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The Spanish inquisition False alarm: Email scammers urge Duncan man’s friends to rescue him in Europe Don Bodger
News Leader Pictorial
D
uncan resident Gerry Masuda has never even been to Spain where he was supposedly attacked and robbed on the way back to his hotel. The closest he came was a recent two-week retreat to Mill Bay. Masuda, 78, was subjected to a scam that attempted to bilk money from the contacts in his email address book, including the News Leader Pictorial. The email read as follows, complete with run-on sentences: “Hi, Just hoping this email reaches you well, I’m sorry for this emergency but I just have to let you know my present predicament. We made an urgent trip to Madrid, Spain. Everything was ¿ne until we were attacked on our way back to the hotel, nobody was hurt we lost money, bank cards, mobile phones and my bag in the course of this attack. I immediately contacted my bank in order to block my cards and also made a report at the nearest police station. I’ve been to the embassy and they are helping me with my documentation so I can Ày out but I’m Cpl. Jon Stuart: urgently in need of some money don’t respond to pay for my hotel bills and my Àight ticket home, will PAY BACK as soon as I get back home. “Kindly let me know if you would be able to help me out so I can forward you the details required for a wire transfer. I will expect your response soon. Thanks, Gerry.’’ “I got around 35 phone calls on this,’’ said
Don Bodger
Gerry Masuda displays a copy of the email that went out with his name on it, alleging he’d been attacked on the way back to a hotel in Spain and needed money. Mill Bay was as close as Masuda got to Spain. Masuda. “Five of my friends were seriously considering sending money. “There’s so much fraud out there, you’ve got to be careful. Establish positive identi¿cation. “The thing that amazed me is they’re so clever. They’ve got it all mapped out and say the right things and push the right buttons. It’s general enough, but it’s believable.’’ The ¿rst Masuda heard about the scam in his name came when a guy from Ottawa called and more quickly followed. “People picked up it wasn’t me in the writing,’’ said Masuda. The salutation “hi” wasn’t personal, for one thing. Another trigger was the email address the message was sent from and the email listed for a reply were different, one with a gmail account and the other yahoo. “These are some of the things my friends
picked up,’’ said Masuda. “One of the ladies that called said she’s received three similar ones in the past week. “What this illustrated to me was that obviously it makes them money, although it’s my ¿rst time I’ve had an experience for this.’’ One of the fallouts for Masuda was the destruction of all his email history. He’s had to change his password. Masuda called the North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP detachment where they suggested he contact PhoneBusters — the federal government’s anti-fraud department. North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP Cpl. Jon Stuart urged all people who’ve experienced such a scam to do the same, but also inform the detachment as well. “That’s generally the advice we give, but it’s good to know about this, too,’’ he said. “Sometimes there’s a twist to it.
“Your best response is to not respond. As soon as you respond, you’ve just con¿rmed your email address is valid. “If you are aware of a scam, let all your friends know it’s not you.’’ Stuart added these types of scams occur all the time. “This has been around for years,’’ he said. “Before emails, it was phone calls. Generally, someone gets your information because you’ve put it out there.’’ Masuda conceded the probability the perpetrators will be caught is low but people can take precautions to avoid being victimized. “If you do get a call (or email), before you send money, validate that the caller really did send that message,’’ he said. “If there’s no other method of getting through, go to foreign affairs and check with your embassy.’’