Conmen steal Milngavie man's identity
A MILNGAVIE man was shocked to find his e-mail address had been intercepted by scammers trying to con money from contacts in his account.
Philip Graves (51) said he had felt like 'a bit of a fool' after falling for the very sophisticated deception, which was made worse when a tree fell on telephone lines near his house, knocking out his internet link two weeks ago.
The mature student said: "I received an e-mail which seemed to come from BT asking me if I was still using this account and to send them my password and other information because they wanted to change one of my settings."
The Msc student said the e-mail was sent on a Thursday and it looked very credible, but he had reservations because of some minor spelling mistakes.
He added: "I didn't feel right about it but must have replied to it. I feel a bit of a fool and a mug now. The inconvenience was terrible. I spent much of Monday in Milngavie Library trying to sort it out because a tree brought down our phone line over that weekend."
What Philip didn't know at the time was that the scammers had been busy sending out pleading e-mail to his contacts asking them to send money.
The Herald was one of his contacts who received an e-mail which started by apologising for sending the e-mail before going on to explain that he had taken a trip to Spain and was currently in Madrid, with no money because he had been mugged at gun point.
The bogus e-mail goes on to ask for a loan of 1,618 or 1,969 euros to "pay my hotel bills and get myself home. I will reimburse you soon as I get back home. I will appreciate whatever you can assist me with. Can you help?"
One of the Herald's reporters e-mailed to get to the bottom of the mystery expressing concern that they could not contact Philip on the numbers given.
In reply the scammers said: "I have no access to a phone and my mobile has been held by the management. I was informed by the hotel management that you can send me the funds via Western Union Money Transfer in my name to address below which belongs to the hotel, Be rest assured I will refund the money upon my return."
An address was then given where funds could be sent with further assurances that it would be repaid.
The Herald then contacted the bogus e-mailer again. Unbeknown to the criminals, Mr Graves is known to staff at the Herald as a member of one of the community councils. However when challenged to confirm which community council he belongs to there was no further correspondence from the e-mailer.
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Weather for Milngavie
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
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