Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings?

Starmusica

so this morning I got a whole new twist on the Nigerian prince scheme....

I have an email account I share with a friend for a position we hold on a school journal. Today we got an email "from" one of our members saying his trip to england was great until he got mugged and beaten with a club and he has no money to get home so if we just wire him some money he will pay us back when he is home. much love etc etc. It even had a nice link to click to easily wire the money.... he asks for about $2,450.

lol. One- this kid is at school, not england. Two, he wouldn't email us.

So I guess watch out for this CRAZO new scheme. at least I got a good laugh when I woke up.

LessThanZero

I want to be in a room with someone who get's that email, believes it, and decides to wire the money. Just so I can simply witness the sheer stupidity.

betrothed123

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_forget-nigerian-princes-british-muggings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:fb3b2432-b16e-4368-9c0d-2d36c4cefc96Post:90e4c6f0-1bfb-40de-bdc0-c877e1992cfa">Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings?</a>:
[QUOTE]I want to be in a room with someone who get's that email, believes it, and decides to wire the money. Just so I can simply witness the sheer stupidity.
Posted by LessThanZero[/QUOTE]
I've witnessed it and I genuinely felt bad for the lady that fell for it, although it wasn't this particular email.  They were taking her for all she had and she was an old lady who kept defending them because "those poor boys must have needed it more than her if they were willing to steal it."

Starmusica

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_forget-nigerian-princes-british-muggings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:fb3b2432-b16e-4368-9c0d-2d36c4cefc96Post:b0dd2a9c-7915-4421-b90a-d8a42a2896cd">Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings? : I've witnessed it and I genuinely felt bad for the lady that fell for it, although it wasn't this particular email.  They were taking her for all she had and she was an old lady who kept defending them because "those poor boys must have needed it more than her if they were willing to steal it."
Posted by betrothed123[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>this makes me sad. people suck.</div>

anna.oskar

That's a new one very creepy that they obviously had access to personal info.

A few years ago, My grandmother got a email from an "officer" claiming that I was in a prison in Ontario and needed a thousand + dollars to be set free.

My grandmother, ever the practical woman, called my mother to find out where on earth I was because although she believed I could be travelling, she refused to believe I would go to Ontario without offering to bring her back some maple syrup.

anna.oskar

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_forget-nigerian-princes-british-muggings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:fb3b2432-b16e-4368-9c0d-2d36c4cefc96Post:b0dd2a9c-7915-4421-b90a-d8a42a2896cd">Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings? : I've witnessed it and I genuinely felt bad for the lady that fell for it, although it wasn't this particular email.  They were taking her for all she had and she was an old lady who kept defending them because "those poor boys must have needed it more than her if they were willing to steal it."
Posted by betrothed123[/QUOTE]

That so sad and yet wonderful at the same time that she still had such strong faith in humanity.

Starmusica

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_forget-nigerian-princes-british-muggings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:fb3b2432-b16e-4368-9c0d-2d36c4cefc96Post:cfab00db-cdc1-4ca5-b17f-1bbe63ab933a">Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings?</a>:
[QUOTE]That's a new one very creepy that they obviously had access to personal info. 
Posted by anna.oskar[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>well they had his name so I am assuming his email got hacked and they just went from there. Its a gmail using his name so I guess they probably just blasted everyone in his contact list.</div><div>
</div><div>Sucks too... if hes like me- he has potential employers on that list.</div>

LessThanZero

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_forget-nigerian-princes-british-muggings?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:fb3b2432-b16e-4368-9c0d-2d36c4cefc96Post:b0dd2a9c-7915-4421-b90a-d8a42a2896cd">Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Forget Nigerian Princes... how about british muggings? : I've witnessed it and I genuinely felt bad for the lady that fell for it, although it wasn't this particular email.  They were taking her for all she had and she was an old lady who kept defending them because <strong>"those poor boys must have needed it more than her if they were willing to steal it."</strong>
Posted by betrothed123[/QUOTE]

Oh goodness. I am just not that nice.

Rosie109

My parent's financial advisor's email account got hacked into and sent out similar emails. My mom totally would have bought it too. Except he really was in England so they think it was an inside job.

marissa_claire

I've heard that!  I've heard people are calling grandmas and telling them their grandson is in jail and needs bail money.

I got a new one a week or two ago to my work email that said that they were told by some financial group that the beneficiary on my will had changed and that I had died and my estate had been left to someone it was not supposed to be left to.  At least I think that was the gist.  Anyways, the end was "if you're not dead, please respond so we can transfer this $$ back to you."  

BecW2be

I got the England Mugging one a few months ago from a guy's FB. He travels all the time, so for a split second I thought it was legit. He immediately sent out a blanket text/email saying he was fine.

I watched "Intervention" one night and there was a man addicted to pain killers and giving money to scammers. He honestly thought that sooner or later one of those lotteries would be legit and he'd get his family farm money back. He blew through over $200,000 in 6 years, I think? I would cut my husband's fingers off so he couldn't type anymore if he lost that much of our money.

LessThanZero

It's kind of funny we're talking about this because one of my coworkers just told us how he got junk email from a former coworker's yahoo account about prescription drugs.

I remember a few years ago getting one from a "lawyer" saying to contact him because someone in my family from California died and left me all the money in their will. I had to contact him because I was set to recieve hundred of thousands of dollars!

Too bad I have no family in Cali.

ETA: Spelling

LesPaul

My favorite is the one from 'lost family', but they spell your last name wrong.

I know 4 people who have had their email hacked in the last two weeks.  Fortunately, the only damage was spam email about buying Rx overseas, and a link to some random website that was blocked at work.  But it seems there is a lot more hacking activity lately that the virus software isn't picking up.

rhodesign

I've gotten several of the 'mugged in Engalnd' emails.
I also had a patient family tell me about the grandma scam. Apparently that's a big one now. This friend of theirs got a call with a girl crying 'Grandma help me! It wasn't my fault!' and then this dude comes on the line claiming he was a bondsman in Austrailia and that she was under arrest for drug possession and needed 1800 to be bailed out or something. They were all set to wire the money until the G'ma called the grandchild and found out that she was fine, so she cancelled the transfer. They got really freakin' close to being ripped off.

TheCranberry

I've gotten something similar to this mugging email.  It was from a guy who interned at my company last year so I felt bad for him that potential employers were getting this kind of stuff.