Sometime this morning, Thursday, June 19th, Frank Gormlie’s email was hacked. Dozens of his email contacts received that all-too-familiar message these days – ‘help, I’m in London (or wherever) lost my wallet, please send money’. This has happened before to Gormlie – and many others.
The simple remedy is just to change passwords, which Gormlie has done – again.
But an email went out saying Gormlie is stuck in the Ukraine and needs $2 grand plus to get out of his jam.
Here is the actual email – from his account:
I really hope you get this quickly. I could not inform anyone about our trip, because it was impromptu. we had to be in Ukraine for Tour.. The program was successful, but our journey has turned sour. we misplaced our wallet and cell phone on our way back to the hotel we lodge in after we went for sight seeing. The wallet contained all the valuables we had. Now our passport is in custody of the hotel management pending when we make payment.
I am sorry if i am inconveniencing you, but i have only very few people to run to now. i will be indeed very grateful if i can get a short term loan from you ($2,580). this will enable me sort our hotel bills and get my sorry self back home. I will really appreciate whatever you can afford in assisting me with. I promise to refund it in full as soon as soon as I return. let me know if you can be of any assistance. Please, let me know soonest.
Thanks so much
This scam has occurred to many people we know, often folks with fairly active email accounts, like Gormlie.
But Frank would like to let everyone know, he told the staff this morning with a little tongue in his cheek:
“Hey, no, I’m not in the Ukraine – still here in OB and San Diego and Lemon Grove – but hey, I still need money … for the OB Rag, so c’mon, send it.”
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
The same thing happens to my Nigerian buddy all the time. He’s always getting into these wacky hijinks all over the world and I have to send him some cash to help bail him out. I swear, sometimes I think that guy will never learn!
Although I’m still having email problems; my yahoo account is not accepting emails now. Great – and all that mullah was coming in ….
The Mullah was coming in?? So you weren’t in Ukraine after all, you were in Iran?? Lol. Sorry you got hacked Frank!
I guess I meant moolah, an old-school express for dough, cash, money, the express.
I do want to say thanks to all the friends and acquaintances who have called or emailed me about this hack job.
Yeah, so whoever hacked my email got in, and set up a forwarding email account in my name – I can’t access it of course – and had all my emails for most of the day go there; I have since fixed it but lost several hours of emails.
If anyone sent me an email today – I did not get it and it’s lost.
Hi Frank. I was still worried that you might be in trouble in Africa, as happened to me many years ago, and so I have sent you a check for $13,000. When I was young I drank a cheap wine called Night Train Express, which explains my current state of mind, and eventually somehow realized that it was not good for my health. This is the wine with the locomotive on the label with it’s headlight on. That headlight is what my brain felt in the morning after 12 bottles. Anyway, after a few years I noticed that Night Train Express was no longer available in the local haunts, and as I traveled and would look, wondering if it had somehow been banned for sale in the US. For at least a decade or so I forgot about it until I found myself walking down a dirt road in the Congo, and stumbled across a small grocery store. When I walked in I was stunned to see the back wall of the grocery lined with bottles on Night Train Express! I immediately got a headlight strong burning sensation in my head and left those poor people do deal on their own terms with American marketing. Maybe I should have sent them some money also?
Poor Frank! I bet that this is some evil marshmallow thrower who is angry about the righteous Gormlie organizing opposition to the free-for-all on July 4th. Shame on the hacker for hassling the OB Ragger and shame on them for putting Frank in the Ukraine, when you know he would much rather be enjoying World Cup action and thong bikinis in Brazil!
Actually marshmallows were invented in the Ukraine in 1827 by confectioner Uri Katakamikov. They were known as markhmalosch, which roughly translated means “are you sure these are edible?”.
Hi Frank,
I am in India now but do need to get to Kiev to find out if we still have a Brewery there. Got your mail and replied that I will meet you personally at your hotel to pay your bill. (or send our brewer who is retired KGB) Still need help?
Vance
This is my story, too. I sent money like you said. $2,012 was all I had. One day you are to give it back, yes? I can show you how. Just send your message, with your phone number.
And Frank,
When did you start using big words like “impromptu”?