The Steel Guitar Forum

I received this email today from "Todd Clinesmith" or more accurately, somebody who hacked into his email.......


"Hi,

I'm writing this with great grievance . I'm presently in Madrid,Spain with my Family for a short holiday and we're stuck...And really it was unannounced. We were attacked by four armed robbers on our way back to the hotel where we lodged.we were robbed and completely embarrassed.

All our cash,credit cards and mobile were stolen. We've reported the incident to the embassy and the Police but to my dismay they seem not bothered...their response was just too casual.My flight is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon We've got to settle our bills before We're allowed to leave....Now am freaked out....Please I need you to loan some money,I promise to refund you as soon as I'm back home.. . Please Let me know what you can do? Write me back so I can tell you how to get it to me..

Thanks."

------------------------------------------------
Todd Clinesmith
541 670 7218
todclinesmith@yahoo. com



Two things that I noticed......the phone(y) number is different by "18" instead of 81, and the phoney email is missing one "d"........I disabled the link on purpose.....

Don't fall for this........

I got an email from him too this morning but I didn't open it up. I've gotten several of these types of emails over the years and have learned. Luckily I've escaped virus' and scams. That's why I checked here first for any news on Todd Clinesmith. Now I'll just delete.

I received it too Howard and recognized it for what it was. This happened to a local elderly couple who thought they were helping their Granddaughter. The names change to victimize the innocent.

got it also. i notified b0b. i wonder if the forum has been hacked? i never had any email exchange with chinesmith. how did they get my email and the others here on the forum????

I got one too and posted it on Forum Feedback before I read this here.
Scum scum scum.

I called Todd to let him know that his email has been compromised.

Thanks for the heads up Howard!

I did not get the email, so if the addresses were harvested from the forum, it would appear that not all were acquired.

It has nothing to do with the forum. It was mailed to everyone in Todd's email address book on Yahoo.

bob, I have never contacted Todd or had an email from him, but I got the scam email.
Something is up.
I am certain whoever sent this is not American. Obviously English is not their first language.
We would not say it is "unannounced" we would say is was unexpected.

I got the identical email addressed not from Todd, but from a friend. This hack (or phishing) has been going around. DO NOT REPLY TO IT! if you have - change your email (or SGF account) password.

William Lake wrote:I am certain whoever sent this is not American. Obviously English is not their first language.

Scammer's English has improved over the years.....while a few words were a bit awkward, it was still fairly fluent......as I stated in Steel Players.......I've seen far worse English, spelling, & grammar by people who were born and raised in this country......

Hey Guys I received the same email this morning , checked the fourm but at that time nothing had been posted, reguarding the email message , the message I received was the same as Howard R posted, thanks for the Info , I thought something sounded strange, I dont think I have ever spoken w/ Todd

Looks like my yahoo account got hacked. I am trying to get some closure to this issue. Thanks for the many phone calls I have had from folks.
Sorry for the hassle to those who received this email.
Todd

I didn't get one. So I think that indicates that the forum membership list has NOT been hacked.

Edward Meisse wrote:I didn't get one. So I think that indicates that the forum membership list has NOT been hacked.

Edward, send me your email and I'll forward mine to you.

I didn't get one. Maybe it's because I'm up in the Northwest??? - Jack

Thanks to HowardR for the head's up.

Mine was hacked a month or so ago and said I was in London and cleaned it up - it was a yahoo host computer that was hacked and the second time was a dated deal.

Just change passwords and all is well - facebook too

Joe Naylor
www.steelseat.com

I'm in the Pac NW -- and I got one. I'm so glad it was a scam because it would have killed me when Todd came back from Spain thanking everyone for bailing him out, with me the only one who didn't chip in. For what it's worth, Todd, I did respond saying "your credit card company WILL help you." I was thinking, "Crikey! Todd's gotten himself in Dutch with his bookie."

I got this message from my friend's email a few months back. Knew it wasn't his because it didn't "sound" like him.

They will get better at "sounding like" your friend. Don't rely on that. Call them if you think they could really be in trouble abroad. Odds are, they'll answer the phone at home, or their cell. Few people would think to email all of their acquaintances if they were stranded in a foreign country.

Yahoo mail has been in the news lately because of its security holes. My IT person at work highly recommended switching to another mail system. He suggested gmail, but there are probably a number of providers out there.