hi, does anyone know how else we can protect our email accounts from being spammed? I've received 3 emails from friends who were supposedly robbed and stranded some place, asking for money. How did the scammers get access to my friends' email? If I (and others) have received these scam-mail, will our email addresses be accessible by the scammer(s) then?

love satchi

It's doing the rounds at the moment:

http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm

Probably just had their email accounts compromised. Tell them to make sure they change their passwords ASAP. If you're worried your email address has been compromised, then change it as well.

Hey Satchi,

For a long time I had apparently been sending spam to strangers and the only way I knew was because many were being returned to sender or when I checked my sent mail. It stopped once I changed my password so I strongly recommend you and your friends do just that. Crazy spammers....they're everywhere!

CB x

hi dan and cheekybint
thanks for your replies. I've also received scam mail about receiving lots of money etc. and how to claim it; and also about someone who's father was a general and he had access to lots of money but needed some "help" for which part of that money will be paid to those who "help". The addresses in those email were mostly Nigeria.

could it be that people in african countries are good at this? I just find it strange. In some countries in Africa, things are so messed up; there's not enough food to eat, no proper medical facilities etc. yet their people are so good at scamming. I remember reading in the newspapers that vulnerable women have been cheated by scammers in africa. This is out of context but could it be that people who lived in deprived countries become creative in ways of making money.

love satchi

My father-in-law had these same emails sent from his account. He was alerted when a friend called to find out what was going on. They had changed his password so that he couldn't even access his account. He finally managed to access his account but his contacts had been deleted to prevent him from warning those contacted. It was very embarrassing for him to think that there are people he doesn't know particularly well thinking that he's asked them for money.

He remembers providing his password in an email, which is possibly how they got your friends' details. Unless you've given your password out (to what seems like your email account provider but isn't), your account is unlikely to be compromised by this problem.

I had to write off my hotmail account this Summer, and switched to gmail. Really frustrating, as my entire inbox was deleted by a virus, - probably as a consequence of using a lousy computer at a hotel on holiday.:-(