Talking Turkey

Have your friends or relatives ever asked you for help? Are you a kind of person everybody relies upon? Bravo! Helping people is great as long as they really need help and are not fraudsters trying to scam you.

Recently I received the following email from my friend, “Joe”.
“I really hope you get this fast. I could not inform anyone about our trip, because it was impromptu. we had to be in Turkey for Tour. The program was successful, but our journey has turned sour. we misplaced our wallet and cell phone on our way back to the hotel we lodge in after we went for sight seeing. The wallet contained all the valuables we had. Now, our passport is in custody of the hotel management pending when we make payment.

I am sorry if i am inconveniencing you, but i have only very few people to run to now. i will be indeed very grateful if i can get a short term loan from you ($2,600). this will enable me sort our hotel bills and get my sorry self back home. I will really appreciate whatever you can afford in assisting me with. I promise to refund it in full as soon as I return. let me know if you can be of any assistance. Please, let me know soonest.

Thanks,
Joe”

I heard about a scam when people get a phone call, email or a Facebook plea for help. However, I also have a friend who, in a foreign country, managed to go a restroom, leaving all his possessions on a table in a restaurant. When he returned, his money, his phone, and all his documents were nowhere to be found.

I wanted to be thorough. First thing, just out of curiosity, I hit return and the address to which my reply was supposed to go was different from a “from” address on email. Red flag!

I called “Joe” (I changed the name to protect his privacy). He told me a sad story. Someone broke into his email and sent the message above to all his contacts. They tried to call him, but he was busy and his phone was off. When he switched his phone back on, “Joe” discovered that a lot of his friends had been trying to contact him and find out if he was in trouble. He called them back and let them know that it was a scam. Unfortunately, by then someone already wired the money to the crooks.

My other friend, “Paul”, solved a similar problem beautifully. When he got email from his colleague asking for help, “Paul” responded, “When and where did we meet last time?” Scam dodged!

Next time your friend asks you to come to their rescue, by all means help them, but first make sure it is indeed your friend whom you are bailing out.

Authentication each day keeps the fraudsters away!

Fake Utility Bills

Last time we discussed a phone version of utility payment scam; the email version has not been far behind. It may try to extract money from you or it may try to infect your computer. This scam affects utility customers nationwide.

Pepco, MidAmerican Energy and Florida Power and Light warn their customers about this scam.

This another scam you can avoid by using calling back authentication technique.
If it’s just a money demand, contact your utility the way you usually do. Call the customer service number you use to contact your utility or go directly to your utility web site. This way you avoid fraudsters and their accomplices.

If the email tells you to open an attachment or click on a link, do NOT do it. It may feel more convenient, but it can have unpleasant consequences. Even if it looks like your usual email that you get from your utility every month, it may still be an email that crooks copied and replaced links or attached malicious files to it.

Better to be safe than sorry.