I had a provider that I had tried to see but never had (traveling provider who visits Chicago) contact me via email and ask for money.  She claims she is trying to help a sick family member.  Even if the reason is legit, I feel that this is inappropriate.  Especially when I have never even met her.  I don't know how many others may have gotten the same message?  And should I or can I post who it is here?  I looked back and did not see any similar posts regarding this during the recent time I received the email.  If I missed it I apologize.  

I am not a VIP right now and can not receive private messages until I catch up on a couple of reviews.

I suspect its a new way to try to drum up business.

This was a scam. Someone hacked into the provider's email and sent out that request. She is contacting VIP's through private mail about the scam.

damsel in distress scenario may hook some guys for sure.

But, it was a phone call.  Was a call from a provider that I had spoken with while she was in town.  Location never worked out, so nothing never happened. Time passed (months, maybe a year)and I got a phone call out of the blue from her.  She claimed she lost everything at the airport in Phoenix and couldn't get back to L.A. (her base).  She wanted me to wire her $$$ or purchase a tix.

I couldn't remember who she was so I goggled her and realized that she was a hottie. So, I asked her why she was calling me 'cause there HAS to be a client that she HAS seen that would of helped her out for an exchange or something.  Why you calling me?  Someone you've never met. She went into this whole story...

Bottom line, I told her that it wasn't going to happen and it was inappropriate. Interesting.

Without calling one out due to the fact that mine or your could have been legit. All i will say is that her first name started with a "C" and ended with a "A".

Things that make you go hummmmm

Recently a brother of mine had his yahoo account hijacked. Someone in England sent out a distress message to all in his address book asking for financial assistance. Of course it was a scam. Maybe???

...and not a TER PM, then there isn't much you can really do, besides tell people privately. Since you don't currently have VIP, that isn't an option. If it was done via TER PM, then you would also have the option of notifying Admin about the problem.

I see nothing wrong wsith someone asking others for help. True, there are many phony scams, but there are also real emergencies and desparate situations people face. Now 62, a homeowner (and landlord) with a profession, I recall some days in my early twenties when I literally didn't have a place to stay or food to eat. I will never forget how that feels.

In my personal opinion, a plea to another person for help, from a person who really needs it, is never inappropriate. Sometimes, you choose not to give it, or simply can't.

But I've sometimes, when able to, taken such pleas for help at face value. A couple of years ago, for instance, chatting on line with a Chicago student who claimed to not have anything to eat for the weekend and no money to buy food, I called up and ordered Chinese food delivered to her place, even though I had never met her (and never did, although I've chatted and talked to her since via phone and email, and the request was never repeated).

Maybe I was scammed, although the lack of repeated requests makes me doubt it, but maybe I just helped a person not go hungry. Given that I culd afford it, and it was not a big deal, I'm ok with having, if anything, erred kin the direction of generosity. Life is too short and harsh to always be suspicious of others.

If you think I'm just too naive, that's your opinion. I have my own

is a good sign it was an honest request. Email scams are on the rise and they're becoming extremely sophisticated. Scammers are hijacking email addresses from a target's friends and families and asking for financial assistance. The scammers will intercept communications between a target and the target's friends and/or family for a period of time to get to know the writing style and subject matter of the conversations. Once they become familiar with the discussions, they can interject a subtle request for money while continuing the topics of discussion. It's nearly impossible to discern the fact that you're no longer communicating with the party you think you are. The con game is very believable and profitable for the con artists.

As long as people continue to use plain english words and memorable phrases for email passwords, they're at risk of their accounts being hijacked. You can protect your email accounts by using long random strings of characters as passwords. The longer and more random the string, the harder it is to break the password. Some operating systems have built-in password strength detection to give you real-time feedback as to the quality of your selected password. There are also free utilities that determine the strength of a password. Weak passwords are THE primary reason that email accounts get hijacked.

Always be sure that when logging into your email accounts, the URL starts with "https". The added "s" indicates that the web pages is SSL-encrypted so that your email login ID and password are securely encrypted during login. Right now, Gmail is the most secure free email service available. The entire email session is encrypted, not just the login portion, and emails sent from one gmail account to another gmail account do not go out over the internet. Another benefit of gmail is that your public IP is not sent to the recipient so you cannot be reversed-traced back to your ISP.

One final recommendation. Change your email password at least every 90 days.

ask the person a personal question or two only they would be able to answer.  That will eliminate the hijacked scam.

if it's who I think it is.  I know her and once she got wind of it she made contact via both TER PM and email explaining the situation.