My cousin is getting scammed

I almost got scammed.

I received an email today from my cousin, it said this.

I'm writing this with tears in My eyes My Family and I came down here to ( London,England ) for a short vacation,unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

We've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in less than 3hrs from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills.

Am freaked out at the moment.

Thanks
Mitzi

I ignored the email. But the hackers are getting smarter, they have now begun to use Facebook.

So, they logged into her facebook account and looked for whoever in her friends list was online. I was... then this happened.

[them] hello
[me] hey
[them] do you got my email?
[me] i think so, what's going on, how can i help
[them] thanks for willing to help
all we need is 2,000usd
[me] i don't have that much.
[them] how much can you spare now
[me] i've got about $500 available.
[them] ok
we promise to refund it as soon as we are back home
can i give you the info
[me] yeah, and i'll see what i can do.
[them] ok
can i email you the info
[You] yes
[them] ok
are you there?
[me] yes
[them] you can check your yahoo mail box now
[me] checking
[them] ok
you can weird to my name via western union outlet around you.
are you there?
are you there?
[me] checking on western union
[them] ok
how long will it take you to have it done?
are you there?
[me] dunno, fillign out the western union stuff now.
[them] ok
how long will it take you to have it done?
are you there?

This is where I talked to my sister...


[me] so, mitzi, how do we know each other?
[them] OMG, Are you doubting me or what ??
[me] sort of, since my sister said she's talking to you at work right now.
[them] nop the muggers has went away with our phone
[me] ok, when did you get an international plan?
[them] i and david left state last night
david is in hospital right now
Mitzi is offline.12:41pm
[them] he was hurt with is is head
[me] ok, when did we last see each other?
[them] What a million of question Virgil
[me] and why are you calling me virgil?
[them] O mg let me know if you are helping us out
cos our return flight leaves few hours from now
[me] is he going to be out of the hospital by then?
[them] are you helping us out?
[You] only if you tell me where we last saw each other.
That's the entire conversation.
(It's my cousin Mitzi)

They wanted the money wired to :

Address: 4 Richmond Mews, London W1D 3DH, England
Country: London, United Kingdom

That was in the second email they sent, after I offered to help.

I still have my passport so I can use it as identification, e-mail me the transfer details and the confirmation number include the amount sent..


Let me know as soon as you are heading out to the Western union

I asked my sister if she got the email from Mitzi, and she said she was talking to her on the phone. That Mitzi was at work in California. Apparently lots of people in the family called her.

Just got a text from Mitzi, wondering if the hacker was friendly.

The hacker as Mitzi has unfriended me on facebook :(

After hearing from my sister, I did a google search for the words in the email, and it's a rather popular scam.

The Google search.

Here's more on it.

Travel Scam Alert- Your friend was not mugged

With the advent of facebook, these scams can be much harder to discern. They got me. I even had created a western union account to send them money.

With Facebook, they can go back and see how you are related, who you have in common, and even know all kinds of other neat information, like the spouses and children's names.

So there you go, if you get an email asking for money, check the internet to see if it's been done before.

V