RETIRED Murwillumbah resident George Anderson was stunned when he received an email from his son's email address pleading for help – and money.

Mr Anderson's son had just taken a holiday to Indonesia and it was no surprise that he would keep in touch by email – but Mr Anderson was suspicious.

So was his niece in England who received a similar email pleading for $3980 for help in getting out of trouble in Spain, where Mr Anderson's son had supposedly suddenly decided to go.

Luckily the son phoned home last Sunday to wish his mum a happy Mother's Day, so when the email arrived on Monday Mr Anderson was very, very doubtful.

“My son is in Indonesia, but from this email he is supposed to be in Spain,” said Mr Anderson, who wants to warn others about the apparently sophisticated scam by someone able to hack into email addresses.

“I sent an email back and they (the scammers) got my email as well.”

“How the hell it's happened I don't know, but the whole point is it seems they've got my son's address book and who knows how many people they've sent these emails?”

The original email to Mr Anderson said: “Sorry I didn't inform you about my trip to Spain...I'm having some difficulties here because I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel.”

The email asked for 2750 Euro ($3980) “to sort out my hotel bills and to get myself back home” because the Australian embassy was supposedly not helpful, and gave a postal address in Sevilla, Spain.

Mr Anderson said he reported the matter to Murwillumbah police who referred him to the Federal Government website scamwatch.gov.au which invites people to report scams.