On Thursday, 12/24, a cyber-criminal hacked into my e-mail accounts through Yahoo and AOL, posting the following in an e-mail to all contacts of my e-mail directories:
"I am caught up in a real mess and i need your help. I'm sorry I didn't inform you about my trip ,I am on a shopping spree in the United Kingdom(Buckinghamshire) and a bizarre thing happened to me.I was mugged at gun point last night, the muggers carted away with all my belongings excluded my passport.Cell,c-card,cash and some important documents are all gone. I was able to make contact with the Uk Police and i was directed to the Consular office, but they seems to be taking things to slow. i need your help so urgently.. My flight leaves pretty soon but i am having problems sorting out the hotel bills and also need getting my ticket straightened out. I need your help. I need a quick loan to get things fixed out here, I promise to refund as soon as i get back home.. please reply as soon as you get these email. so i can tell you what to do and how to get the money to me.. Hope to read from you soon.. Jim Dalton"
In dealing with AOL, Yahoo and FaceBook, it appears the accounts were hacked through Yahoo. I received an e-mail notification, supposedly from Yahoo that my profile information was about to expire. This e-mail was then deleted (not by me), and the above SCAM e-mail went out under my name. It went on to infect all my e-mail accounts, and for a period of time, all my e-mails were intercepted by the perpetrator, and actually was answering/responding to e-mails on my behalf. For those of you that tried to notify me by e-mail, your e-mails were intercepted and deleted by this unsub. This dirt-bag then tried to hack my personal and professional bank accounts, and created all kinds of problems by erasing a number of computer files, and altering others.
Many of you phoned me to advise me of the scam, and offered help. Some of you perceived the bogus e-mail as a real issue, and offered to come to my aid. Your efforts and concerns are very much appreciated. I apologize for any inconvenience this caused anyone, and hopefully, did not affect your computers.
What I have learned is that, despite best attempts to firewall, and maintain levels of security, systems can still be breached. I have been advised to prevent future situations: change passwords on a regular basis, and steer away from obvious passwords (birthdates, middle names, etc.); do not open e-mails that come under "FW: Important or Need Help!", unless you are positive of it's content/nature; back up you files and hard drives to prevent loss of information; immediately contact any on-line financial service you deal with and put a temporary hold on accounts to freeze activity.
Again, please be vigilant, so that you don't have to deal with the outcome/mess something like this scam can leave you.
