Just be warned – we had the following email yesterday that apparently came from a local resident:
This message is coming to you with great depression due to my state of discomfort. I came down here to Manila, Philippines with my family for a short vacation but unfortunately, we were mugged and robbed at the park of the hotel where we stayed. All cash, credit cards and cell phones were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our lives and passports.
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 12hrs from now but we are having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won’t let us leave until we settle the bills about $1,600. Can you help us out? Get back to me immediately to let you know the easiest way to get the fund to us.
We are depressed at the moment.
Thank you,
This is a con – the resident was not in Manila with his family, but at home. It’s an attempt to get people to send these fraudsters $1600. Suddenly the resident’s email address had been hijacked, all his contacts received the above email, and his messages and contacts list had been emptied, making it difficult for him to warn people.
So be careful……
PS this is a worldwide scam – for example, the same message was used in a hijack of the Town Supervisor’s email in a small town in update New York.
The same message or very similar was received by my wife this week. the email purported to be from a friend who we had seen that day so we knew something was up.