A Populi user forwarded an email she received from an "Alice Hobbs" which reads as follows:

Dear Webmail User,

This message is from the Webmail Support team to all email users. We are currently carrying out an upgrade on our system, hence it has come to our notice that one of our subscribers Infected our Network with a worm like virus and it is affecting Our database.

We are also having congestions due to the anonymous registration of email accounts, so we are shutting down email accounts deemed to be inactive. Your email account is listed among those requiring update.

To resolve this problem, simply click to reply this message and enter your User Name here

(_____________) And Password Here (___________) to have your email account Cleared against this virus.

Failure to comply will lead to the termination of your Email Account.

Hoping to serve you better.

Alice Hobbs

Webmail Support

This email is a phishing scam.

Not only do we not employ anyone named Alice Hobbs, but we have a strict policy: NO ONE AT POPULI WILL EVER ASK FOR YOUR USERNAME AND EMAIL. The only people who do this are scammers—in this case, operating via an IP address from Zhejiang Province, China.

If you received this email, delete it. If you responded to this email, please log in to Populi and change your password immediately.

Just to be clear, Populi itself has not been compromised; this is an attempt by hackers to compromise Populi (and possibly harvest sensitive information) by gaining access through a legitimate user account. Also, there's a good chance that you won't see this email; our spam-catchers have been sequestering most of these emails and junking them.

Please feel free to post this article to your Populi News Feed, or however you think would be a good way to spread the word.

Happy Monday everyone!