The following, I got in the mail from Bing de la Cruz — a sis from Los Baños, Laguna. Believe me, you want to read this one:

Dear all,

If you happen to receive an email like the one below, DO NOT RESPOND. IT IS A STRATEGY TO STEAL YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT. Once you give away your user name and password, you will not be able to use that email account again. Worse, the email thieves will send a message to your contacts saying that you’re in an emergency, stranded in some foreign country or in some other urgent situation and that you need cash ASAP. My Dad was victimized last year, and yesterday Dr. Ruben Villareal, former UP Los Banos Chancellor, got his email stolen. I got an email allegedly sent by him through his stolen account, which I also attached below. Sometimes the wording can be very convincing because the thieves spend time researching your connections with your contacts and what kind of person you are, based on the contents of your mailbox. This is one scam that has been going around for years. Don’t be victimized.

Bing de la Cruz
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HERE IS THE FAKE YAHOO WARNING:

Account Alert

Dear Valued Member,

Due to the congestion in all Yahoo account users and removal of all unused Yahoo Accounts,Yahoo would be shutting down all unused Accounts,You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Info below after clicking the reply botton, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

UserName:……………………………
Password :……………………………
Date of Birth :………………………..
Country Or Terriitory :……………….

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account before 24 hours of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Thank you for using Yahoo! mail
Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ

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AND HERE IS THE FAKE LETTER FROM DR. VILLAREAL:

Hello,

How’s work on your end? This has had to come in a hurry and it has left me in a devastating state. These peoplewon’t even allow people write in native dialects. I am in some terrible situation and I’m really going to need your urgent help. Yesterday, unannounced, I came to visit a new Researchers’ Complex in Lagos, Nigeria following up on some official tours in West Africa. Well we actually got robbed in the Hotel I booked in and they made away with my wallet (which included my cash, diaries and credit cards). My cellphones were not brought along since I did not get to roam them before coming over. The phone cables have been burnt including the Hotel’s database has been compromised as well. So all I can do now is pay cash and get out of here quickly. I do not want to make a scene of this which is why I did not call the office or my house, this is embarassing enough. Please I want you to lend me a sum of $1,430, just to clear my Hotel bills and get the
next plane home. kindly help me send the money via Western Union or MoneyGram.

This is Details to transfer the money Below:

Name : Ruben L. Villareal

Address: Lovelace House hotel,21 coles street

City: Lagos

Country: Nigeria

Postal code: 23401

NB: The Consulate only cleared me of my travelling documents and ticketing since I came in as a tourist and not on official purpose. I shall have your money reimbursed immediately on my return. I’ll be waiting on you at the Hotel lobby for your mail.

Thank you so much,Please once you are done sending me the Money please help me scan a copy of the Western union receipt or help me write out the Money transfer control number (MTCN).

Take care. Best regards.

Fraternally,

Fellow Ruben’57 Villareal.

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My personal comments on this matter:

While we have been warned not to click links in an email from a person we do not know, it is difficult to draw a line from an authentic email or a fake or scam email if you received it from somebody you know, somebody in your address book.

However, we should read emails not just once. Not just twice. But many times — especially if it brings good news or bad news. We want to convince ourselves that what we have read the first time is really true. At least that’s how I read emails. I’m sure you do too. Second of all, if you get something like the ‘yahoo warning’ above in your inbox…bear in mind that internet-based email accounts (such as yahoo, gmail, etc) are automatically inactivated once dormant for at least 90 days. Yahoo will automatically do that for you and not send you an email asking to validate information to keep your account active. I just do not know how many people know that info. I guess not all, since there are those who get victimized by email hackers.

The third point I would like to mention is the inconsistencies in the fake email. First of all, if you get robbed abroad, the first people you’d inform are 1) your family back home 2) your office back home 3) friends in the country you were in, it’s much easier to let them know, right? Besides, if you are on official travel, your hosts or collaborators in the said county would be the first persons to lend help. And take note that you already have a round-trip ticket with you before you left. So it would just be a matter of paying your hotel bills — which I’m sure your host office would have shouldered.

Alright, granting that Dr. Villareal is indeed in Nigeria and had no means of contacting everyone about his mishap, but only via email. The email recipients should have then called Dr. Villareal’s family if only to confirm if he is really out of the country. Common sense should not be forgotten, in any case for that matter. Bear in mind too that being robbed abroad is nothing to be ashamed of. You tell the right people about it, because you will ask for real help.

Okay…I’m not being high handed in here. Knock on wood…I don’t want my email hacked and I for one don’t want to be the recipient of a fake email like the above. But if I do, I hope common sense  and double checking wouldn’t get the better of me.  Ask for a second opinion. Ask somebody about it. It wouldn’t hurt to tell a living soul if you get such emails.

One time I received an email from the CIA. It was asking me to call a number or something. It said there was something about the sites I have visited and so I need to call or write them. The email was pretty scary. At first it will make you feel that you did something against the law. If I panicked I would have complied to what I was being asked to do. Good thing I didn’t panic. I instead forwarded the email to a computer security specialist — a friend of mine. It turned out to be one big hoax. He told me nobody else cares about what sites you visit on the web. It is in your disgression and vulnerability to computer viruses.

The lesson learned here is don’t believe anything you read first hand. Verify. Ask those who knows. Call people. Call the sender of the email. Call his/her family. Don’t use the email anymore to reply or something. Everyone has cellphones these days. CALL. We can call Nigeria or any other countries. Don’t be easily fooled. Ask around. Verify, verify and verify before you send out the money.