Am I right to assume this is a scam?

[sms001]

caught up in the riots in Ukraine...Which was rather startling considering not 2 minutes earlier,she'd only gone into the kitchen...

don'tcha hate when that happens?

[MoonCat]

And then there's the person who sends that email with the subject line "Am freaked out at the moment" - claiming he and his family went to the Philippines, or London, or pretty much anywhere you can name, for a vacation and got (gasp!) mugged in the hotel parking lot, and lost all their money and passports, and the US embassy is not helping, and neither are the cops, and the hotel manager "won't let them leave" until they settle the bill, and can't I please help out with $1500, which they swear they'll pay back as soon as they get home....?