I just got this e-mail in my Hotmail account. It had been separated as JUNK and rightfully so. I thought Hotmail had made a mistake at first. Here's what it said.DEAR ACCOUNT USER,
This is email from Windows Live Customer Service® and we are sending it to all account user for safety. Due to the anonymous registration of our account which is causing congestion to our service, so we are shutting down some account and your account was among those to be deleted. The purpose of this email is for you to verify that you are the owner of this account and you are still using it by filling the information below after clicking on the reply button:.......
(Then they asked for name, address, and other personal information.)
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
Sincerely,
The Windows Live Hotmail Team
I just DELETED this message, of course but I could see that there must have been people who would fall for something like this. I had to read it carefully to see the grammatical errors in the message. I wonder what they're planning to do with the information. Identify theft? Shiver... It's sad to know there are so many criminal, crazy people out in cyber space.
It's amazing how creative the "bad guys" can be, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWell, grammatical errors are good for something. It's good the Internet crooks don't have proofreaders.
ReplyDeleteOh, this always happens to me -- attempts to get info re my bank accts, my credit cards, my email, etc. I just delete the spam.
ReplyDeleteI also get spam over the phone! Just hang up!
So annoying when those things happen. One of my e-mail addresses offers the "report as spam" choice, which is really handy.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was away at the coast last week, the only message on my answering machine was that awful female saying in an annoyed voice "There is nothing wrong with your credit cards now, but there could be something wrong at any time" or words to that effect. Very annoying.
Dina is right, you can usully tell by the grammatical errors that it's spam.
Hi to Art, and all the best to your mom,
Luv, K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Thanks for letting us know. We will be on the alert for such scams.
ReplyDeleteThere are some devious people out there!
ReplyDeleteyou can always check with snopes.com and that helps if you aren't sure who the bad guys are...
ReplyDeleteI always wonder why I get so much spam mail wanting to sell me Viagra.
ReplyDeleteYes, apart from such messages, I also got messages of "poor"students who had to look after their mothers and sisters or sick brothers, begging me to donate money to them.
ReplyDeleteWell fortunately we know what to do!
My friend Diane from California got one of these type of messages and she followed the instructions.
ReplyDeleteBoy did she get spammed...she had such a hard time with it, that I know.
I have to say that I have been lucky and just delete that stuff.
Probably lost a hundred millions dollars along the way but hey! :))
this is scary, so glad it went to your junk folder. I just heard of someone whose email account got hacked into and they stole her contact list and sent weird emails to them all.
ReplyDeleteRight now these are easy to spot. I shudder to think what will happen when the spammers/fishers/criminals learn correct grammar. Right now, that's a tip-off. Once they get better at it, we may be in for a rough ride.
ReplyDeleteMy policy is that if I didn't ask for the e-mail, or it isn't someone with whom I am personally familiar, it's spam and I get rid of it immediately.
I will say that the gmail filters are AWESOME. I rarely get anything slipping through.
I just really wish people would get a life and stop trying to scam people! Kay, I always ignore and delete e-mails like this.
ReplyDeleteI get those all the time and have for years. Mark it as junk and allegedly Microsoft will take care of it or so they told me long ago.
ReplyDeleteChildren and hackers must play. Sigh.
Sounds so threatening and so real!! Damn phishers! You're right... many would have fallen for it.
ReplyDeleteI keep getting messages about a Dell that someone is trying to deliver to my house....
Hmmm. I have comment moderation on my blog, gmail, which picks up and deletes most spam, and caller ID. To me these are necessities.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how some people like to make you worry about false things.
ReplyDelete