I had one of those 'Awful trip' scam emails this morning.
How are you doing? This has had to come in a hurry and it has left us in a devastating state. My family and I had a visit to (Spain) unannounced some days back for a short vacation, unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed along with other folks,all cash, cell phones and credit cards were stolen off but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.
We've been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves tomorrow but we're having problems settling outstanding hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. Please I really need your financial assistance for us to settle the hotel bills and also to get another flight ticket..Please, Let me know if you can help us out?
Regards
XXXXXXX
Firstly I opened and read it because it was from the genuine email address of a guy I know well. I hadn't received one before but I realised something was fishy pretty quickly.
The guy lives and was brought up in Wiltshire; he'd never use the word 'vacation' instead of holiday, he's divorced and wouldn't be going on holiday with family, he'd never say 'cell phone' because he always says mobile, and finally I knew he was with a mutual customer in Watford on Friday morning!
Having Googled "Awful Trip" it was clear what it was; I emailed him and sure enough ....
Mind how you go out there
