Commissioner of Oakland County Becomes Prey of E-Mail Scam

According to Gary McGillivray, Commissioner of Oakland County (California, USA), mischievous hackers took control of his account on Yahoo e-mail as well as dispatched one fake e-mail to approximately 250 addresses stating that he, the politician from Madison Heights lost his luggage to muggers that left him stranded in Great Britain. Mlive.com reported this on March 28, 2011.

The fake e-mail, expressing hope that it reaches the recipient on time, states that the sender made an early tour during the end-week of March 2011 to London when his bag containing his credit cards and password got stolen. And though the embassy has allowed him to fly devoid of his passport, he simply doesn't posses the money to buy an air ticket or pay the hotel bills, since his credit cards are no longer with him. Moreover, he has asked his bank to provide a fresh card, but the financial institution says it'll take some time. Therefore, he was wondering if his friend (e-mail recipient) could give him some money on loan, which he'd repay immediately on return. Lastly, the e-mail states that the sender really requires taking the next air-flight.

Nonetheless, according to McGillivray, he contacted Yahoo about the hack when the e-mail service told him for setting a fresh password for his account. Dailytribune.com reported this on March 29, 2011.

Also, following the restoration of his e-mail account and his friends address list, McGillivray circulated a message online amongst his friends, stating that they should ignore the bogus electronic mail, which was actually from scammers.

Indeed, Fred Mester, Retired Circuit Judge of Oakland County faced a similar problem previously during 2011. Then the phony electronic mail dispatched from his account told the recipients that he was stuck inside Europe and required some $3,000 for returning home, although he hadn't at all left the Oakland County Circuit Court. Dailytribune.com reported this.

Meanwhile, McGillivray, on March 28, 2011, informed the police in Madison Heights as also stated that he had come to know that Wayne County too was probing the bogus e-mail issue after the message went out from his account. Dailytribune.com reported this.

Related article: Consumer NZ Website Encounters Hack

» SPAMfighter News - 4/9/2011