Warning about A HACKER

I had this email from 64er Ruston Dadabhoy:

From: Rustom Dadabhoy
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 7:57 PM
Subject: HACKER - VERY IMPORTANT

If somebody called bm_toon7@ hotmail.com adds you to their account/invites you - DON'T accept it because it's a hacker. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on yours adds them, you get them on your list and he'll figure out your ID computer address.

So copy and paste this message to everyone and fast..because if he hacks their mail,he hacks yours! If somebody called bm_toon7@ hotmail.com adds you to their account / invites you - DON'T accept it because it's a hacker. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on yours adds them,you get them on your list and he'll figure out your ID computer address.

So copy and paste this message to everyone and fast..because if he hacks their mail,he hacks yours!

It is not just getting on the list that is the problem. It is when someone asks you to provide your email address and asks for your password, whether it be Google, Yahoo or Hotmail.

These unscrupulous people trick others by getting into your email INBOX once they have your password and then send out emails, purportedly from you, to everyone else in your email address book, tricking them to divulge their email address and passwork.

These guys then access your email INBOX and archives looking for all sorts of sensitive data concerning your registrations and other passwords, credit card numbers, etc.

The most common trick is to send an email, supposedly from you to all those in your address book inviting you to be their friend and join some organisation. WAYN is one the immediately comes to mind. Thinking you do not want to hurt your friend, you complete the whole procedure giving up your email address and password in the bargain, and then the fraudsters carry on.

Another way is to ask you to take a "colour blind test" and at the end, they say that to get your result you should reveal your email address and password.

In such cases the first thing you should do is to

1. Change your password.
2. Inform your friends about the false email purportedly from you to them and ask them not to act on these requests.
3. Apologise to your friends and ask them to change their passwords IMMEDIATELY.
4. Report the matter to the email provider if you have been compromised. In the case of Google, under the REPLY options you will find a feature called "REPORT PHISHING". Do that to that IMMEDIATELY.

Take care, as there are plenty of these tricksters out there.