UKC

I've just received two suspect emails purporting to be from people well known to me. My first thought was to email back to them(NOT via "Reply") saying that it appears that their email account has been hacked but I then thought that would get seen by the hacker. There is a mutual third party contact who would be able to contact them by phone(I don't have their phone numbers) Would this be a better option?

In reply to FesteringSore:

Yes.

In reply to FesteringSore:
Worth bearing in mind that the "From" address on emails is very easy to spoof so your friends haven't necessarily been hacked. It could be your account (or just information) that the spammer has gained some access to, and is now using the addresses of your friends to make you more likely to open his spam. Or, the spammer has gained access to the address book of a third party who has the email addresses of you and your two friends.

Bit of a guide here to finding out whether spam emails purporting to be from your friends are "spoofed" or "hacked": http://www.richpasco.org/virus/hacked.html