I've gotten some strange emails this week supposedly from an old friend who's been living and working in China for the last 13 years. He's been home a couple of times but I've managed to miss seeing him both times. Anyway, I got an email asking if I could do him a favor. I answered 'what's up?' No response for several days and then a repeat of the first email. That time I answered 'what' wrong?' Today I got a long, heartful email telling me about his 'sister' who lives in the Ukraine and needs an operation. The cost of the medical procedure was $13,000. The email said he was just back from visiting her and giving her all the money he had...$8000. She was in a great deal of pain and he wanted to help her as much as possible, so could I lend him $5000.
Of course, I said no.
A day or two later I got another email. This time he asked if I could send him anything because she really needed help. Again, I said no.
Both times I explained that we live on a fixed income, in an old house that constantly needs repairs. I was sorry but I couldn't help.
Earlier today I was knitting and since that was when I do my best thinking I started thinking about this problem. Suddenly I thought if only I could check out the sister angle. And the easiest way was to check his father's obituary. Then I couldn't remember his father's first name. That stopped me for a few minutes. In the end I did a search on his step-mother's name and guess what? His father's obit popped up! When I read it and didn't find a sister/daughter mentioned, I was sure the emails were scams.
I sent Wayne another reply and told him not to bother me again. I knew he didn't have a sister. I asked Jeff if he thought the Chinese Mafia could be behind it but he said maybe a Tong. We'll just have to wait and see.
6/8/2021 Just heard from a former student of Wayne's, Liwanen Lily in the Philippines, and she said she got similar emails from him. She was able to contact him and he confirmed his email had been hacked!
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