A Scam E-Mail I Didn't Fall For

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I know that one shouldn't open e-mails if one doesn't know the sender. Some time ago I got one like that. The words HOLIDAY DISASTER...PLEASE HELP seemed strange to me. I clicked it into the bin. Some hours later I got an email from a former colleague of my school who had opened it and asked me what I thought of it. What connects this colleague and me is that when I was still in active service so-to-speak, I used to organise a theatre performance once a year for our German students of English. When I retired, the colleague took the organisation over from me. The e-mail was signed with the name of the Englishman who runs this theatre company. It said, "Hello, I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, my family and I came over here to Kyivska, Ukraine for a short vacation. unfortunately, we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed, all cash and credit card were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.   We've been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in few hours from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills. Well I really need your financial assistance with a quick loan of $2,000, Promise  to refund it back as soon as we get back home...Please, let me know if you can help us out? Am freaked out at the moment!! Name XYZ" I sent my colleague this answer: -I doubt that the British Embassy refuses to help. After all it's their job to do this. -We're both so far removed from the theatre man in England that it's very unlikely he'd turn to us for help and not to relatives and friends in Great Britain. -The flight is supposed to be in some hours. How would we be able to get money to the Ukraine at such short notice? -The sum of $2000 is enormous. Imagine you and I and some others would react, that would mean quite a nice sum for the sender of this email. -Who's so daft to visit the Ukraine in winter 'for a short vacation'? Besides: 'vacation' is American English, an Englishman would write 'holidays'. -The theatre performances have always taken place in winter. While the actors are on tour, the head of the company has always been in his office in London so that we could reach him if need be. He'd certainly not go to the Ukraine now. My advice: call him or send him an e-mail and ask what's going on. My colleague did that and sent me an e-mail confirming that the whole thing was a scam - just as I had suspected. So no harm was done, at least not to us. But I must admit that begging e-mails sent from the address of someone whose name is familiar can be disturbing. I wonder where the scammer had got both my and my colleague's e-mail address from and knew about our 'relationship' with the English theatre man. Have you ever made a similar experience?