what NOT to do

Phishing and other scams are prevalent. I receive them from time to time.
In this real life story, one very intelligent friend of mine was duped, and her mistake is everyone's lesson in what NOT to do.

She received an email from Yahoo, her email provider, asking for your password, and thinking it was official, she replied. Mistake.

Yesterday morning I received this email from her (so did ALL her other email contacts, business and personal); typos in the quoted section appear as I received it:

I am in a hurry writing you this message i am sorry i didn't inform you about my urgent trip to London, i don't have much time on the pc here,so i have to brief you my present situation which requires your urgent response actually, I had a trip to London but unfortunately for me all my money got stolen at the hotel where i lodged due to a robbery incident that happened in the hotel.I had been so restless since last night cos i have been without any money moreover the Hotel's telephone lines here got dissconnected by the robbers and they are trying to get them fixed back i have access to only emails at the library because my mobile cant work here so i didnt bring it along,please i want you to help me with money so please can you send me 1,200 Pounds so when i return back i would refund it back to you as soon as i get home,I am so confused right now and dont know what to do,Please you can have it sent through Western Union Money Transfer so will get it immediately its sent but let me know if you can help me then i will make findings.please let me hear from you so i can give you my the address and name where you can send the money to today please.Its really urgent for me as i dont know what to do right now than to leave here soonest you send it to me and i'll pay you back immediately i get home..Thanks alot for your kindness,

I will really appreciate your quick response.

Best Regards
(I deleted her name to protect her innocence!!!)

I thought that a professional writer (which she is) would do a better job writing this and her husband would have sent the money if this were indeed a real situation. Besides we knew she was home and not in London.

But the annoyance of having to admit her error and the consequences to all her email contacts ruined her day. And don't you think she felt her online security was violated? Humor: she did admit that as a result of this scam email, she never knew she had so many friends who cared so much about her...silver lining?

Even if it seems official, forward that phishing email to abuse@(your ISP).com. They will track the bad guys down if they can. If they have time to...

So tell your friends, your kids, you parents, that what appears to be a legitimate, official-looking request for your email password is actually a scam designed to find one dummy in your email list who might just send the money to help you out in a panic, and enrich a scammer.
Be safe.

Upsetting

It's upsetting that some people out there purport to be helpful in givng you the ability to accept credit card payment, when in fact they are charging outrageous prices. Namely, (well, I won't really name names...)
1) There is a .com doing so at 5.5% on each transaction. That's DOUBLE what it should be!
2) There is another.com doing this for nonprofits alone, at 4.75% (a bargain, huh?)and they mail you a paper check once a month. That's not fair! They are earning money on the nonprofit's donations!
I am sure there are more.

Questions? Ask us.
Caveat emptor!