At first glance, it looks like your typical Nigerian 419 scam. The twist is that the e-mail comes from what appears to be a trusted source after a hacker hijacked someone else's account and sent the spam e-mail message to the victim's personal contact list. Friends of the victim were urged to respond quickly via e-mail. The hacker was also sure to include the victim's signature at the bottom, in a seemingly convincing proof of identity.

In this particular case, the hacker was able to obtain the victim's online auction site once the miscreant had access to the victim's e-mail account. He/she then began bidding on a number of laptops sold in the U.K. and instructed that they be redirected to Nigeria.