Email scam victim sends warning

A Greenock woman has warned people to take care when giving out information online after her email account was hacked.

Tash Goldsmith started receiving phone calls from worried friends and acquaintances at about 7.30 on May 16, asking if she was okay.

An email had been sent to her 363 contacts saying she was in the Philippines and had been mugged.

The email was more convincing than others circulated regularly asking for funds to be transferred.

It contained Tash’s phone number, with just a few digits in the middle altered and was well written.

Her emails and contacts had disappeared, but were reinstated once she contacted her email provider.

Tash realised the account had been hacked after receiving an email from who she thought was Yahoo, asking to verify her details by entering her log in name and password.

For the full story, grab May 29 edition of The Leader.