a new email scam

Haven’t seen this scam before. It was sent to me from the account of one of my Egyptian students (name deleted) but I know this guy and he would never deal with a crisis in this fashion. Scam.

How are you doing? I hope you get this on time. Am sorry i did not inform you about my trip to United kingdom (England) .I can barely think straight at the moment.Something really terrible is happening to me right now and I will be needing your urgent favour,I hope you come to my aid.

I had a trip here in London (UK) . Unfortunately for me I got mugged at gun point on my way to the hotel where i lodged.They went away with all i have got on me including my wallet where i have all my cash and credit card and also my cell phone.I wasn’t injured because I quickly complied.Since then i have been without any money, I am even owing the hotel bills here and I don’t have a return ticket back home becaues I bought a one-way ticket.Presently my documents are been held down by the hotel management pending the time i am able to clear bills.I contacted the police here and they only asked me to write a statement about the incident and I also contacted my embassy but they could only help me replace my missing passport.I am confused and so full of panic right now.I do not feel safe here any more. For now,I do not have a phone where i can be reached because it was also stolen.All i have got here is my mail.I also have limited access to the computer.I will tell you more about my terrible experience here when i get back home.

I urgently require your financial assistance now.Please I need you to loan me about
(£1,350.00 British pounds) to sort-out my hotel bills and other expenses incurred so as to get myself back home soon.I Promise to refund your money immediately i return home.Please I need you to get back to me as soon as possible.
I am looking forward to hear from you.

An obvious phishing expedition. But it’s interesting to ask ourselves— how do we decide that these things are scams? Other than the mere fact that internet scams are common, here were the leading points suggesting “criminal swindle” in my mind:

1. The message was sent not to me, but to the guy’s own mailing list. Thus it was also marked as junk.

2. “Am sorry i did not inform you about my trip to United kingdom (England).” Would be an appropriate remark only for a close friend or family member. This guy would never keep me posted about all his trips.

3. “Something really terrible is happening to me right now and I will be needing your urgent favour,I hope you come to my aid.” An insultingly poor level of English grammar, which my AUC students would not use.

4. “favour”, UK spelling, when my students would use American spellings.

5. “bought a one-way ticket?” Yeah, right. The UK is going to give a visa to an Egyptian male with a one-way ticket. I think not. Even my richest female students sometimes get hassled over their European visa applications.

6. “For now, I do not have a phone where i can be reached because it was also stolen” No phone number at the hotel? The hotel doesn’t want people to be able to call him and help make arrangements to settle his bill? Also, any truly panicked person would give a hotel name in this situation.

7. “I will tell you more about my terrible experience here when i get back home.” You have to do better than that. At least give some fictionalized details, fake some London neighborhood or even street as the location of the crime, and so on.

8. “and I also contacted my embassy” Here, “my embassy” sounds like a fake catch-all. Anyone in this situation would say “the Egyptian embassy.”

9. “Please I need you to loan me about (£1,350.00 British pounds) to sort-out my hotel bills and other expenses incurred so as to get myself back home soon.” A real friend would show some shame about asking for the full amount. He might specify the total amount he needs, but he would also nervously over-explain why it’s that much money, and would also offer you a bit of an out by saying “but I understand that’s too much for anyone to lend me, so any amount will help.”

10. No attempt at an explanation of why his own family can’t help him out. He should have said something like “I know I should ask my parents, but they didn’t give me permission, and I lied to them and said I was going to my cousin’s place for the weekend; they’ll kill me if they find out I went to the UK without permission”

11. And most of all, no reference to our past history of interaction. He would have said he took such and such a class with me, or would have said “it was nice seeing you again two weeks ago,” or something of that sort, before launching into the appeal for money.

Hey, I should go work for one of these scams. I could write a more convincing fake than they can.