Someone hacked into my mates MSN and tried to scam me.

this happened to a british politician recently. Can't remember who, possibly Jack Straw. This type of vague anecdote is presumably why noone wants to go for a beer with me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7908498.stm

UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been the victim of Nigerian fraudsters who sent out hundreds of e-mails in his name asking for money.
The e-mails claimed he had lost his wallet on charity work in Africa and needed 3,500 US dollars to get home.
Messages headed the Right Hon Jack Straw MP were sent to council bosses, government chiefs and others.
The fraudsters are thought to have hacked into computers at Mr Straw's Blackburn constituency office.
Mr Straw has confirmed the e-mails had been sent to a "significant number of people" in his address book but he said there were no security issues as it was his Blackburn e-mail address rather than his ministerial account that was targeted.
He told his local newspaper the Lancashire Telegraph: "I started getting phone calls from various constituents asking if I was really in Nigeria needing 3,000 dollars.
"It was an issue for constituents, not the government.

I would like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently to settle my hotel bills and get myself back home
Fake email sent to Jack Straw's contacts
"We are checking all that and I am assured there's no evidence that confidentiality of constituents was affected."
When he was home secretary, Mr Straw established the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit to combat internet hackers.
He said: "The internet is wonderful in many ways, but these gangs put a lot of effort in because they make money from it.
"In a lot of cases they do get people to cough up.
"But I think it was so obviously ridiculous that I could go off trekking in Africa and I would lose my wallet."
'Misplaced wallet'
The scam e-mail, which was sent to Labour members, council chiefs and Ministry of Justice officials, said Mr Straw was travelling to Africa for a project called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, and was at an address in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos.
Mr Straw is quoted as saying: "I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept.
"I would like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently to settle my hotel bills and get myself back home".
The scam came to light on Thursday when Mr Straw's office received an e-mail saying its account would be suspended unless a reply was sent.
But when a member of staff replied, they were blocked out of the account.
Constituents then began to phone Mr Straw's constituency office asking about the e-mail they had received.
One is believed to have replied to the e-mail, but nobody has offered any money to the fraudsters.
The Hotmail account was suspended by Microsoft.

Hazys wrote: »

I love the presumption the scammer is Nigerian or African.

Because we all know internet fraud doesnt occur in First World Countries only in Third World countries where they have superior education in IT and they can afford better scamming and internet technologies.

Then why is my inbox full of people trying to get me to send money to Nigeria?

Jimbo wrote: »

Then why is my inbox full of people trying to get me to send money to Nigeria?

http://www.fraud.org/internet/2007internet.pdf

Nigerian internet scams only account for 11% of scam claims in the US, although they are probably have their hand in all categories. But these statistics are only for people who got scammed and doesnt include statistics for identity fraud which costs hundreds of millions in the US which is a hell of a lot bigger crime.

A credit card i used to use only for internet purchases was used to buy two phones on O2.ie and a 15Euro bus eireann pass so thats probably not nigerians but someone living in Ireland (probably a nigerian living in Ireland no doubt:rolleyes:) who was able to hack into some poorly designed website i used.