Having received this e-mail (image, click to enlarge), we contacted its sender, Jean Sassoon, who told us that the problem began last Thursday, when several of her friends called to ask what was going on. Other friends, alas, sent money without checking first. We offered to put up a warning, for which Jean thanked us and asked us to also offer her apologies for the inconvenience, but it is not her fault - her e-mail account was hijacked! Some more information:>
We have highlighted a couple of pointers regarding the writing: we don't use the word cellphone very much in Europe. The English is a bit peculiar, too - look at 'the Spain Embassy', a capital B for 'bag' without 'my' behind it.
Unfortunately, this scam is not a bit uncommon throughout the virtual world, they happen all the time, often emanating from Nigeria or Ghana. They hijack your e-mail for all sorts of reasons but all of them end up with taking someone's money illegally.
BE WARNED:
- if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
- (with this kind of scam) always check with the sender
- look carefully at the English used and try to relate it to the sender: does he/she talk/write like that?
- think it through
- best of all, ignore it and bin it unless you are absolutely certain it is true
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