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British Justice Secretary's Address Book Hacked by Nigerian Scammer

by Tim Stevens on February 27, 2009 at 06:04 AM

British Justice Secretary's Address Book Hacked by Nigerian ScammerOh, those Nigerian scammers -- they can be mighty crafty. Just a few days after finding out that one of their ranks managed to convince Citigroup to send him $27 million we find out that another scammer got a hold of the address book of a member of UK government, sending out fake e-mails to a variety of other upper-echelon members of state indicating he was trapped in Nigeria, had lost his wallet, and needed them to send cash fast.

The man in question is the Right Honorable Jack Straw, the UK Justice Secretary. Apparently one of his machines was accessed by hackers who pilfered his address book then conducted a "sad story" scam like we've seen in the past. The message said:
I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept. I would like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently to settle my hotel bills and get myself back home.
While quite a few confused people called Mr. Straw asking what was going on, thankfully nobody actually sent any money. We have to hand it to these criminals -- even when they fail, they do it on a grand scale. [From: BBC News]

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Tags: 419 scam, 419Scam, e-mail scams, E-mailScams, hack, jack sraw, JackSraw, nigeria, nigerian scam, nigerian scammer, NigerianScam, NigerianScammer, privacy, security

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