Terrifying Ordeal - Urgent Help Needed - spam?

received this email from a fren I know... not sure if it is a spam or a virus from her address book that blasted the email without her knowledge... Below is the email content...






I'm writing this with tears in my eye, my family and I came down here to West Midlands, UK for a short vacation and got mugged at the park of the hotel we stayed, all cash, credit card and cell were stolen off us at GUN POINT but luckily for us we still have our passports with us but don't have enough money to sort the bills so we can get out of here.
We've been to the embassy and the police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves soon but we're having problems settling the hotel bills, and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills, I'm freaked out at the moment and wondering if you could help us with a quick loan, I promise I'll refund it once we get home. Please write me so i can send you the info for the wire of the money to save me from the embarrassment of not being able to cover the bills.


Thanks