Whitehorse musician Gordie Tentrees is stranded in Europe and he desperately needs your help. Haven't you heard? Didn't you get the e-mail?

Send money immediately!

Wait a second - not so fast. Read that e-mail again:

"I am Sorry I didn't inform you about my travel to Europe for a seminar..."

Um, wasn't Tentrees in Europe for a music tour? And since when do you capitalize the word "sorry"? Never mind; read on:

"Am presently in England-London now, and please am stranded here because of a robbery incident in the hotel where I lodge."

Hmm, Tentrees seems to have adopted a speech affectation while in Europe. Oh well, keep on:

"Please, I want you to urgently assist me with a soft loan of £1.800 Pounds to sort-out my hotel bills and pay for my return ticket."

Okay, this is fishy ... and didn't I just see Tentrees downtown?

"Please kindly look for western union and send me what you can afford with the information below."

Send a reply message and you will get an answer along the lines of "It's no joke this is legit please help me out as soon as possible."

But it's not legitimate.

It is a scam, and since being locked out of his own e-mail account, the real Tentrees has been overwhelmed with calls and messages from people wondering what's going on and how they can help.

"I am in a nightmare and just ask that people delete my old e-mail," Tentrees wrote in an e-mail today.

His old account was hacked after Tentrees replied to a message from a scammer posing as "Hotmail staff" requesting his name and password.

With that information in hand, the con artist simply changed the password, locking Tentrees from his own account, and started sending out pleas for money.

It's a very simple scam that can be very simply avoided. Never give your account information to anyone.

There are no circumstances under which Hotmail staff will ask for a user's private information, the company has said. If someone calls or e-mails with such a request, it is definitely not a legitimate caller.

The same goes for banking, insurance, mortgages, vehicle leases and any other business that deals with your personal and financial information. If someone calls or e-mails looking for personal information, make them prove who they are before giving up any personal information.

The Canadian Anti-fraud Call Centre keeps tabs on scams like this one and provides descriptions of current Internet and phone scams.

To make a report or to see if something you found suspicious is on their list, go to www.phonebusters.com.