I just got an email from a guy I used to work with on Inside Space. Well, it says it’s from him. It’s not.
I really hope you get this fast. I could not inform anyone about our trip, because it was impromptu. we had to be in Philippines for Tour.. The program was successful, but our journey has turned sour. we misplaced our wallet and cell phone on our way back to the hotel we lodge in after we went for sight seeing. The wallet contained all the valuables we had.
I am sorry if i am inconveniencing you, but i have only very few people to run to now. i will be indeed very grateful if i can get a short term loan from you (1,930USD) ? this will enable me sort our hotel bills and get my sorry self back home. I will really appreciate whatever you can afford in assisting me with. I promise to refund it in full as soon as soon as I return. let me know if you can be of any assistance. Please, let me know soonest.
Thanks
Who hasn’t taken an ‘impromptu’ trip to the Philippines?
The scammers are using their best English, but it’s not American English. That’s the tipoff. Sniffing these crooks out would be much more difficult if they were US based.
Emails like this go out by the thousands every day! Who falls for them? Obviously someone, or they’d just dry up.
It would make me sad to find out someone got scammed trying to help a friend.
Sadly, if people didn’t fall for it the scammers wouldn’t keep doing it.
I got two of these from people I know and a former colleague of yours, Geoff. They both got inundated with concerned emails and realized the hack after that.
But yes, as Evan said, people still fall for them and they perpetuate.
I was close to being scammed similar to this while desperatly looking for a rental a couple of years ago. Thankfully someone as kind as you set me straight!
I have been getting so many of these lately. Last week
I got one from my husband saying he was stranded in the
Phillipines , he wasn’t of course but it went to
a lot of people and my neighbor up the road got it
and she couldn’t get a hold of me so she called the High
school to tell them and they called my son down
to make sure everything was ok. What a pain in the neck
these are. I know they are scams but I wonder how many
people don’t and just send money.
Geoff, I got one of these from a woman I hardly know so it alerted us. Also, some of us are actually getting the the email about winning the Australian lottery (like on the TV commercial). Have you seen the commercial? Anyway, its very scary to think some are falling for these scams and that is why they are continuing! On another subject, I have heard this will be a bad year for hurricanes. Do you have any news to share with us on hurricanes for 2013? Thanks! Jan G.
Hi Geoff
This particular email has been received by numerous residence in our community, including myself. This guy said they were in England and gave the same line. Unfortunately the people were gone for the weekend. Fortunately the receivers all had enough sense to call a mutual friend. No one got stuck, but it would have been so easy for them to drop a check in the mail for a “Friend”.
John
I get these emails now and then, and you are correct. It is the grammar that gets them every time. Always good for a laugh though….don’t ya think?
Yeah especially the ones that say they’re from the FBI.I like forwarding those TO the FBI.
I actually know a woman who fell for one of these scams. Sent her a bogus check, she took the money out as requested and sent it to him. The check bounced and she ended up losing her small business over it. She’s still paying back the bank.
Kind of like that old saying; there’s a sucker born every day.
The OTHER thing that bugs me no end are those ‘DANGER! SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!’ emails, usually warning about ‘NEW WAY TO STEAL YOUR CAR!’ or carjack you or whatever.It’s usually something REALLY stupid like putting a piece of paper on your rear window and waiting for you to come out and after starting your car you go to take it off and the thief jumps in your car and drives away. Totally bogus but I got into a near knock down with a friend on line about it. I TOLD her it wan’t true, cited the Snopes article and my own experience as proof and she INSISTED her friend in New Zealand (a country I REALLY like)sent it to her and INSISTED it was ABSOLUTLY TRUE!!! She even ASKED him about it and he told her again it was absolutely undeniably true and she should send it to EVERYONE she knows.
I don’t talk to her any more. But I really feel sad for people who buy into that stuff.