Scammers are getting more clever all the time! If you get an email from someone identifying themselves as Chris Waugh (or anyone else you know) and asks you to send a gift card, here are three things to do:
- Check out the return email address. If it says someunknownname@gmail.com, it’s not me.
- Know that I will never ask you for money, a gift card, personal information, and the like.
- If you want to verify it’s a scam, email me at the address you know is mine and ask me!
Don’t let these scammers scam you!
Comments
3 comments
Jocelyn Bonner
Be aware of GiftRocket. This is a scam.
They did not reach out to me. I was looking into possibilities to send a gift card to a friend. Luckily, I was suspicious and checked directly with the establishment.
Thank you.
Christine Waugh
Thanks for the comment, Jocelyn. It’s always good to be suspicious of things that come via web.
Heather M. Edwards
This is happening to other Rotarians as well :/ Look also for NameOfPersonYouDoKnow@DifferentEmailAddress. Don’t reply to that actual email if you have any doubts. Call your fellow Rotarian on the phone to check if it really came from them or initiate a new email instead of responding to the one that’s potentially phishing. Here’s the recent email thread from someone who cloned our fellow Rotarian’s email and hacked their contact list, the subject line had just read “Personal”:
Phish-er: Greetings from here, How are you doing? I want to know if this email address is still valid to write to you. There is something important I would like to discuss with you. Thank you.
Me, (not realizing yet): Hi! Yes, this is my personal email and you can always reach me here. My best to you both! (I know, face-palm)
Scammer: Thanks for the response. Actually, I need to get a couple of gift cards, but can’t do that now, because I am currently not close to any store, can you help me get some Apple gift cards from any store or online? I will reimburse you. Let me know if you can handle this? Thanks.
Me, (now angry that someone hacked my friend’s account): Do you want to Venmo the money or PayPal? Either way is fine.
Scammer: I’ll pay you back later, can you help me to get the cards?
Me, (not disclosing how they gave themselves away): No. Stop hacking people’s email.
Then I reported the email to Gmail for phishing. Good luck out there, friends! Stay alert.