A WOMAN is concerned people may be tricked into giving conmen money after her e-mail account was hacked.

Judie Kellie woke up to concerned calls from friends and relatives after an email was sent from an account claiming she had been mugged at gun point in Valencia, Spain, and had all of her belongings taken. The e-mail – which was signed Judie Kellie Welsh – asked for friends to send money to help her get home.

But Ms Kellie was, in fact, already safe and well more than 1,000 miles away at home in Shelsey Beauchamp, near Clifton-on-Teme.

“Somebody hacked into my general account and sent this thing out saying I was in Spain,” she said. “I was not – I have been in Shelsey Beauchamp the whole week.”

Ms Kellie is worried some of the people in her contacts book may be taken in by the email.

“I am just a bit concerned about local people,” she said. “This is not my standard business account. I write and edit the local parish magazine, Teme Triangle, so there are a lot of local people who it will go to.

“If it goes to somebody who works for a big corporation, they will probably just delete it. Other people might not.”

Ms Kellie suspected she had been targeted after clicking a button, which she later realised may not have been wise to do.

“I have half an idea it might be my fault,” she said. “I was very busy and a little box came up and said Googlemail had signed me out of my account.

“It said in order to unlock it, click this box. The minute I did it, I thought it was a bad idea.”

But there has been one positive drawn from the experience.

“I have actually got to speak to people I have not spoken to for 15 years,” said Ms Kellie.