Advise Please

LindaC_4

Hello Folks,

Hope I’ve put this in the right place, first time starting a thread and not money saving!

Today I have received an email from a trusted friend. It is a picture of a child apparently in a hospital in Puhket. The little boy is about two years old and they haven’t been able to trace his family.

My question is this, is it genuine or a scam? If it is genuine I would like to publish it on this site, as it would get to so many more ‘friends’ than I have.

It appears to have been sent to many prominent addresses across the world. But I would not post it without your permission and I would like one of you ‘Techie’ peeps out there to look at it first to determine it’s authenticity.

Linda

Godders

My initial thought it that it is a scam. Are they asking for money in it at all?

Even though you got this from a trusted friend who do they get it from (a trusted friend no doubt) and so on.....

I wouldn't expect any of the major aid organisations who track people down to use mass mailing as a method of doing so.

I could be wrong however...

lswwong

I think we are talking about little Hannes Bergstorm, a Swedish boy whose relatives have already found him:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13278085,00.html

No, I it was not a scam but the issue is resolved. I got the same email from 2 different sources: (1) friend (2) someone in the office this week.

Nice to see people all over the world wanting to help.

LindaC_4

Those was my exact thoughts. But they are NOT asking for money, just asking if anyone Knows the child. it seems!

Linda

LindaC_4

Thank you LSW

Great news, it has made me feel alot better and ashamed for douting

Linda

lswwong

Oh Linda, in the world that we live in now, it is more than reasonable to doubt.

No need to feel ashamed. It was good that the original email was genuine.

LindaC_4

Thank you for your kind words

Linda

Godders

:-[ Me too - but I'm glad it's all OK - I have such a suspicious mind

Savvy_Sue

:-[ Me too - but I'm glad it's all OK - I have such a suspicious mind

Best kind of mind to have with the internet, imo!

What frustrated me about this particular email, which I must have seen 5 times, was that I was pretty sure I had seen his picture in the paper while were are at the in-laws in the week after Christmas. One day there was his picture, and he was looking for his parents, the next day there was a follow up to say his parents had been traced. Now I know not everyone reads the same paper as my in-laws, so I guess I was surprised at how long it had taken for the emails to start arriving. Then they were followed by the retractions "Oh, it's OK his parents have been found."

My policy is that if I haven't got time to check the story out myself, I won't forward it, however much I trust the person who sent it to me. When I have done some checking, I've usually found the story doesn't check out in some way. I do less and less checking these days ...