URDANETA CITY—An international syndicate succeeded in hacking the e-mail address and contact book of a police officer here and attempted to use the data to solicit money from friends of the chief of police here.

Superintendent Harris Fama, newly designated officer-in-charge of the Urdaneta City Police Station, said the hacking occurred after he attended a seminar on how to detect cyber crimes at Alexandria City in Virginia, United States from December 9 to 12, 2009.

Fama initially thought the hacking of his e-mail address was part of the seminar but he realized a crime was in progress after learning that his friends were being asked to deposit 800 British pounds to a certain bank account.

After hijacking Fama’s e-mail, the hackers sent e-mail to all of Fama’s friends listed in his directory telling them that he needed financial assistance as he lost all his money to a thief who stole his wallet while he was staying in a hotel in London.

FAMA

Fama is now one of the thousands of victims by syndicates using the same modus operandi.

He apologized to his friends listed in his e-mail address fama_harris@yahoo.com, which he said, was hacked by unidentified person, who he found one week later to be from Nigeria, using a certain office in California for this kind of criminal activity. He has since changed his email address.

Some classmates from Germany, Canada, Japan and the United States who were about to remit money fortunately called him first to verify the incident.

Another friend from Sudan replied to the e-mail in Pangasinan dialect to confirm the veracity of the message. The hacker did not reply.

Fama said he and his classmates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy are determined to expose the hacker and file charges.—LM

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