Bogus email appeal for cash stuns businessmen

Two Greymouth businessmen were stunned by an email scam that sent a pleading message from the personal email account of one to the other.

Architect Gary Hopkinson received a begging email, supposedly from Greymouth builder and business associate Lynn Whyte, asking for cash and claiming he had been robbed while overseas.

Unlike most scam emails, which spell a name incorrectly or have the right name but wrong email address, the message came from Mr Whyte's personal email account.

IT experts said they believed a virus had infected Mr Whyte's Hotmail account.

The bogus message claimed Mr Whyte had been robbed overseas in Alabama and desperately needed help.

It started by apologising to Mr Hopkinson for not telling him about the holiday: "Please, if you can not afford the entire amount I will appreciate whatever you can afford to send to me, I promise as soon as am back I will Pay [sic] the money back to you."

It asked that the money be transferred via Western Union.

The scam is the same as that which affected the Hotmail account of British Justice Secretary Jack Straw. His email sent a begging letter to his office and hundred of constituents informing them he needed cash in Lagos, Nigeria, because he had lost his wallet. He had not recently travelled to the country.

Mr Whyte said yesterday he had not been to Alabama, or been robbed.

ITWork owner Brent Oldham said a computer virus doing the rounds had been picking Hotmail user names and passwords, whereas generally Hotmail was one of the more secure email servers.

- NZPA