“Dear friend, how are you doing? I am sorry I didn’t inform you about my travel…” If those words sound familiar, it’s probably because you’ve received one of these scam emails, purportedly from a penniless friend stuck in a foreign country, at some point in your life. These emails are designed to trick you into sending money to Internet criminals.
We’ve seen European and North American versions of this email, and for the first time yesterday, one set in Manila. In it, the recipient “was robbed at gunpoint”, though the criminial had the heart to leave “my passport and life safe”. If we didn’t know any better, we would have fallen for this. We hope you don’t. Below is the full message:
Good Day,
Sorry for any inconvenience, but I’m in a terrible situation. I came down here to Manila, Philippines for a program,last night on my way back to my hotel room I was robbed at gunpoint, my wallet and other valuables were stolen off me, leaving my passport and life safe. My luggage is still in custody of the hotel management pending when I make payment on outstanding bills I owe. I called my bank for a wire transfer but it has proven almost Impossible to operate my account from here as they made me understand international transactions take 7 working days to be effective which i can’t wait. I will be indeed very grateful if i can get a loan of ($2,500) to settle out my hotel bills, I will reimburse you soon as I get back Home. I will appreciate whatever you can assist me with. Let me know if you can be of help.
All hopes on you.
