My wife's e-mail got hacked earlier this week when she repeatedly got fake messages from "Yahoo" threatening to delete her e-mail account unless she entered her password. Almost immediately, more than 300 people in her address book got an e-mail saying that she was stranded in the UK and needed $2,500 to get on a plane.
Pretty standard stuff. Unfortunately, somebody bit.
It was a major pain in the ass — she was locked out of her e-mail and Facebook pages, both integral to her business.
Her inability to communicate also abetted the scammer, who convinced a longtime client of hers that she eas in the throes of emergency.
The scammer changed a couple of digits in the phone number listed on her e-mail signature, so even if anybody tried to call, they wouldn't get her on the phone.
And everyone who replied to the message was met with a sense of urgency.
Fortunately my brother-in-law messed with the scammers enough to get an address, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
But this longtime client sent a large sum by Western Union -- she was too embarrassed to say how much. How disgusting to have such a generous soul taken advantage of in this way. I want to get this SOB, but I understand the difficulties.
So what do we do next? Call GPD? Whose jurisdiction is this? How can we nail this asshole? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
And a reminder: Protect your passwords and don't send anyone money without checking it out first.
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