This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Suzette Holly's comfortable world turned upside down Tuesday when she learned scammers hacked her email account and targeted all her friends and associates.
The Salt Lake City woman learned of an email sent to everyone with whom she had ever communicated that purportedly was from her.
"I'm writing this with tears in my eyes. My family and I came over here to London,United Kingdom, for a short vacation," the email said.
"Unfortunately, we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed. All cash and credit card were stolen off us 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 a few hours from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. Well I really need your financial assistance. Please let me know if you can help us out? Am freaked out at the moment."
Shortly after that email was sent, supposedly from Holly, she sent an email to the same list — made up of more than 500 email addresses — letting everyone know the plea was not from her.
But that wasn't the end of it.
The hackers forwarded all of her emails to a Yahoo account so they could continue to impersonate her. That made it so she was unable to access any of her past emails, a huge problem because she uses her email archive daily for her work.
She later learned her Facebook account was hacked as well and one of her wholesale vendors (she sells dance wear online) got a request, supposedly from her, for a credit on a credit card that is not on her account.
As the nightmare continues, Google is still trying to recover her missing emails.
—
What can one do? • Law enforcement agencies say there is little they can do when scammers from other countries hack into email accounts or use the Internet for other types of frauds. It is nearly impossible to even determine which country they are in.
Holly's experience is one of many frauds perpetrated through the Internet. The best-known is the one where the widow of a wealthy Nigerian official wants to share her wealth with you, but you end up sending her money in order for her to get the funds released. Then you never hear from her again.
The Utah Attorney General's Office has set up a website, idtheft.utah.gov, where you can report an identity theft and have your name placed as an identify theft victim to let creditors know charges placed in your name may not be legitimate. The site tells you other steps to take to protect yourself as well.
—
Other scams • I wrote recently about door-to-door solicitors posing as University of Utah journalism students asking for donations to help pay expenses for their trip to London, where they have been accepted as interns at the BBC. Of course, the U.'s journalism department knew nothing about it.
Now solicitors are posing as University of Utah business students in need of money for an internship to Italy.
One confrontation with a Utah resident ended badly when the resident declined to give. A few expletives were exchanged and the alleged student gave the resident a middle-fingered salute.
Or maybe he was just saying Utah is "No. 1."
—
What's in a name? • Riverton's newest pet grooming service at 12600 South and Redwood Road: " THE DOGFATHER."
facebook.com/paulrolly