Yesterday I received an e-mail from one of the people in the Neighborhood asking if I had an Amazon Account. I responded that I did not have one but asked what she needed.  I was surprised by the answering request because I really did not know the person who sent the e-mail.  This is what I received:

I am sorry for bothering you with this mail, I need to get an Amazon gift card for my Niece, Its her birthday but i can’t do this now because I’m currently traveling and i tried purchasing online but unfortunately no luck with that. Can you get it from any store around you? I’ll pay back as soon as i am back. Kindly let me know if you can handle this.

 Await your soonest response.

Thanks,

The request did not ring true for several reasons. To name a few: (1) I did not know the person well enough for them to have made such a request. (2) The supposed inability to purchase a gift card online was suspicious. (3) The wording of the request was strange. (4) Why didn’t the person write a family member with this request?

Finally, I did something I should have done before I answered the e-mail.  I looked at the e-mail address, then went to the Neighborhood Directory and compared the e-Mail address of the sender with the e-mail address for the person in our Directory.  The results were enlightening.  The person who sent me the e-mail had an address like this xxxxxx1@comcast.net, while the person in our Directory had almost the same address of xxxxxx@comcast.net .  That 1 in the e-mail address made quite a difference.

I sent an e-mail to the man and wife whose e-mails were in the Neighborhood Directory and this is what I received back:

My email has been hacked.  Sorry.

I asked permission to write a Blog Post about this incident and got this reply:

Yes, that seems to be the second email that was sent if someone responded.  Do write it on the Blog Post.  They also wiped my address book clean.  I’ve lost all my email addresses so that should be fun to reconstruct.  I was also unable to change my email password on the main computer, so finally go it done on my laptop.  It has been a messed up afternoon and evening, not to mention what it has done to my friends and acquaintances.

This seems to be a variation on the old scam where a supposed family member or friend contacts you saying they broke down and need money for car repair or whatever.  The Bad Guys also destroyed her address book, making it difficult for her to warn people once the scam was discovered.

I suspect that if I had complied and bought the Gift Card I would have probably been asked to send the card number to the supposed “Niece”, and I would have been out the money I had spent to purchase the Gift Card.

If you get an unusual request by e-mail, first do what I should have done immediately, Call or e-mail (using a known good e-mail) the supposed sender and check whether they sent the message.  Remember – There a lot of wicked people out there who want to separate you from your money.  Take care.  Don’t be a Victim.