Weird email but not totally convinced that it is spam

Original post by hol918

So I emailed my local foodbank the other day asking if they wanted any more volunteers but they replied and said that they had too many volunteers at the moment and so I left it. Then this morning I got this email from the same email address but a different person had signed their name at the bottom.The email address is an official one and the name of the person who signed this email is listed on the webpage as someone who works there.
Thoughts?

"Hello!
I'm sorry you're getting the mail from me at this Point in time,my family and I came down here to Istanbul,Turkey for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel we stayed,all cash credit cards and cell were stolen off but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

I have been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves pretty soon 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.Please be so kind to reply back so I can tell you what to do and how to get some cash to us.

I'm freaked out at the moment

Best wishes,"

No offence, but are you stupid? Someone you don't know is asking you for money online and you're not convinced its spam? smh

Reply 4

hol918

OP

2

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

I would be very, very skeptical about this email. Are you 100% certain it's from the same address? They could have had their email address compromised in some way. I would contact them by phone or in person to ask them if they're aware of this. :beard:

Yes it is definitely the same email address.
I tried calling them but they are not open...thing is it is a council run company so surely if their email has been hacked then they need to know right?

Reply 5

hol918

OP

2

Original post by Shadez

No offence, but are you stupid? Someone you don't know is asking you for money online and you're not convinced its spam? smh

Saying no offence first doesn't stop me being offended -.-

It is just because it's the same name as on the website and so on..

Reply 6

Original post by hol918

Yes it is definitely the same email address.
I tried calling them but they are not open...thing is it is a council run company so surely if their email has been hacked then they need to know right?

Yup, I would give them a call tomorrow once they're open? Don't send any money to this person. Spammers can spoof email addresses and text numbers. I nearly fell for a phishing text that looked like it was from my bank the other day. :frown:

Reply 7

Original post by hol918

Saying no offence first doesn't stop me being offended -.-

It is just because it's the same name as on the website and so on..

You're right, do accept my apology.

Reply 8

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

Yup, I would give them a call tomorrow once they're open? Don't send any money to this person. Spammers can spoof email addresses and text numbers. I nearly fell for a phishing text that looked like it was from my bank the other day. :frown:

Was it something along the lines of the banks are refunding customers who have paid a monthly fee on packaged accounts. For your refund reply BANK or Stop to opt-out.

Reply 9

Original post by Shadez

Was it something along the lines of the banks are refunding customers who have paid a monthly fee on packaged accounts. For your refund reply BANK or Stop to opt-out.

"We have noticed some suspicious activity on your account. Login via this secure link to avoid being locked out."

Luckily I didn't put my details in.

Reply 10

LHEF

Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. Do not reply. Firstly, anyone can see the list of people who work there if it's on the website- that means nothing. Secondly, it's incredibly unprofessional for a worker at the shelter to send an email like this. Thirdly, who the hell signs up for a volunteer position at the local food bank when they're on vacation? This has 'scam' written all over it.

Double-check the address to make sure it is exactly the same; make sure it's not 'gmail.com' instead of 'hotmail.com', etc. If it is the same, try to contact the shelter through other means - maybe send them a letter, or pop in and talk to someone if it's close by. I mean, if you want to then just ignore it, but this is probably going to hurt someone somewhere down the line, and it'll be done in the name of the shelter - they need to know that someone is using their email to scam people so they can shut it down. If possible, talk to more than one person, just incase it's someone at the shelter that's doing this.

Reply 11

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

"We have noticed some suspicious activity on your account. Login via this secure link to avoid being locked out."

Luckily I didn't put my details in.

Ooooh that sounds legitimate

Reply 12

Original post by Shadez

Ooooh that sounds legitimate

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not :eek3:

"We have identified some unusual activity on your Online Banking. Log in via the secure link [weird url with numbers like an IP address] to avoid account suspension"

That was the exact wording.

Reply 13

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not :eek3:

"We have identified some unusual activity on your Online Banking. Log in via the secure link [weird url with numbers like an IP address] to avoid account suspension"

That was the exact wording.

No sarcasm intended. I think the lack of emoticons made it appear sarcastic.

I just might have fallen for that one if I had online banking, thanks for the heads up :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

hol918

OP

2

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

Yup, I would give them a call tomorrow once they're open? Don't send any money to this person. Spammers can spoof email addresses and text numbers. I nearly fell for a phishing text that looked like it was from my bank the other day. :frown:

Yeah I will do.
I just tried calling my local council to tell them but they couldn't help me so then they gave me a number for trading standards and then they couldn't help me either so they gave me a number for something to do with the citizens advice bureau but they are not open until tomorrow morning.
I just want to make sure that if it is spam then they get a new email or something because most of the people who get in touch with the foodbank are struggling financially and so can't afford to be mugged off :frown:

Oh that's scary! I didn't know that you could get texts from your bank

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

Tiger Rag

22

Original post by Shadez

No sarcasm intended. I think the lack of emoticons made it appear sarcastic.

I just may have fallen for that one if I had online banking, thanks for the heads up :smile:

Talking in general, if you put your mouse over the link, it's a giveaway as to whether stuff like that is a scam. Your bank will never send emails like that to you. Odd how when I've received those emails, they've been from every bank but my own.

Reply 16

midgemeister7

17

100% a scam. I've had the same e-mail word for word.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 17

Original post by hol918

Yeah I will do.
I just tried calling my local council to tell them but they couldn't help me so then they gave me a number for trading standards and then they couldn't help me either so they gave me a number for something to do with the citizens advice bureau but they are not open until tomorrow morning.
I just want to make sure that if it is spam then they get a new email or something because most of the people who get in touch with the foodbank are struggling financially and so can't afford to be mugged off :frown:

Oh that's scary! I didn't know that you could get texts from your bank

I don't think you need to go to trading standards or the CAB, just give them a heads' up tomorrow - or is the problem that you don't have a phone number for them?

Reply 18

SuperWolfPaws