NEWBURY — Council on Aging Director Martie Smith-Joe said the calls started coming in Saturday morning and have not stopped since.

Concerned friends, family and business acquaintances throughout the town were calling to make sure Smith-Joe was doing OK after an e-mail was sent alerting people she was stuck in the United Kingdom and needed money.

"I've gotten a ton of calls," Smith-Joe said. "I'm just trying to let people know now that I am home and don't need any money."

The e-mail scam sent to each of Smith-Joe's e-mail contacts listed in her address book read as follows:

"Hey, Sorry I didn't inform you about my traveling to UK for a Seminar, am presently in London I am stranded here because I misplaced my wallet where my money and other valuable things were kept on my way to the hotel I lodged. I will like you to assist me urgently with the sum of $1,500 Us Dollars to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home. I will appreciate whatever you can afford, I'll pay back as soon as I return. You can call me asap true the hotel # +447024045769"

The e-mail was sent Saturday morning and since then Joe-Smith has been trying to get her e-mail provider MSN Hotmail to help her out.

"What annoys me the most is that I wrote MSN and told them of the whole situation and they said, 'Well, you know you can reset your password, but we can't confirm an unauthorized individual was in your account or provide information on who did this,'" she said. "The only way they release information is to law enforcement under the Computer Security Act."

Smith-Joe did inform Newbury police, who said they could not do anything about the problem.

"It is such a nuisance, and I hope it hasn't jeopardized anyone's address," Smith-Joe said.

Smith-Joe said she did ask the police to send out another e-mail alerting town officials of the scam.

Hotmail has given her a form to fill out, she said. She must list who she is, where she lives, her IP addresses, postal address, how many folders she has and their names, and a list of all contacts in her address book.

"I'm hoping the e-mail from the police helps to save face a bit," she said.

Last August, a similar e-mail was sent to hundreds of locals asking for financial help for Rev. Paul Berube of the Immaculate Conception Parish. His MSN Hotmail account was also hacked into, and an e-mail almost identical to the one involving Smith-Joe was sent to all his contacts.

In the past, police have advised people to keep an eye out for anything that seems a little odd, as scam artists prey on people's good intentions to help.