My boss must think I'm an idiot

So I'm checking my Email Quarantine folder (spam folder) and I see an email from a very nice doctor I had emailed with recently titled "Sad news..please help." Here's what it said:

Hello,

I'm writing this with great grievance . I'm presently in Madrid,Spain. with my Family for a short vacation and we're stuck...And really it was unannounced. We were attacked by four armed robbers on our way back to the hotel where we lodged.we were robbed and completely embarrassed.

All our cash,credit cards and cellphone were stolen. We've reported the incident to the embassy and the Police but to my dismay they seem not bothered...their response was just too casual.Our flight leaves in few hours but We've got to settle our bills before We're allowed to leave....Now am freaked out....Please I need you to loan some money,I promise to refund you as soon as I'm back home. All i need is $1,750 .. Please Let me know what you can do?Write me back so I can tell you how to get it to me..

You guys are all thinking this is just one of those Nigerian scams, right? Well, you're right, but I didn't know this. I had never seen one of these scammers hijack one of my contact's email address and stationary, so I assumed it was true. I had my doubts, of course. Seemed odd to me that this most likely wealthy doctor couldn't just call her bank; also, why for someone with an advanced degree is this written so poorly? So I email my bosses the note and go:

I was checking my spam folder and amongst the Viagra ads I found this shocking bit of news from Julia Steppenwolf (do you know her?)


One of my bosses emails back:

;-)
Go ahead and send her some money. She sounds reputable....

Even after this email I still didn't completely doubt the authenticity of this doctor's request. But to give myself some credit, while I did still think she had been robbed, I thought maybe this was an attempt by her muggers--who now have her phone and contacts--to extract even more money--from her friends!

So I write back:

Maybe I’ll ask Stephen (our VP) if Betsy (our admin) can send her a check? Jokes aside, it is a horrible story but I wonder why she can’t call her bank? Maybe this email is from the robbers trying to get MORE money!

So my boss emails back:

You realize this is a spam phishing attempt, right? Not true...

Actually, no--I hadn't thought of that. Please don't fire me.