Former chief executive of Carevan Jodie Tiernan had her email addresses hacked, with scammers then sending emails to more than 2000 contacts begging for cash.

The email said she was stranded in Manila after being robbed at gunpoint, and desperately needed cash.

It’s not a new scam and it appears none among her many contacts fell for it, but that’s not to say it hasn’t caused inconvenience.

Ms Tiernan said more than 50 people had contacted her by email, phone or text message since the message went out. She has also lost the email and phone contact details of her many friends and associates — the scammers managed to clear them from her phone, home computer and tablet.

The fact that no one fell for the attack is evidence that we are getting much smarter about these things.

But the worry is that the scammers have little more to do than think up new and more sophisticated attempts to fool us into parting with our money.

You’ve got to have your guard up, at all times.