Out of the blue today I got an email from the email account of Gary Brocklehurst (Ex Derann staff member) asking if I could do a favour for him, but what got me suspicious was the fact he didn't address me by name, now I've known him for over 30 years, talked to him constantly in the Derann days, and he did not call me by name. I emailed his account, this time giving my name, the story was that he had forgotten his nieces Birthday and could I buy him an Amazon gift card, I replied (already being very cautious) that I had already been out and was sorry I could not help him out. Then I got another email asking if I could do it online, well as he's emailing me why can't he do it? I said sorry, and suggested I did not believe it was Gary sending me these emails, and asked him to contact me for a talk as he has my phone number, well guess what, so far no call. I hope that it really was Gary asking for my help, but surely an ex film collegue, all though very friendly with him, I wouldn't be the first to ask, it would be friends or family, anyway I know roughly where Gary lives, and there's plenty of shops for him to go to, but what I can't get over was asking me to do it online for him when he was clearly online as he was emailing me. So all I'm saying, anyone getting an email from the account of Gary Brocklehurst, be very wary indeed!

Was it from the same account that you got emails before or is it a different email address after the @ symbol. I have received emails supposedly from my wife that come from a different account, but they use their name. I also used to get phoney emails from Classic Home Cinema.

Barry,

Thanks very much for warning the rest of us....

It is best not to even reply to these types of emails that seem suspicious. Somehow your contacts or someone else's were hacked which is how they got Gary Brockelhurst's name to use. By replying, it confirms to the hackers that YOUR email address is legitimate. With that information, the hackers can now use your info in attempted scams to others....I wouldn't worry too much about it though, but they may try sending a similar phoney request using your name and email address. I might run the anti-virus/anti-malware software if you have that installed. I use Web-Root and it seems to work great (but a bit pricey)..

Hi Barry, I've had one too, put it in Spam and delete it, looks like Gary's laptop has been hacked.

Just sent him a Messenger PM to let him know.

So far this week I have received a phone call saying my Amazon Prime is about to end,and one saying my internet is going to be turned off.Both wanted to know further info so I just let them talk to themselves.Sometimes when I get a real person on the other end asking if I’ve had an accident I see how long I can keep going talking a load of rubbish....fun😁🤣

I have had all these Gwyn; other ones are problems with your Paypal account; problems with a bank you don't have an account with; your internet is being cut off because there was a problem with your payment. A new one I have had 3 times is that my payment for my TV license didn't go through. Many of these come from abroad. I've had some from Australia, purporting to come from HMRC; phone calls saying you're being arrested for tax evasion: there are many more, I expect we have all had them at some time.

I've a sneaky suspicion that Sky email accounts were broken into a few months back, and we are starting to see the results of that, as Gary has a Sky email account. It seems that a lot of the 8mm world got the same email yesterday, so with my posting about it, I hope a lot more will know about it and will not be duped into anything, when you read the initial email it just doesn't read right, the big give away was the fact the sender did not address me by name, Gary would never do that!

Heard back from Gary, he's been hacked and is working on it, just to let you know.