Urgent: Stefan

[tim]

I think your email was hacked. I just got an email from you asking to help buy an ebay gift card for a relative. That sounds like a scammer is using your email to scam your contacts.

[Blanquito]

I got the same email.

[Comte Flaneur]

Me too

[JimHow]

Me too.

[stefan]

Sorry for the inconvenience, everyone. I was hacked.

[dstgolf]

Ditto

[Jay Winton]

me too and I just sent you an ebay gift card so please stop asking!

[Comte Flaneur]

Mek and I got one from Danny today which looks very suspicious.

We have been down in Menton for a week and are en route back staying in Mazan in Provence for a few nights then Chablis on the way back later in the week.

Nice to be back in France. They really take Covid (mask wearing) seriously here so no wonder they have it under control.

Look forward to visiting Bordeaux next time but it was a MEK executive decision to go down the east side this time because it was her birthday (big round number)

The high light was visiting La Pyramide in Vienne on the way down

[jal]

I also got one from Danny today.
Have fun Ian, I tried but couldn't get into La Pyramide last year, try Andre outdoors or Pic indoors in Valence in you have time.
Happy birthday to MEK, enjoy Provence.

[tim]

Yeah, Danny's emails been hacked. Asking for Google Play cards.

Anyone have his mobile number to text him to let him know?

[tim]

Hacked by Nigerians. I just hurled a Nigerian insult in my reply to the email from Danny's account, and the person on the other end shot one back at me.

[JimHow]

Yes, Danny has been hacked.

[stefan]

The Nigerians have gotten more sophisticated at hacking, but how they use the hacks is lame. They should outsource that part to Russians.

[Blanquito]

The Nigerians have gotten more sophisticated at hacking, but how they use the hacks is lame. They should outsource that part to Russians.

[s*d*r]

Damn, I got sucked in even though I saw it was a different email address for Danny.

Fortunately, I didn’t send the Nigerian Prince a $1200 fee to collect the $20 million he was going to send me.

Stu

[dstgolf]

Guys,

What a day. 3 hrs trying to regain control of my computer ,email and IP accounts. They hijacked my entire contact list asking people to purchase google play cards 3x $100 and I'm amazed at the number of people that did it without question. One former partner just saw that I needed help went to the drugstore and posted the gift cards with pins scratched off in a reply email hoping this would help me out. He was the most computer savvy and suspicious guy in our group teaching me about computer safety/scammers etc and he got sucked in. Crazy what these Nigerians do.

Once I finally reset all of my links that seem associated with my new email/IP account password suddenly I had access to BWE. I have no idea what the link is but received to be back and hopefully my retirement nest egg isn't sitting in Nigeria.

Thanks many of your concern and this has been unsettling just hope its over.

Danny

[Claudius2]

Danny
I got the same thing overnight.
Email from your address asking for a "favour".
I replied asking for details only out of curiosity.
Will advise you when I get a response.
cheers
Mark

[tim]

There are some important lessons in this:

1. Your primary email address should have a unique password. Never use your primary email address password for other accounts.
2. If someone asks you for a gift card as a favor, it is probably a scam.
3. If a friend sends you an email asking for a favor, check to see that they addressed it to you, and not just a generic message. And make sure you verify that they know something about you that cannot be ascertained simply from your email address or name.
4. If you think something is suspicious, reach out to the sender via another medium (e.g. text message). Chances are if they were hacked, lots of other people were also being scammed.

Scamming is big business. Billions of dollars every year are stolen from unsuspecting victims. The people organizing the scams are raking in huge amounts of money. Don't let them win. Fight back.

[dstgolf]

Well down but not out. For some reason couldn't access or find my BWE profile when logging in with temporary password. I loaded chrome onto my old macbook and bingo logged in and accessed through control panel then profile then edit account settings and it allows one to reset password as expected but remember to cut and paste temp password as it is a mandatory final step.

This ordeal has not been fun being hacked. Makes you feel very naked and vulnerable as well as potentially exposing your friends to the same. The outpouring of concerned people from around the world to see if I was ok and/or confirm a scam was touching. Unfortunately some jumped too quickly to help without thinking it through purchased google play cards as requested and the money is now probably in some Nigerian hackers account. Some have told me that they are continuing today to receive phishing emails asking about the delay and I need help but please don't fall for the trap. Tim's advice is excellent but when you let your guard done and act on emotion to help a friend in need can override rational thinking and I'm sad to hear the number of friends that fell into the trap. I hope everything is now behind me but who knows for sure.