WARNING! - EMAIL SCAM OPERATING

[Cornish Terrier]

All members please note!

I received an email earlier tonight from the Email Address of HEATHERC.

DO NOT RESPOND to this message if you receive it!

This message is NOT from Heather and in fact I have not heard from her for more than six months and I am quite concerned.

It appears that someone has hacked into her email address and is now using it to try and scam money.

The contents of the message that I received are as follows:-

Hello,

This message may be coming to you as a surprise but I need your help.Few days back we made an unannounced vacation trip to London,UK .Everything was going fine until last night when we were mugged on our way back to the hotel.They Stole all our cash,credit cards and cellphone but thank God we still have our lives and passport.Another shocking is that the hotel manager has been unhelpful to us for reasons i don't know. I'm writing you from a local library cybercafe..I've reported to the police and after writing down some statements that's the last i had from them.i contacted the consulate and all i keep hearing is they will get back to me. i need your help ..i need you to help me out with a loan to settle my bills here so we can get back home tomorrow. I'll refund the money as soon as i get back. All i need is $1,850 USD..Let me know if you can get me the money then I tell you how to get it to me.

Thanks
Heather
Online Parish Clerk for Morvah Cornwall freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~morvah
and Padstow (web site pending)

Visit my Family Tree's at
GOODWIN and GORDON heatherac.tribalpages.com
CARBIS SPARROW ATTWOOLL carbissparrow.tribalpages.com
JOLLIFFE MOULAND jolliffemouland.tribalpages.com

Note that even Heather's Webpages have been appended!

I repeat - IF YOU RECEIVE THIS MESSAGE or anything similar purporting to be from heather then please DO NOT RESPOND

CT

[Deleted]

Have you been in touch with Heather now to see if she is ok and aware of this scam?

Some OPC's are receiving the same message.

[Cornish Terrier]

I have contacted the OPC coordinator who has advised me that she has already been aware of the problem and has contacted Heather.

I only have the email address for contact with Heather and could see no point in trying to contact her that way under the circumstances.

Last time I tried to email her was several months ago and I had not received a reply and none of her web pages have been updated since February so I was somewhat concerned.

CT

[Mal]

I thought it was suspicious but seeing as there is no way I could help anyway I did reply saying go to a citizens advice bureau. I will now report this email as a phishing attempt to my email provider.
The fact that I replied isn't going to be a problem is it?
M

[Cornish Terrier]

The fact that I replied isn't going to be a problem is it?

I was about to say that I would not think so but ...........

The way they have used Heather's details I am not so sure.

I could not help either but as soon as I realised there might be a problem I decided definitely not to reply at all.

[RobOats]

Just some observations. Heather is a registered user on my database so when this em showed up I checked her details.

For this to happen then likely someone has hacked or gained access to her access details. I am curious that someone in the USA uses a uk based email account. Probably worth notifying the admins at yahoo.uk of this situation and allowing them to investigate this situation.

[Cornish Terrier]

Hi Rob - my impression is that something is being done about this.

I contacted Myra from the OPC Project and she informed me that she had already been in touch with Heather about the problem.

And your point about a person from the US using a UK email client is one of the things that alerted me.

Apart from the grammar and the fact that Heather never uses 'plain text' in her messages.

CT

[Tonkin]

This SCAM is still operating.

I received an email very similar to this last week and I expect it will be from the same idiot. The sender's name has changed but the story line has not. The sender claimed to be an Australian stranded in England after being robber of all they had and needed a "loan" to get back home to Australia. I had a giggle to myself and returned the email to the sender and gave it no more thought because I receive emails like this all the time. The next day I received another email from the same person to say sorry for any inconvenience as someone had hacked into their computer and that their pass word has since been changed. It was good to know this poor Australian was now back home in the USA.

And today ... I received an email from Mr. Andrew Bailey, claiming to be the Executive Director for the Bank of England. Mr. Bailey explained he had all this money in his bank and there were no "beneficiaries stated" to claim this money. Generous Mr. Bailey wants to share all this money with me. I only need to email him with my bank details and he will transfer the money into my account. However, I do have to return him 60% of the loot.

I better hurry up and reply before Mr. Bailey changes his mind and contacts another fool. One must never pass up a good thing like this. ;D

Roy - from down under.

[Tonkin]

Just for the record I never responded to Mr. Bailey ... but I did block his emails.

[pollyq]

CT - I could be wrong but the message from Brandonmull strikes me as a spam post, which is ironic!
Why else would someone sign up and insert a link to something I wouldn't click on in a million years?
However, Brandonmull could redeem himself and let us know his Penwith genealogy interest. How about it Brandonmull?

[Cornish Terrier]

Very good thinking Polly!

As a matter of fact your post prompted me to do a little search. By entering the search term 'correct email' into Google I found that this is an Email Lists Validation Service with the following comment attached:-

The simplest and most professional email addresses verification tool. Clean your lists effectively and fast with us. Choose proven quality and don’t overpay!

I think there is now no question that the post was 'self-advertising' and as such the original post has been deleted.

CT

[Tonkin]

It certainly was CT.

Spammers like Brandonmull are registering with sites like this all the time to advertise different products.
Penwith has been very lucky over the years and I hope it stays that way and spammers are quickly deactivated
as they are on other sites.

[Cornish Terrier]

Yes, we have been fairly lucky although this is certainly not the first and only time we have been targeted. There is a standing post regarding advertising for all new members to read and it includes warnings of what will happen should the information in that post be ignored.

Brandonmull HAS NOW BEEN BANNED!!!