Comments for Public Service Announcements

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by admin

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:30:53 +0000

@ Harrold… If you received this particuliar email to an MSN email address, then I can understand how it would give it a certain amount of authenticity. As for me, this scam was sent to a Google account, which was just the first of many indicators that not all was right with it (my reasoning is for that being that, if Microsoft are giving money away, they are more likely to send it to people signed up to their services).

In the reference you make to the “1000 dollar a day” contest, I would assume that if someone wins it, they may well be sent an email but it would probably be addressed to the name of the account holder, rather than “Dear Lucky Winner”.

As for what they do with the collected information, should anyone reply… well, for one they have confirmed an active email address and the person replying has given up a genuine name / address combination. The next step for the scammer would, most likely, be to try and gain financial information under the pretence that they will pay the money to your bank account (after you have sent them their “release fee” of course!)

You may have noticed that spam / junk mail that is trying to sell something, is usually promoting meds or fake watches (is what I get anyway). Most affiliate programs (including Goole Adsense) have a zero tolerance policy on people spamming to create interest in sales / click through advertising. Therefore, it would be quite rare, imho, that anyone would send this type of spam for fear of account closure (I guess medication / watch sellers are less discerning).

Anyway, I am glad you found this posting and if it confirmed for you that the email you received is a scam then all good 🙂

BTW. Why your email got on to a scammers list may not be that it was sold. Obviously if a forum were to publish peoples addresses then its easy pickings for a bot / crawler to find it eventually. However, it is possible to generate millions of random names and attach @yahoo, @gmail etc on the end and blast the ‘net hoping something finds a target.

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by admin

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:40:13 +0000

@ Scott… did you get a response from your scambaiting? If you managed to get the requested pic, feel free to post a link in a comment.

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by Harrold

Harrold — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:38:12 +0000

Just got this email. It’s pretty good imho. Like it doesn’t look too fake and msn messenger is running that 1000 dollars a day contest. A spam mail for that MIGHT have got me. For future spam mails I’d suggest having a time limit to claim the prize. This one was kind of open ended. Also, what do they use the information for that they collect from this anyways. I mean… if you wanted to telemarket some shit use a phone book and they’ve already found our emails so they could send us as much spam as they want. I’d say they’re better off spamming google adsence or affiliate links or something then asking people around the world to send them thousands of dollars because they won money. Sigh. But this is like the first spam mail I’ve recieved on my mail account and its been open for months. Geuss its time to check which forums have been selling my email.

Comment on You Have A Package.. Contact.. fedex_dispatch@live.com – Email Scam by admin

admin — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:33:13 +0000

lol.. if you have a few hours and need a good laugh, then it is worth visiting scam baiting sites like Ebola Monkey Man and 419eater

Comment on You Have A Package.. Contact.. fedex_dispatch@live.com – Email Scam by Scott

Scott — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:37:54 +0000

Just get Daniel to send u a photo holding a sign that says something witty. Do what the Ebolamonkey man use to do, i think he stopped that! Just get them to send you pics of them holding signs and wearing a dress so u can conferm its real… it really works!

Those poor guys are so desperate! i feel bad for them,

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by Scott

Scott — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:34:32 +0000

Ok new plan, i sent a reply phishing him back lol, now im awaiting a photo of this guy with a sign, scottlindh.com and waring a top hat… i hope he sends the pic!!

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by Scott

Scott — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:31:11 +0000

i also received this email lol, I replayed saying that judging on his spelling i assume he is from South Africa. Its really upsetting imagine old ladies getting this thinking YES FIANLLY I HAVE WON!!!, my wife thought it was serious… really upsetting, theres a special spot in hell for this guy.

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by admin

admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:54:47 +0000

Hi Simon,

Sadly, it isn’t difficult at all. For a bit more information you may want to visit this site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Email-Spoofing.html

There are also a few online services that allow you to send emails to people by pretending they come from someone else. These sites (for example, http://prankmail.org/) state they are for fun, however they can easily be used by spammers.

Bill.

Comment on Congratulation Your Email ID Won (£500,000.00 GBP) – Email Scam by Simon

Simon — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:06:45 +0000

I received the same spam just minutes ago, in my gmail inbox. I know for sure that it’s a phishing email. But I am courious how it appears to be sent from info@microsoft.co.uk . Is it easy to make a fake sender?

Thanks!
Simon

Comment on BIG LOTTERY FUND LUCKY WINNER – Lottery Email Scam by UK National Lottery Scam Disclosed « Gariell’s Weblog

UK National Lottery Scam Disclosed « Gariell’s Weblog — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:30:04 +0000

[…] Read more here […]