Web scam targets Washington State Senator
Dec 17, 2012, 11:13 AM | Updated: 11:47 am
Washington Senator Pam Roach is scrambling to change her passwords after scammers hacked her accounts and sent a bogus e-mail asking for help and money. (AP image)
(AP image)
State Senator Pam Roach is busy changing her passwords and answering phone calls from around the world after somebody apparently hacked into one of her online accounts and sent out a phoney e-mail seeking money.
Thirty minutes after the e-mail went out, Roach says she got 60 phone calls “from as far away as Finland and Washington, D.C.”
The e-mail claims the sender is stuck in the Philippines after losing her luggage and needs the money for an airline ticket and to pay a hotel bill. It’s a common ploy. The e-mail is signed: “Pam Roach, State Senator, 31st District, WA.”
From her Olympia office, Roach says she thinks her Facebook or AOL accounts were compromised.
“My husband, my aide, myself were busy contacting those we think can help us, which would be the AOL people and Facebook.”
It’s more than annoying, Roach says. “This is a criminal act, somebody hacking into [my] personal communication devices and I think it has a lot of potential to do damage to me and to anyone else.”
