Please help: Is this an email scam? (I think I know the answer) [View all]

[Mike 03]

I just can't believe a scammer got this person's personal email. He was a mentor/boss of mine and a really important person in my life. He is quite elderly and never writes unless it is something important:

I received this email from him last night:

How are you doing? Are you busy? I need a little favor from you.
>
> Thanks so much Bob smith

I thought maybe it had something to do with the passing of Eli Broad, who he knew. I wrote back:

Dear Bob,

Absolutely. Never too busy for you.

I'll leave my email up onscreen today, or you can call (my phone number) or I can call you at whatever number you'd like. I hope everything is OK with you and your wonderful family.

I get up very early so there's no such thing as contacting me "too early."

Was saddened to see the news overnight about the passing of Eli Broad. I imagine you had many dealings with Mr. Broad over the years, and I'm sorry for your loss.

Warm regards,

And "Bob" wrote back:

I'm sorry for bothering you, I really do need your assistance with purchasing (Google Play Gift Card) for my friend who is a cancer patient . She's a year older today, I promised her a Google Play Gift Card as a birthday gift but I can't do this right now because I'm currently traveling and i tried purchasing it online but unfortunately no luck with that.

wondering if you could get it from any store around you ? I'll pay it back as soon as am back. Please let me know if you can handle this

Thank you so much Bob smith

***

So, I'm pretty sure this is not Bob and I'm angry with myself for falling for it and giving this person my phone number.

Has anyone else received an email like this? Is it definitely a scam? I just need a reality check from an objective third party, because this is a person I would do anything for and I want to be absolutely positive it is a scam.

Thank you.

EDIT: Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Normally I wouldn't bother DUers over something like this, but this scammer was playing on my emotions by posing as this particular person. Just needed to make absolutely sure. DUers are the best, most helpful people on the planet.



EDIT 2: Back in the day, Bob's emails really were like this: short and to the point, only moderately punctuated. He lost vision in one eye, which made it harder for him to write, and in any event he was always rather impatient about communicating in writing.