“We regret to inform you that your identity has been compromised in an identity theft scheme recently uncovered in Switzerland by federal authorities”.

That’s an intriguing starter for an email but the message is from metallugrgicalprocessing.com so it’s an obvious scam message.

Identity theft is a common crime these days and victims can have their lives turned upside down as they become liable for debts they haven’t incurred, are treated with suspicion by the authorities and credit agencies and have to put in a lot of time and effort to clear their name and effectively get their identity back.

This message goes on about a data breach at Facebook and work by the authorities to track down the hackers and victims.

If I want full details then I just have to reply by email. I am warned not to phone the court offices or any authorities as due to high call volumes my case will be disregarded.

They are right – it would be disregarded as there is no such case – just scammers trying to get gullible people to reply.

If you are in any doubt over the truthfulness of a message from the supposed authorities, then contact them using phone numbers or email address on their web site – do not trust anything in the email.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-wasters do let me know, by email.