Thread: This is weird...?

Hey Everyone,

I just got a weird email from the owner of an online vendor of shaving goods. Before I get into details, let me just say that I'm not trying to badmouth the vendor, his site, or anything. For all I know this is a real email, but it struck me as strange and want to know if anyone else got a similar email. (I'm too cynical to even respond to this kind of thing. I'm from NY, so better luck elsewhere. ) I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone act on this email, but I would be interested to know if anyone else got one like it.

This email came from Mark L., who works for an online store that sells a lot of international shaving soaps, creams and aftershaves. I'm not gonna give out more info since I don't want this to be a comment about the site.

Let me know what you think. Like I said, I'm not even gonna respond to this.

The email:

Mark L----- show details 9:36 AM (19 minutes ago)
I'm sorry for this odd request because it might get to you too urgent but it's because of the situation of things right now, I'm stuck in London, United Kingdom right now, i came down here on vacation , i was robbed, worse of it is that bags, cash and cards and my cell phone were stolen at GUN POINT, so i only have access to my email, it's such a crazy and brutal experience for me and i was hurt on my right hand, i need help flying back home, the authorities are not being 100% supportive but the good thing is i still have my passport but don't have enough money to sort the bills and get my flight ticket back home, please i need you to loan me some money, i promise to refund it as soon as I'm back home, you can get it to me through western union.

--
Kind regards,
Mark

Do you know the vendor? Have you purchased from them before? Do you know the guys name is Mark L..?

It sounds to me like some sort of 419 scam, asking for money. The mention of Western Union (a favourite of 419 scammers) is a major warning sign, and a common tactic is to give a story about how they are very sick, hurt or in danger to encourage people to help them. The bad English and grammar use is another sign.

Someones probably cloned his email address and decided its worth a punt. They may have had access to either your or the vendors email account as well, so make sure you change your password.

The only reason I say this is that the email is coming from a source that you know, hence my suspicion of a hack.

Its quite unlikely that a business would contact a customer asking for help like this, unless you guys are actually friends and then I suppose its possible. But the fact that you think its an odd email suggests to me that its not the sort of thing you would expect to come from him.

I wouldn't respond, but I would telephone the vendor and let him know about the email you received so he can update his security, as well as changing your email password to make sure no one has access.

Also check your bank statements this month and make sure nothing funny is on them. If someone has had access to either email accounts they may have gotten some financial information if you had done business with the vendor in the past.

I used to work at a highstreet bank, and people used to ask about these sorts of things all the time..! The best advice is to contact the vendor by phone and tell them the email you got, change all your passwords and monitor your bank statements for dodgy items.

The chances are that its just some sort of basic scam, but on the off chance someone has hacked an email account, its a good idea just to keep half an eye for anything unusual!

Hopefully there wont be a problem!

No I've never done business with them - what I was looking for was out of stock so I had emailed to ask when they expect it.

I searched my inbox to check if that was his name, and sure enough it was.

Certainly sounds like a scam to me - but this is a vendor talked about on SRP sometimes, so I wanted to throw it out there in case anyone else got one.

The return email is different than the site's.... maybe just coincidence?

I find it almost impossible to believe that someone trvelling to the UK finds himself in such dire straits that he must reach out to (essentially) a complete stranger for help.

Last week I got an email asking me to click on a link for some reason. It didn't take much snooping for me to verify the link attached to the message contained a virus. The frustrating part was that the message was sent by me to me. As I didn't remember writing the message I assumed it was a trick so I didn't click on the link. I am still confused why I would send myself a link to a virus.

I got the same email.

I am on the vendor's mailing list and that's why I'm assuming I got the email. However, at the risk of this being a scam I think we should see if any further correspondence comes out before doing anything.

I find it strange that this plea would go to a customer mailing list, requesting money from Western Union, and therefore I'm not taking it seriously.

Originally Posted by icedog

I find it almost impossible to believe that someone trvelling to the UK finds himself in such dire straits that he must reach out to (essentially) a complete stranger for help.

Last week I got an email asking me to click on a link for some reason. It didn't take much snooping for me to verify the link attached to the message contained a virus. The frustrating part was that the message was sent by me to me. As I didn't remember writing the message I assumed it was a trick so I didn't click on the link. I am still confused why I would send myself a link to a virus.

Maybe you have an evil twin...

Originally Posted by BingoBango

No I've never done business with them - what I was looking for was out of stock so I had emailed to ask when they expect it.

I searched my inbox to check if that was his name, and sure enough it was.

Certainly sounds like a scam to me - but this is a vendor talked about on SRP sometimes, so I wanted to throw it out there in case anyone else got one.

The return email is different than the site's.... maybe just coincidence?

Yep, its a scam..! Darn 419ers!

If you've done no business with them then theres no chance of them getting any financial information, so no worries there.

Sounds to me, from this and other posts on this thread, like the vendor has had his mailing list/email account hacked and someone is sending out these emails in the hope of making some easy money.

The fact that the return email is different to the vendors is another sign that its a scam.

I'd just delete and forget.

Originally Posted by Stubear

Yep, its a scam..! Darn 419ers!

If you've done no business with them then theres no chance of them getting any financial information, so no worries there.

Sounds to me, from this and other posts on this thread, like the vendor has had his mailing list/email account hacked and someone is sending out these emails in the hope of making some easy money.

The fact that the return email is different to the vendors is another sign that its a scam.

I'd just delete and forget.

No way I'm deleting it - this is my first scam email! I'm going to print it on nice paper and frame it.

Stubear is right, that email is a scam. The vendor's email account was most likely compromised; did it come from Google, Y! or Hotmail?

Do a search on any of the sentences in that message and you'll see various phishing messages. There's a comment on this article:
Microsoft's Account of Hijacked Hotmail Wrong

From "surferess" which has your message verbatim. Do not listen to the email and you might want to let the vendor know about it if they have a phone number to contact.

I would still recommend contacting the vendor and letting them know that their distribution lists have been hacked.