Friend in need...or another scam...?

[lupo pazzesco]

so, I got an email from someone I've known for years.

Supposedly. It's setting off alarm bells because it reads like a Nigerian scam email, but at the same time, it's reading as from a dear friend of mine, and even has his signature line in it. Also, he doesn't actually address me by name, either, which he usually does. I have no other way of getting a hold of him because I've changed my cell phone a few times and always forget to get his number since we usually communicate via email and IM. So, I know no one knows this guy like I do, but here's the body of the email, I just wanted to know if I'm the only one who thinks this read likes a scam?

Title of Email: Mugged at Gun Point Last Night, Please Help

I am caught up in a real mess and i need your help. I'm sorry I didn't inform you about my trip ,I had a trip to the London,United Kingdom and a bizarre thing happened to me.I was mugged at gun point last night, the muggers carted away with all my belongings excluded my passport.Cell,c-card,cash and some important documents are all gone. I was able to make contact with the Uk Police and i was directed to the Embassy, but they seems to be taking things too slow. So i have limited access to emails for now, please i need you to lend me some money so i can make arrangements and return back I am full of panic now,the police only asked me to write a statement about the incident and directed me to the embassy,i have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively, I will return the money back to you as soon as i get home, I am so confused right now.i wasn't injured because I complied immediately.

I need your help so urgently.. My flight leaves pretty soon but i am having problems sorting out the hotel bills and also need getting my ticket straightened out. I need your help. I need a quick loan to get things fixed out here, I promise to refund as soon as i get back home.. please reply asap. so i can tell what to do and how to get the money to me..

Hope to read from you soon..

Thoughts? Comments? I can't get in touch and I'm starting to get freaked out. He lives in Florida, and I'm all the way in Texas, and with no number to get a hold of him, I'm really confused.

[Squeaksmyalias]

I've heard of scams like this showing up on hacked myspace and facebook pages. They hope that people will get worried and send money before anyone checks with or gets a hold of the real person.
Do not send any thing, I really don't think this is your friend. *hug*

[r2cagle]

Yeah, your friends account or email has been hacked. see if you can get ahold of mutual friend that might have his number

[TTAZ]

Was the email sent to you only, or as a mass email to his whole contact list?

Personally, the vibe I get is your friend got phished and someone is using his account to spam. If it was me, I'd ignore it or I'd send a reply to test it out. Something like..."Why don't you email your Aunt Bertha, I thought she was the one with all the money." If it's a scammer they'll be all "please, do you remember her email address" and if it's really your friend he'll be all "Who the *%&$ is Aunt Bertha?"

Just a thought.

[Bandit]

SCAM!

As r2cagle said, your friend's e-mail has been hacked/phished.

It's becoming more and more common as it's got a fair chance of success.

Tell your friend (via phone) to change *all* their passwords to everything - email, paypay, etc.

B

[lupo pazzesco]

Email was sent only to me, as far as I can tell, not mass emailed.

to
date Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 7:27 PM
subject Mugged at Gun Point Last Night, Please Help!
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com

That's what pops up when I click on show details in the email info on gmail. So, yeah.

I have NO other way of getting in touch with him, and no mutual friends. I'm sort of his only TX buddy, as far as I recall. so, yeah...

Tempted to email back but entirely too paranoid to, afraid I'll get hacked as a result.

[Squeaksmyalias]

*Hug* They might just be going through the address book and picking what looks like a not so close relative, you know nothing labeled MOM, or just hiding the mass emailing. BCC or something like that?
I'm sure your friend will get a hold of you soon, for real this time.
BTW you can use whitepages.com if you have his full name and where he lives if he has a house phone you can try that. I do that all the time when clients don't leave their name or number.

[MaggieTheCat]

Scam. Easy way to find out: Take a sentence, or part of a sentence, from within the body of the email, put quotes around it, and Google it. I used

"Cell,c-card,cash and some important documents are all gone"

See the results for yourself.

[Bandit]

Anyone can run some suspect e-mails through the ScamOMatic when in doubt.

This one says maybe, but I know (as a human), it's a scam.

Someone once tried something like that using the mayor of the town I lived in as the "Person in Trouble" a few years back.

B

[Exaspera]

I got this same thing almost exactly from a friend of mine about 2 months ago. She was mugged in London. I knew for a fact she wasn't there because I had spent the evening with her and friends 2 days before and she never mentioned London.

Besides that, We're not that close to where I would be on her top 10 list to plea for money.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Email was sent only to me, as far as I can tell, not mass emailed.

I got an email that appears to be from one of my college friends. It is addressed only to me, which is weird because we are not that close and usually the only time I get email from her is if it's in response to one of the group emails from the rest of our gang of friends, and then it is always reply all. This email contained only a link that redirected to one of those "cheap meds" sites. I sent her a message through Facebook to tell her about it (though she didn't respond). The next day I got another email that appeared to be from her, only to me, but it was blank. They probably use BCC to send it to the whole address book (or there's a computer program doing it).

Besides, I'd have a hard time believing that someone stuck in London, with access to the US Embassy, has no way to contact people other than email. It's not exactly a third world country. And why would such a person not contact their family, or friends that they talk to through more than just email in the first place?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Scam. No question.

Lookie:

http://www.google.com/search?source=...=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[Kogarashi]

Mondo scam.

I got this same e-mail, almost word for word, supposedly from my sister three or four months ago. Except that she was at college in Idaho at the time, and had never mentioned any school trips to the UK (the only way she could've afforded such a trip). My MIL also sent out an e-mail just yesterday warning the whole family that she received the same thing (this time exactly word for word) from my SIL, who is home right now.

The warning bells went up for me when I received it from my sis because it said to send money, but didn't mention where or how.

Try to find another way to contact this friend if you can, and tell them to change their passwords, but otherwise don't worry about their safety.

My guess is either it's sent BCC so you can't see the other recipients, or there's a program systematically e-mailing each contact entry one at a time.

[Kittish]

It is a scam. Your friend fell for some email that claimed to be from their email provider saying they needed to click on the link the mail and verify their info. We got this exact same email where I work from one of our customers. Have your friend change their email password NOW. Right now. And warn them not EVER to click on any links that say anything about verifying information. If they think such a message MIGHT be legit, always, ALWAYS go manually to the site in question to check it out. NEVER NEVER NEVER click on any link in such a message. It's a favorite tactic of phishers.

[morgana]

Got the "mugged in London" one from a guy I know on another list. It read like it was just me getting it, but it turned out to be his whole contact list.

He's never been to London. It's a scam. 99999.99999 percent.

The "Aunt Bertha" thing might be interesting to try, though.