MANILA, Philippines - You've probably received an e-mail that says your friend is out of the country but he/she got robbed and needs money, so can you please wire some money over immediately?

It's not only regular folk who get victimized by e-mail hackers who send out such scam e-mail. Solons and prominent personalities have had their accounts hacked too.

House Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III has been recently victimized, according to Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara.

A mass e-mail sent from Tañada's account to his contacts said his money was stolen while on a trip to the United Kingdom.

But unlike in other e-mail scams wherein the e-mail accounts are clones, hackers used the real and actual e-mail account of Tañada.

The scam e-mail had this message: “I am in a hurry writing this mail to you, I had traveled to Wales, UK for an urgent situation and unfortunately for me all my money was stolen at the hotel where I lodged. I am so confused right now, I don't know what to do or where to go. I didn't bring my phones here and the hotel telephone lines  were disconnected during the robbery incident. So I have access to only emails. Please can you send me £1260 as early as possible so I can return home. As soon as I get home I would refund it immediately. Please I need you to get back to me so I can let you know how to send the money to me. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.”

It then went on this way: “Thanks a lot for your willingness to help.....Western Union or MoneyGram happens to be a quicker means of sending the cash, and please bear in mind that I'll facilitate your reimbursement as soon as I get home. All you have to do is locate a Western Union or MoneyGram outlet or you can transfer online by using your Creditcard to log on to www.westernunion.com and get the money transferred in my name (as shown on my ID).”

Hacking active

After the bungled bus hostage incident at the Quirino Grandstand last Monday involving a bus load of Hong Kong tourists, several government websites were hacked. Among these were the websites of the Philippine Information Agency and the Bulacan provincial government (see story here).

Davao Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles is concerned that even the e-mail accounts of government officials are no longer safe from hackers.

He said these hacking schemes should prompt Congress to craft a stronger and more defined anti-cyber crime measure.

“This is a serious problem because apart from the fact certain highly confidential information are potentially exposed to hackers, our effort to modernize government transactions through e-governance and promote businesses through an array of electronic business solutions might be compromised. I think that Congress should really look into this and possibly craft a law that would strengthen our anti-cyber crime laws,” Nograles said.

Angara has filed the proposed Cyber Crime Prevention Act of 2010 (House Bill 511), which seeks to define cyber crime offenses and impose stiffer penalties against cyber crimes.

There was a similar bill filed during the 14th Congress but this only hurdled third reading approval at the House of Representatives.

The proposed bill filed by Angara also seeks to organize a more organized and more capable anti-cyber crime unit to be called the  Cyber Crime Investigation and Coordinating Center. This will be the lead agency to fight all cyber crime offenses and formulate and implement a national cyber security plan.