INTERNET HACKERS ATTACK!

I was surprised to have received a call from a friend who is living in Cagayan de Oro one morning. I thought that she just missed me and decided to give a ring that morning. Lo and behold! The purpose of the call was far different from what I expected. The conversation went on like this.

Caller: “Grazee, where are you right now?”
Me: “I am on my way to the hospital because my mother is getting her eye operation today. Why?”

Caller: “Oh well, I and some members of the forum (the one that I am moderating), received an email from you just this morning informing us that you are in London and you were asking money because you were mugged and stuck in the airport or something.” There is a thread created in the forum just for that. Do you have access to the internet right now so you could check and reply on the thread?
Me: How can that be? I just got off from work and I never been out of the country yet. I wont have access to the internet until after lunch.

Caller: I believe your yahoo mail has been hacked and all your contacts were sent an email. Do you have a different email address where I can send you the letter sent to us?
Me. I do. Can you send me the email to my alternative email address? I gave my other email address.

Caller: Okay. I will reply to the thread created in the forum for this issue and tell them that you don’t know anything about it.
Me: Thanks Ate. I would really appreciate it.

When I got home, I immediately checked my email account. Surprise! I can not login. It says “account has been locked for 24 hours because it has been compromised.) I logged in to my alternative email address and found the email forwarded to me by my friend. The email is copied below.

“Hope you get this on time. Sorry i did not inform you about my sudden trip to Kent Dover UK for a program. I am presently stranded here and urgently require your kind favor soon. I hope you come to my aid. Last night, I got mugged at gun point on my way to the hotel where i lodged. They went away with all have got including my wallet where i have all my cash and credit card and also my cell phone. I wasn't injured because I quickly complied.

My traveling documents are been apprehended by the hotel management because of my inability to pay bills. I reported to the police and they only asked me to write a statement about the incident and later referred me to the embassy. I contacted our embassy here but they are not responding effectively to the matter. I am confused and so full of panic right now. For now, I do not have a phone where I can be reached. All i have got here is my mail. I also have limited access to the computer. Please I need you to kindly loan me about (1,820 Pounds) to sort-out my hotel bills and other expenses incurred here and get back home soon as i do not feel safe here anymore. I Promise to refund your money immediately i return home. I will explain full details to you when i get back. I will appreciate any amount you can quickly arrange and send to me via Western Union or Money Gram with the details below.

Receivers Names: (Name withheld for security reasons)
Receivers Address/location: 19 New Dover Road , Canterbury
Dover Kent,CT1 3AH, United kingdom

Write to me the full details of the transfer or scanned copy of the transfer receipt so that i can receive over here quickly. Let me know if you can be of any help soon because you are the only person i can reach at this moment and the next flight back home departs in about few hours.
Get back to me ASAP.

Kind Regards

Grazee”


My jaw dropped in desperation. I logged in to the forum that I am moderating and found out that that the members were worried about me and concerned if the email was sent by me or just a scam. My account was temporarily suspended by the Administrator so it won’t be hacked and damaged by the hacker until I called the Admin and gave an alternative email address to link up my account to. When I called on the Administrator of the forum to explain my side, I was not able to control myself from crying. Paul pacified me and told me to reset all my logins and passwords concerning my online bank accounts including Paypal which the hacker might get hold of and withdraw funds from them. Before I accomplish anything regarding my login and passwords, I posted a reply in the forum which is worded exactly like this.

“Hello Everyone,

I am sorry for the late posts that I am making for this bruhahaha. I just received a call from Daisy early this morning informing me that someone used my email account to send emails to members of the forum asking them to send me money.

First of all, I am not in the UK as of this moment. I just got home from the hospital because my mom has had an eye operation and I brought money to pay for the hospital bills. I received Daisy’s call on my way to the hospital after I got off from my work. When I logged in today to check my emails in yahoo, I can no longer access it. The error message said that “my account has been compromised.” Yahoo locked my account and I can only access it after 24 hours and probably after changing my password and verifying and/or answering some security questions.

The hacker got my real name and is using it to solicit money from members of the forum. I really don’t know why the hacker was able to get hold of your email addresses. I have only been in contact with a few members who became good friends of mine in and out of the forum. I am not really a technically knowledgeable person so I don’t know that my account has been hacked until I was informed through text message by Daisy and some friends of mine who were non-members of the forum that someone is using my identity to solicit money from them.

For this reason, I am coming forward to warn everyone that I am not the person who is asking you money. I don’t need financial help from anyone as of this time. If I do, I would course through my request to Paul first before I will send an email to any one of you. My father would beat me to death if I ask for someone’s help, especially if it concerns money, without asking him first. I am a member of the forum in good standing. I have never taken advantage of anyone from this forum and I don’t intend to do so in the future.

Now, my problem is how to secure my email account should I recover it. The hacker most probably have read my emails and got hold of my login and passwords to my online bank accounts including my Paypal account. This is a nightmare for me and I don’t know what to do.

Again, I am really sorry if I caused you trouble and anxiety. Thank you and God bless you all.”

Has anyone experienced the same problem with your email account being hacked by someone? It is so disappointing that your security is breached without you even knowing it, until your friends tell you about it. Some of these hackers get your email addresses from social networking sites that you might be a member of. I am a member of Facebook, Friendster, Myspace and some other forums and online networks. It never occurred to me that I could be a victim of an identity theft in the internet. It is unbelievable how these low-life people could use your account to defraud others. What if the people she was able to send an email responded to her plea of sending her money? She could have enriched herself to my expense! Grrrr…….

Now, what did I learn from this sad event in my life? I should create a bogus email address to link up with my social networking sites, change my passwords regularly, never store sensitive information in your email account and maintain several email accounts as your backup email should one been hacked. I hope you get to learn from my experience and share your learning to others.

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