Attention: Eric Haws Scam
 

All,
Yesterday I received an email, supposedly from Eric Haws, asking for help. I copy the email below.
In case you don't know it yet, Eric passed away in May 2013! http://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/bncry.gif
The email is well done, except for a few misspellings, with the name of Eric's wife in it. People that don't know that he passed away might fall for it. Please don't!

Stefan


Here the email:

"Help.....................Eric Haws

Good Aftonoon,

I Hope you get this on time, Gail and I made a trip to
(Kharkiv,Ukraine) and had my bag stolen from me with my passport and
personal effects therein. The embassy has just issued me a temporary
passport but I have to pay for a ticket and settle my hotel bills with
the Manager.

I have made contact with my bank but it would take me 3-5 working days
to access funds in my account, the bad news is my flight will be
leaving very soon but I am having problems settling the hotel bills
and the hotel manager won't let me leave until I settle the bills, I
need your help/LOAN financially I need you to loan me
$2,550USD,Western union transfer is the fast option for me so that i
can receive it in a Minute with my ID, I promise to make the refund
once I get back home hopefully tomorrow,you are my last resort and
hope, Please let me know if I can count on you and I need you to keep
checking your email because it's the only way I can reach you.

Thank You,
Eric"

If you receive an email like this ignore it!

I got this same exact email. Not sure if they spammed the entire HUBB memership or simply folks who had been in contact with Eric when he was alive. I attended one of his travelers meeting 15 years ago. Same email, so I got the Scam/Spam. Sad state of affairs.

Can some I.T. wizard back track this asshole and nail him?

I received the same. I think it's more likely his hotmail email has been hacked than anything to do with HU. I was on Eric and Gail's mailing list. Were you guys on it too, or is this the first time you've ever received an email from Eric (RIP)?

Hotmail and Yahoo servers seem particularly susceptible to hacking.

update on this scam
 

I realize it's been more than a year since this happened, but a bit of a followup: I was in contact with Gail, Eric's wife, during this - I got the email too, and I was in Ukraine at the time! Gail was, at that time, relatively certain that the emails came from Eric's email contact list, but she didn't tell me which email platform he used.

I am just still blown away by the sophistication & customization of this scam! I now make sure all my friends know that, if they get an email from me saying I'm abroad and need money, to get in touch with my husband or other family, who will know if it's true or not.

It's a very very common scam. The owner of the email address gets a virus in his system which usually comes as an attachment it then attacks his address book and anyone in that gets an email like the one you all received. I am amazed that people fall for it, if you take a step back and a deep breath then it looks exactly like what it is...... A scam. The long preamble, then it gets to the crux, they all follow the same pattern

Oh and if it mentions western union then run a mile :thumbdown:

I had the same message, about me, sent to everyone in my mailbox about three years ago. The disaster fund now stands at £2.50 and half a packet of wine gums.

Common feature
 

A common feature of this type of scam, and of many of the bank phishing scams is that THEY DON'T KNOW YOUR NAME.

This one starts "Good afternoon", if it is from someone who knows you well enough to ask for money wouldn't it start with your name?

Phishing scams generally start with "Dear Customer"

Tom

What scum.

Had something very similar about twelve years ago. It's a hack of an email system.

It's an advantage to having an unprofessional e-mail address. "Dear Mr. Smith" you read. "Dear Mr ThreeWheel" can be directed to the Spam folder.

You need three mail accounts; work where they use you name, job hunting where you'd rather not have to spell out Ivor Biggun is bike related and home.

Andy

It looks and reads anything but sophisticated to me. It is so obviously written in 'scammer speak' that only a fool would fall for it, even if they did know the person it was unconvincingly claiming to come from. If anyone falls for this or a similar scam then they can't really complain in my opinion. It is an amateurish effort to say the least!

Anything related to sending money to a stranger via western union should make you suspicious.

By the way, I've got 100 000€ inherited from my grandfather, but I need 1000€ to pay the lawyers to transfer it. If you can send me some, I'll retourn it doubled.

Right!
 

schurdi,

Introduce your lawyers to my lawyers and I might consider it. I am sure we can work something out. I need only 500 euros from you as a retainer for my lawyers.
Please send 500 euros via Western Union asap
And, by the way - my Mom explained to me I may be related, via his second wife, to your Grandfather. Imagine that you and I might be family! Mom said he had a fortune that someday he would pass on to us. Do not pass up this
windfall.

xfiltrate

I haven´t received this one, but Eric´s address book was hacked years ago. I received several scam mails in his name when he still was alive.

Nonetheless, may the scumbag behind this scam rottin hell!

Panny