Hackers cut into official's e-mail

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Commissioner Cornel Rasor was not robbed at gunpoint while visiting London and does not need any help getting back home.

Rasor said one of his e-mail accounts was hacked earlier this week, which is the reason why people in his address book received an alarming message stating he had been robbed of his phone, cash and credit cards while visiting family on the British isle.

The following is a verbatim excerpt from the message:

“Please i need you to loan me $1,500, will refund you as soon as i’m back home, i promise. You have my word!”

But it was all an artifice crafted by a hacker who gained access to Rasor’s e-mail account.

Rasor suspects the hacker either overcame the password protection on his Facebook page, which was synchronized with his e-mail account, or his computer was infected with a key-logging program hackers use to surreptitiously monitor keystrokes in order to gain passwords and other information.

Nobody appears to have fallen for the hoax, although it proved to be a time vampire.

“I probably got 20 phone calls throughout the day,” said Rasor, who candidly admits some embarrassment over the episode.

Rasor also had to slog through customer service mazes to regain control of his e-mail account and make sure other password-protected accounts were squared away.

“For about 18 hours, my stomach was in knots,” said Rasor, who recommends strong passwords.