General discussion
Hoax email
Sat 22 Nov 2008 04:12:48 AM UTC — wehaveitallI just got this email in my inbox
" IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA TODAY SHOW, DO IT
Curtis L. Zaleski
Attorney at Law
535 E. Main St
Owosso, MI 48867
989-723-8166
Read carefully...
THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL
To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages ,
But this is from my friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is
an attorney.
If she says that this will work - It will work. After all, what have
you got to lose?
SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I'm an
attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured
AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for
fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one
filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.
Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter.
Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent
later.
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies
and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the
most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail
beta test
When you forwa rd this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will
track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week
time period.
For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay
you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on,
Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives
it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact
you for your address and then send you a check.
Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations
1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX 292-1085
Thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this
e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and
within days, I received a check for $24, 800.00. You need to respond
before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this, Bill gates is the
man.
It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many
people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10, 000.00
We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test wit hout
getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in
on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT
game, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4, 324.44 and
was stamped 'Paid In Full'.
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.526 / Virus Database: 270.5.6/1574 - Release Date: 7/25/2008 4:27 PM"
After looking at it, there are quite a few problems with this email
1.It would be illegal for microsoft to track an email such as that
2,If a lawyer made that email, then why would microsoft pay you?
3.It says u will get at least 10,000 dollars. First off, he said 245 dollars per person, not ten thousand per person, and even if u multiply 245 or 245 plus 241 plus 245 etc. it never equals ten thousand dollars even
4. When it talks about the 4 thousand dollar amount someone got, it never mentioned cents before, therefor the .44 cents would be fake
5. Microsoft and AOL aren't partnering and internet explorer wasn't in any way made by AOL!
That is Spam
Sat 22 Nov 2008 10:35:23 AM UTC — FlyAquaSpam mails like that are very common. They ask you to forward it to as many people as possible, and reward you if you do or punish you if you don't (for example, 'a monster will kill your mother tonight' and such rubbish).
Do not take that serious! Neither Microsoft nor AOL can track this mail, and even if they could, this would be illegal. But if you're in the wrong country, it can even cost you some $10,000 because you'd be spamming yourself. No-one would pay such a high amount of money. That would cost them billions.
To your fifth point: There is an AOL version of IE5 created for AOL users. But this does not affect anything at all.
Here is a note for users in Germany: It has become public that even lawyers send such mails to you. If you forward it back to them, they will often want several thousand euros from you because you spammed them. So this might often be a trap lawyers use to make really much money in small amounts of time. I have no evidence for that, but other people claim they would have recieved such mails.
Obvious scam
Sat 22 Nov 2008 12:10:22 PM UTC — phantazmI saw the same mail some months earlier. And you already listed the reasons why the message does not make sense, even contradict itself.
However...
FlyAqua: It has become public that even lawyers send such mails to you. If you forward it back to them, they will often want several thousand euros from you because you spammed them. So this might often be a trap lawyers use to make really much money in small amounts of time. I have no evidence for that, but other people claim they would have recieved such mails.
I really really doubt that. Spam is bulk mail sent to people you don't know. Spam is not bulk mailing your own friends. Spam is not sending a single mail to someone you don't know. It's the combination of 'bulk' and 'unknown' that makes it spam. At least in my dictionary. I haven't heard that Germany is differing here. But how are spamlaws in Germany? Does WOT have a german section that could enlighten us..?
FlyAqua: I have no evidence for that, but other people claim they would have recieved such mails.
Did you perhaps hear this from "a friend of a friend"..?
I'm more reminded of urban legends and chainletters here...
;-)
hoax e mails
Sat 22 Nov 2008 01:29:40 PM UTC — cod headif you are at all bothered about hoax e mails,go along to wehaveitalls google group and read bobjams artcle on hoax e mails.its truely funny.it had me falling of the chair laughing.
Re: obvious scam
Sat 22 Nov 2008 02:47:11 PM UTC — FlyAqua@phantazm:
In Germany, if you violate a law, you can get a letter from a lawyer which will cost several hundred/thousand euros. That's the biggest worry of many webmasters at the moment.
That can also happen if you send spam. Because most of the money is recieved by the lawyer him/herself, that happens quite often.
There are several websites, which are often operated by lawyers too, warning about the most common reasons why it happens, and spam is one of those reasons.
For spam, it does not matter who you write to and if you know that person or not. If you spam your best friend they can punish you just as well - even though they usually don't do it.
Germany have been known to
Sat 22 Nov 2008 04:41:02 PM UTC — YoKennyGermany have been known to do strange things in the past.
@YoKenny
Sat 22 Nov 2008 05:45:21 PM UTC — FlyAquaNope, it's just a few bad guys causing a disaster, like so often before. And the government does hardly anything to stop them.
Back2topic: Well, it's obvious the e-mail you recieved is spam.
Lots of responses
Sat 22 Nov 2008 08:41:52 PM UTC — wehaveitallThanks for your responses. Check out bobjams response in the google group at:http://groups.google.com/group/mywot/browse_thread/thread/689489da2d7feb6e
And while you're at it, why not join and post in the group too?
JOIN THE WOT GOOGLE GROUP AT: http://groups.google.com/group/mywot
Glad
Sat 22 Nov 2008 09:19:21 PM UTC — BobJamGlad I could insert a little levity to an otherwise aggravating circumstance . . . and an added benefit is perhaps getting some more folks to visit the google group out of curiosity: http://groups.google.com/group/mywot/topics