[Michael Cantor]

John - I received an e-mail from you a few hours ago which has all the appearances of a virus - as a matter of fact, it's marked "Spam" by my server - and it asks me to click on a strange looking link - which I'm not doing. It doesn't smell right.

The message starts "I could never imagine something like that! Just take a look " - and then provides the link I'm not clicking on. About five other names are included as addresses (it seems to be in alphabetical order by first name), and I recognize Melissa Balmain's. I remember receiving a similar - possibly identical - letter from Powow buddy Bill Coyle about five years ago, and I clicked on it because it was from good old Bill, and Bill is a fellow wise ass - and it cost me over $100 to get rid of the virus.

So I'm mentioning it, and I'm putting it on the Sphere because if I received a copy, a lot of other Spheroids must have as well, and I'm trying to warn people.

It I'm wrong - if this is not spam - say so, and I'll delete the post (and say something funny and slightly nasty so I'll know it's you, and not a Ukranian kidnapper). And if I'm not wrong - well, looks like somebody is being nasty. I have no idea whether that means your web site is totally screwed over, or just that some jerk borrowed it for a while - but I'll bet there are others here who do.

[Roger Slater]

Now I'm getting nervous. I'm starting to think that the John Whitworth who had his wallet stolen in Geneva and needed me to wire him a $5,000 loan to get home might not have been the real John Whitworth. I should have asked him to send me some impromptu brilliant G&S-style rhymes to prove his identity before I sent the money.

[Jayne Osborn]

I get those spam emails regularly, purporting to be from one of my friends whose address is in my Contacts list.
I just delete them straight away without opening them; they're very clearly NOT from the person they say they're from. (A strange link is a major clue!)
It usually means that their Contacts list has been compromised but it doesn't seem to have caused any further problems to my friends.
Press delete and don't worry.

[Martin Elster]

Someone might have gotten access to John’s email account and got his list of contacts. So John may want to change his password to prevent further tampering.

[John Whitworth]

I'm glad you said that,Jayne. I couldn't face changing my password and all the piss that entails. So, friends, just delete the bastards.

[Max Goodman]

If scammers keep doing this, there must still be people who fall for it, no?

[Brian Allgar]

My wife's English friends and French family got messages a couple of years ago. The English ones claimed she was in Morocco, and had been mugged. The French ones claimed she was in Brussels, and her handbag, containing documents and credit cards, had been stolen. "Please send money to ..." Fortunately, everyone knew she was on holiday in the South of France.

[Douglas G. Brown]

I received a similar email 2 years ago from the president of the Historical Society in my small town. She was being held prisoner in some dreadful African country, despite my having met her on Main Street downtown 3 hours before.

This is a classic con, which 100 years ago was called the Spanish Prisoner swindle. (at least here in America).

[Douglas G. Brown]

Originally Posted by Max Goodman

If scammers keep doing this, there must still be people who fall for it, no?

Max, if one out of 10,000 prospects fall for it, it will pay off. These emails can be churned out by the millions. They could come from the apartment next door, or from halfway around the world.

An 85 year old woman in my town lost about $28,000 to one of these scammers back in April. By the time the local police hear about it, recovery of the money is nearly impossible. Best defense is to educate your friends and family members to hit the delete button immediately.

I'm glad that Michael has given us all a heads up on this one.

[Allen Tice]

Ditto to Jayne's post. Michael, someone is just messing with you (and possibly John). I get crap like that now and then as if from Voldemort's WFF.