It's back!
An email scam is circulating the Internet that claims the sender is traveling abroad and has been mugged. It then requests funds.
This week it was a Gwinnett County Imam's email account that was hacked. The opening line of the email reads, "Assalamu Aalaykum," a common greeting among Muslims. The rest of the email reads, in part:
"I'm writing this in tears, I came traveled to Spain for an urgent program, but unfortunately I got mugged at the park of the hotel where I stayed - all cash and cell were stolen off me but luckily for me I still have my passport.
"I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're slow in helping issues. My return flight leaves in 3 hours but hotel manager won't let me leave until I settle the bills.I Need your help with a loan to pay the hotel bills and I'll surely pay back when I get back home."
A similar scam circulated in years past. According to a 2011 report in The Guardian, the emails could be a result of the 2010 Gawker hack.
In January of this year, Arizona House Rep. Cecil Ash was targeted by the same scam. Experts called it a common money-wiring scam.
If you have been the victim of this or similar scams, change your password and alert your contacts. A strong password typically includes uppercase and lowercase letters, at least one number and a symbol.
Some of the post will have suggestions on how to avoid Email Scams... DISCLAIMER... Nothing is foolproof so be aware, always. Most of the Time you can discover the validity of these “phony” emails by just using Common Sense... DON’T BELIEVE ALL OF WHAT YOU SEE ON THE INTERNET... There is no such thing as a Black Lion (http://www.hoax-slayer.com/facebook-black-lion.shtml). If you are captivated by the wonderful, exciting, impressive, heart rendering stuff you read on the world wide web it pays to be a cynic a very, very big one.