Hackers use a Vallas in an e-mail scam

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The e-mail seemed suspicious as soon as I read it.

“I’m writing with tears in my eyes,” it states.

The writer went on to say that he and his family were in England for a short vacation and were mugged at gunpoint. With money and credit cards stolen, they were at the U.S. embassy and needed help immediately to pay the hotel bill and catch a flight home.

I thought the e-mail was strange for several reasons.

First, the person sending it claimed to be Dean Vallas, the brother of former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas.

Dean Vallas is a Southland resident and a well-connected guy politically, currently serving as the senior advisor to Gery Chico, a candidate for mayor of Chicago. I was sure he had people in a better position to help him in an emergency than myself.

Second, although I know Vallas as a news source, we’re not friends.

Third, he’s not the sort to shed tears in a situation like that.

Finally, I’ve written about this sort of e-mail before.

I replied, “Please tell me your brother’s name and what he does for a living?” I never received a response.

On Wednesday, I telephoned Vallas to ask him what was going on.

“Someone hacked into my computer and was running a scam using my e-mail address,” he said. “Because I’m working for Gery Chico, I had a list of political contacts in my computer, and that’s how they got your e-mail address.”

“Frankly, I thought the idea of some little English guy robbing me, at 6-foot-7 inches, 230 pounds, sort of funny,” Vallas said with a chuckle.

I wasn’t the first person to call him about the e-mail. At least two of his friends, he said, actually responded to it and asked what they could do to help.

“They (scam artists) sent an e-mail back, asking for their cell phone numbers and then they actually called them,” Vallas said. “Someone with a foreign accent asked them to wire $2,000 immediately. They said I wasn’t allowed to use the phone at the embassy (and so could not talk to them).”

Vallas said no one, as far as he knows, actually wired any money.

“They figured out it was a scam,” he said.

Chico was among those who received the bogus e-mail because he was on the mailing list.

Vallas said he realized his computer had been hacked when he checked his e-mail about 7 a.m. and saw the solicitation for help.

“They actually sent me the same letter,” he said.

Vallas said he called AOL, and the company immediately knew what to do.

“It turned out they (scammers) had hacked into my computer about 3:30 a.m., and they were still in it when AOL checked,” Vallas said. “Apparently, that’s when they do these things, when you’re asleep, so you don’t know what’s going on.”

AOL shut down his Internet connection, changed his password and put him back online within minutes.

“The thing is that my brother (Paul) has been traveling to Haiti and Chile setting up schools there, and some of my friends knew he was out of the country,” Vallas said. “They thought I might be with him overseas and maybe had stopped off in England. So some people did call me just to see if I was all right.”

Variations of this e-mail scam are common. I’ve written before about a scam that preys on grandparents, with a grandson allegedly calling or e-mailing that he’s in trouble in Canada or Mexico and needs money right away to get out of jail.

It’s surprising how many people fall for these con games, but the guys who run them know what they’re doing.

Crestwood update: My column about checks issued to Crestwood residents involved in a class-action lawsuit against the village prompted a couple of phone calls.

Resident Richard Tolleson, who has lived in the village since 1970, said he received a check for only $160 after submitted water bills for $6,300 over a 22-year period.

A business owner in Crestwood, who asked to remain anonymous, said her check was for $125.

“And when attorneys said the settlement froze business licenses for two years, I just laughed because we only pay $1 a year for our business license,” she said. “And as for freezing garbage-collection fees, businesses have to hire independent garbage collectors in Crestwood so that means nothing to us.”

Also, I misidentified the wife of William Gannon, who was mentioned in the column on Wednesday. Her name is Nancy.