This week, everyone in my gmail contact list received an almost believable plea for money from my email address -- complete with my picture. The plea, which began "I'm writing this with tears in my eyes," asserted that I was in London with my family, had been mugged, lost all my my credit cards and money, and needed help immediately. It's not a new scam, but it was the first time I and most of my contacts had seen it. And it was, sadly, effective from the hackers' point of view. Several people sent money.
Follow me below the fold to hear how it happened, and what happened next.
It was 9 a.m. I opened my gmail inbox, clicked on an email, and opened a link. I don't remember what the email message was, but it certainly was not in the least threatening. The link must have opened my account to hackers, as I was unable, after reading it, to return to my gmail inbox. They had changed the password, sent out the plea to everyone on my contact list (more than 700 addresses), and then deleted all my contacts so that I couldn't send a corrective.
While I was trying to recover my password from gmail and report there was something wrong with my account, my daughter called to tell me what was up, so I went directly to my Facebook page and posted a notice. I hoped my friends there, at least, would learn that the email was a fake. Alas, within about 30 seconds, my Facebook page had been deleted.
Then, the phone started ringing, the second email address inbox I use for forwarding from gmail began to fill up with inquiries from friends, and I spent two days assuring everyone that I didn't need their money, that I was in New York, not London, and would they please send me contact info so I could rebuild my list. I'm still getting messages today from people who are sorry they didn't see my plea in time to be of help to me. Most people who received the message knew it wasn't from me. They wondered how it could have come to them looking so real, but for many the excess of exclamation points gave it away. I'm famous for telling people they only get three of those for their lifetime, so they shouldn't be using them up with profligacy.
Eventually, I got my account back with a new password. Several pleas to gmail have thus far gone unheeded, so I don't have my contact list back. One wonders, with all that money they are making, why Google couldn't staff a phone line to help out in cases such as this; there is no way to talk to a real person at Gmail. But, I've heard from so many people, that I have recovered lots of my friends' email addresses now.
The saddest part of all this is that several people sent money. They were people I didn't know well -- in fact one person I'd never even met sent money. I had his email address because he gives to a non-profit with which I am affiliated and I've sent him thank you letters in the past.
One might ask, "Don't these people think? Why would I send such a plea to someone I'd never even met?" Or, in truth, to any of the people who actually sent money: friends from years ago and far away, a cousin who doesn't really have any money to spare. But as one of them said to me, "I'm a giving person. If someone needs help, I don't stop to think it over, I just give whenever I can."
So I learned that I have a long list of caring friends. It's a nice thing to know, but I hope this experience will also make them a little more skeptical of what comes to their inboxes in the future. And, you, too. Change your email password regularly, use a combination of letters and numbers, and don't believe everything you read.