Scam Alert
2882, 02 Jul 2022Most of you probably would recognize a typical scam message, but it doesn't hurt to alert the RAFINO community using a real-life episode experienced by Terry Arndt. Here is the text of an email from Terry's grandson:
Hi everyone,
This is Stephen Arndt, Terry's grandson. Earlier today you may have received an email asking about whether you use Amazon. Please ignore this email and anything related to it. A scammer hacked into Terry's account and was pretending to be him. Terry did not send this message.
Luckily, this account, tamar81@verizon.net, has been secured and the scammer has been locked out. The matter should be resolved now. However, the scammer set up two new accounts, tamar81_@hotmail.com and vze12m8we@verizon.net, which are NOT TERRY. These are fake accounts. Please check to make sure the emails you receive from Terry are from tamar81@verizon.net exactly.
If you are ever suspicious of something online, or just want to be safe, simply ask a family member or friend for advice on the situation.
If you did not receive anything from Terry this morning about Amazon, simply ignore this email.
Happy July 4th!
Thanks,
-Stephen (Terry's grandson)
Tom McKenna received an email from the hacker, posing as Terry. providing a sob story about a friend of Terry's who was in an urgent need for cash funds. The email asked the recipient (Tom) to purchase an Amazon cash card and send it digitally to "Terry".
That scenario is very typical of these low-life scammers: hack into the potential victim's email and carpet bomb the folks on the potential victim's contact list with similar solicitation emails. If you get an email similar to that or one that has the key words (italicized in the above example), DO NOT RESPOND. Instead, if you know the potential victim who the email purports to be the sender, contact the real individual and inform them about the email and the content.
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Member Comments on This Bulletin
7/9/2022 7:58:37 AM MS Betty A. Lilje
Thanks for the info!!! I use Amazon alot...Betty Lilje