Not a lot of major scams have been coming through my email lately (although I'm sure they're still happening). This morning, CBC reported that some email accounts are being hacked and fake SOS emails are being sent out from them. Less than an hour later, I received the following email from one of my business contacts' email addresses:

Subject: I need your favor

Hello:

Hope you get this on time ? Sorry I didn't inform you about my trip in the United Kingdom for a program, I'm presently in Surrey and am having some difficulties here because I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept. presently my passport and my things are been held down by the hotel management pending when i make payment. I will like you to assist me with a loan of ($ 2,928) to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with, I'll refund the money back to you as soon as I return,let me know if you can be of any help? ASAP. I should have called you to explain better but as it is now things are really tight but I will make special effort to call you

Please I am hoping in you.

Best regards,
[name]
[title]

I sent out quite a few warnings to my personal contacts, and was astounded by some of the negative responses to my warning. Several people felt that you'd have to be really stupid to fall for that, or said that you should know if your friends/family were travelling, or that people should always call to make this kind of request.

What was obviously disconcerting to me was firstly that my attempt to help them was received with such disdain. This was, after all, a warning that originated from a reputable news source and not just a forwarded email with no inherit verification of the information (without using something like Snopes).

More puzzling was how these people presume to think that they would know whether everyone they know is travelling. Maybe it's just me, but I know a handful of people who travel often for business and/or pleasure, and I don't expect to know of all their travel plans. What's unfortunate about this scam is it preys on the goodwill of friendship between real people, leaving the victim little recourse to recover their money and the owner of the hacked account little recourse to repair the relationship.