, it was coming from my uncle who travels ALL the time, and the country listed in the email was one I know he visits often, which made me believe it even more!
Luckily he actually found out about it because I think someone called him to try to give him money, and he quickly sent out an email to all his contacts letting everyone know it was fake.
Thanks for the warning but…..
They don’t need to hack your email account to use your email address in a phish or scam email. They could have harvested it off of a site you frequently post at.
Or in my case….off the resume I sent for a job I applied for that was listed on Careerbuilder. Job turned out to be a scam but if I ever need Viagra or my male member enhanced, I’m all set……oh wait, a minute, I don’t have a male member…..well shucky darn! LOL
Life was easier, safer and sometimes a lot more fun before computers and the Internet came into being in my opinion.
Hi Nancy,
I’m sorry to hear about your experience with Careerbuilder. One would expect better from such a site.
Thanks for sharing and pointing out that we really REALLY need to be careful and think twice about where we post our email addresses.
Cheers,
Ros
My wife has had her email hacked, password and security questions changed so she cant even get into Facebook. All the contacts in her address book apart from family members (with the same last name) saying that she has an emergency trip to Cyprus and will we send her $2000 or any amount.
We do not have the same last name so I got one as well. I replied from my Yahoo account saying yes, hoping that they will give me some imformation as to where to send the money then go to the Police and Microsoft.
I have also sent this email to the security dept at Microsoft so we will see if the Microsoft empire can sort this scam out. After all it was an MSN email account they hack into.
My wife has had her email hacked, password and security questions changed so she cant even get into Facebook. All the contacts in her address book apart from family members (with the same last name) saying that she has an emergency trip to Cyprus and will we send her $2000 or any amount.
We do not have the same last name so I got one as well. I replied from my Yahoo account saying yes, hoping that they will give me some imformation as to where to send the money then go to the Police and Microsoft.
I have also sent this email to the security dept at Microsoft so we will see if the Microsoft empire can sort this scam out. After all it was an MSN email account they hack into.
Best wishes everyone,
Stephen.
Hi Stephen,
What a drag! Please let us know how things end up if (and when) you sort it out. My fingers are crossed for you.
Cheers,
Ros
I recieved this back. I emailed them back saying that I would be able to send them $1500 but only when they sent me more details. I did a Google map search and the address they sent me does is not anywhere in Cyprus. This may take a bit of time but I’m not going to give up now until I get a conviction.
Kind regards,
Stephen.
Thanks. I will explain everything to you when I get back on Monday. You can send it to me through western union so I can receive it in minutes over here. This is the address which should be filled on the western union form: 4 boat club road Limassol, Cyprus. Please don’t forget to send me the details, the MTCN reference number on the payment receipt which will be given to you after making the payment I will need it to receive the money. Let me know the amount I will receive in Euros. Get back to me when you receive this message. Thanks MaryAnn
I recieved this 10 minutes after I posted this blog.
Don’t send money orders. what I need is cash so send the money inc ash through western union to the details I send to you. Please have it done Asap and get back to me with the mtcn numbers and the amount I will receive in euros. Thanks MaryAnn
So I have replied back with this.
Hi MaryAnn,
Please check the address you gave me as I cant find it on Google earth, it does not exist? What is the nearest Hotel to where you are staying? What is the address where you are staying? I know Cyprus as I was there 10 years ago. try the wiskey sours they are great.
I am going to send you money to help you out but I am concerned that such a large amount is sent through Western Union, I have had some bad experiences with Western Union loosing monies I have sent out in the past. I will wire you the money from my bank to a bank in Limassol. Can you go into a reputable bank in that city and find out how this will work as I will need A bank account number to send this to. I hope you understand that this is a large amount and I would prefer bank to bank.
I will need an account number, routing number and address of this bank. As soon as you reply to this email I will go into my bank and set it up. This will be a lot faster than Western Union.
Best wishes,
Stephen.
P.s.I will keep you posted. Just out of interest my wife would never write like this. Their grammer is awful!
I’m guessing that as soon as they realize that you won’t send the dough via Western Union, you’ll simply never hear from them again.
I received scam like this on my mobile, but i never did pay any attention to it. But to hear it’s being done in emails too, I should also warn my friends about it. Maybe it’s a good idea that we have a “code” attached to emails that only ourselves & our friends know. Thanks for the information.
Most Scammers are breaking into people’s email accounts,and trying to impersonate people in their accounts, and sending emails to all the contacts in their address books.
Thanks for sharing this great information.
i think most scams are just variations on things we have seen time and time again before. Stay safe , if it looks or feels wrong, it probably is wrong….. most scams prey on the stupid….. think and you wont get caught!
Oh my goodness. I got this just a few minutes ago and everything was perfect. It really did appear to be from my friend. I was already checking my bank account to see how much I could send including my overdraft.
I sent a texted a mutual friend and read her the email and she told me it was a scam. I called her a liar it was perfectly written grammer wise and all. Oh my, was I ever so upset that “our” friend was not listening to me. I got my son out of bed trying to drain his cash.
Needless to say, “our” mutual friend said I saw her yesterday and told me to ask her certain trigger questions and they never responded back. Wow, this was her account and all was so perfect………..Once I calmed down that my friend was ok, I saw the one thing that told me she was telling me the truth. Their greeting to me was just Hello. Had it really come from my friend, it would have said Hey Laura, or something to that effect, not just Hello.
I am always warning others about scams and I dang near fell for it myself.
Happy Holidays all.
One Fraud Email I Received.
Hope you get this on time, Sorry I didn’t inform you about my trip to Spain for a program, and am having some difficulties here because i misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money, credit card and cell were kept. Presently my passport and my things are been held down by the hotel management pending when i make payment.
I need you to help me with a loan of 2,850 Euros to pay my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I’ve been to the embassy and Police, but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with, I will return the money back to you as soon as i return, let me know if you can be of any help? ASAP. I don’t have a phone where i can be reached. I am so confused right now. please let me know immediately. Thanks
Best regards,
I received one of these emails this morning. I was told that my friend was in Madrid on a mini break and that she had been robbed at gunpoint. It all sounded feasible until she said that she had had her cellphone stolen. Most people know call them mobiles, so I read the email again and realised it was just not the way she wrong her emails at all. Needless to say I didn’t fall for it, but I wonder if some of her other friends who know her less well, did so.
How many scams these people can come up with I can only guess.
Funny how many of these scam-mails claim to come from Spain.
Before email was invented, I was actually traveling in Spain and had my address book stolen. A few days later, several friends and relatives back in the States got calls from someone in Spain claiming to be me, and asking for money! Fortunately their English wasn’t good enough so no one fell for it…
In any case, I hope I didn’t inadvertently encourage a new Spanish criminal tradition!