Waikele residents Ken and Li Schoolland were flooded by phone calls and e-mails Monday from friends wondering if Li was in desperate trouble in Scotland.

A bogus e-mail from Li Schoolland's Gmail account was sent to all her contacts. The e-mail said she was in Scotland, had lost her wallet, money, phone cards, return ticket and vital documents, and that the only way she could contact anyone was by e-mail.

It asked if “;you could help me out with $1,700 to sort myself out here and to pay for my hotel bills. But I would appreciate any amount you could afford.”;

Schoolland often travels to Europe, so the e-mail seemed plausible.

“;So many friends were on the verge of calling Western Union and sending money,”; said Ken Schoolland, who got about 40 e-mails to his account. He and his wife got another 40 or so phone calls.

They still don't know if anyone responded and sent money.

Computer crime experts say Schoolland was victim to a classic case of phishing.

Schoolland said she had responded to an e-mail that seemed to be from Google that said her account was randomly picked and asked whether she was still using her e-mail. If she didn't want it to be canceled within a week, she would need to provide her birth date and password and confirm her e-mail address.

She said she was suspicious, but was reassured by the Gmail and Google logos, and didn't want her account canceled.

“;It's one of those things people don't think through,”; said Al Joaquin, the Secret Service special agent in charge of the Hawaii office. “;If it looks like the legitimate Web site, and you respond to the e-mail, then you're hooked.”;

Chris Duque, a retired Honolulu police detective turned private consultant on cyber crime, said: “;The phishers say you need to do something right away. They create an urgency. When you respond to that, once they know it's a live account, that means passwords are valid. Now they can take over her account.”;

The e-mail asked that funds be sent via Western Union to an Edinburgh address made out to Li Zhao. It's signed “;Aloha, Li Schoolland,”; as she often signs off.

John Hu, a University of Hawaii professor, and his wife came close to sending money.

“;We became very worried about our friend, Li, so my wife and I said we should try to help as soon as possible,”; he said. “;But we also had some doubts because, first of all, we thought if Li had some problems in another country, the first person she should contact should be Ken. Why send an e-mail to a bunch of friends without specific names?”;

Hu still can't believe that he nearly fell for it. “;We've read those kind of stories before, but when that happens to somebody who you care about, you forget about those ruses,”; he said.

“;I feel just very terrible because it's my stuff,”; said Schoolland, a Japanese and Chinese language teacher at Hawaii Baptist Academy and former Libertarian Party candidate for Congress. “;It violated my privacy.”;

Joaquin said Internet con artists from Nigeria often use Scotland, England and Canada as the location to wire funds.

Scammers will rent store fronts and the computer and telephone lines, said Paul Russell, a Secret Service computer expert. They will hire people to forward the mail and calls, often without their knowledge of what's going on, he said.

Schoolland said she has lost confidence in doing business on the Internet and wonders whether any financial accounts have been accessed.

“;It's kind of scary,”; she said. “;Did they just get my contact information, or did they read all my e-mail too?”;