I received the following email from someone who hacked our friends address book. Everyone they send email to received it. I left out their names which was part of the message.
"I'm writing this with tears in my eye, my family and I came down here to Spain for a short vacation and got mugged at the park of the hotel we stayed, all our cash, credit card and Cell Phone were stolen off us at GUN POINT but luckily for us we still have our passports with us but don't have enough money to sort the bills so we can get out of here.
We've been to the embassy and the police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves soon but we're having problems settling the hotel bills, and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills, I'm freaked out at the moment and wondering if you could help us with a quick loan, all i need now is $1,850, I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with,I promise to refund it to you as soon as I arrive home. you can have it wired to my name via Western Union i'll have to show my passport as ID to pick it up here. Check:-
www.westernunion.com/locator to find the nearest WU around you. Here are the details you need to get it to me;"
What is unfortunate is that it's not restricted to email. Her mother received a phone call from her granddaughter (NOT) requesting money. Her Mom almost paid it but they talked her out of it when she realized that her granddaughter was not out of town.