In November last year, I found an e-mail from a fellow blogger at instablogs and a good friend who is a regular at the Press Club of India in Delhi saying that he had to rush to London on an urgent errand and that he had been robbed of his waist money bag containing his wallet and passport. That he was in dire need of money to pay his hotel bill failing which he would be required to do some menial jobs at the hotel to compensate for his dues. He wanted a Western Union Money Transfer for a certain amount of dollars.

Incidentally, I had met him only the previous evening. So, I called him on his mobile phone. He answered it immediately. I asked him where he was and he told me that he was in Delhi. I told him about the e-mail and he realized that his account had been hacked. He is a computer buff. So, he knew what to do.

He sent out an e-mail to all his friends on his address list saying that his account had been hacked and that nobody should respond to SOS e-mails from his account. Then, he informed Yahoo who quickly closed his account and restored it with a different password. He then lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime branch of Delhi Police. His case is under investigation.

In December, I received a similar e-mail. This time from a scientist. The mail said she had to go to Africa for some human rights workshop and that she had lost everything and asked me to send a certain amount of dollars through Western Union Money Transfer.

The hacker managed to read her mails and was smart enough to learn that she attends seminars and workshops. What he did not know was that she was a zoologist not a human rights activist!

Again I called her and her son responded. I asked him where his Mama was and he told me that she was out for a stroll. Hotmail quickly closed her account and restored it later. Her case too is pending with the Delhi Police.

The idea of posting this blog is to tell you that if you get a similar mail, don’t get emotional and try to send the money in a rush. First confirm if what is being said in the mail is true. Only then should you respond to such mails.