They must think people are stupid

[Jon Tees]

Looking for a laugh? Take a look at this scam e-mail I received from some idiot posing as the Windows Live team. The guy used a hotmail address with 77 at the end of it and Windows Live team appeared like this “Windows Live Team” He also spelled alert with two ll’s in the subject line. Some people aren’t trying anymore.

Dear Account User



This Email is from Hotmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Hotmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted.

You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

* Username: .............................
* Password: ................................
* Date of Birth: ............................
* Country Or Territory: ................



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

This came from a mere user who was posing as a member of the windows live team asking blatantly for information that they would never ask for or have a need/right to know. Sort of like calling someone out of the blue and asking for their full credit card and bank account information as a “precaution.” no one is dumb enough to actually give it to them.

[VinnyBock]

It's funny, stuff like this used to amaze me, its just routine now...

[Neromancer]

So are you going to respond?? HURRY you only got 2 weeks

[Kay King]

What surprises me is that anyone would read any further after seeing this

we are having congestions

[johnlagoudakis]

Better follow those instructions or you'll lose your account and miss out on all the Nigerian lottery winnings!

[Gary Smith]

"we are having congestions"

I get that sometimes when I eat really spicy food ...

[CliveG]

But this still works or it would have died out by now. Almost every day you hear about someone who has been scammed by something similar to this.

[kurtlehmann]

Almost got caught with one from Microsoft Outlook (supposedly). It just happened to come through as I was having problems synching to my phone. Wish we could get even somehow. Thanks for the laugh.

[whitney01]

That was really funny. I don't believe with those kinds of email messages. I think they only want to get your full details so they can use your personal identity to something. So don't give your details or replied those kind of messages.

[Damien Roche]

It's sad, as someone said above, this must be working because it hasn't died out.

Tell you one thing, my mum would fall for something like this. Some people aren't web savvy and feel the brunt of these scams big time.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by Gary Smith

"we are having congestions"

I get that sometimes when I eat really spicy food ...

lol ... but guess what? I'll bet some people will fall for this.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

People actually do fall for it.

[TMG Enterprises]

With some of these that circulate, I don't think web savviness is the issue. How savvy do you have to be to think that you won a lottery that you didn't enter? I don't care what country the lottery supposedly came from.

Or that a Nigerian prince/banker/etc., is so desperate for help that he/she felt that you were their only chance to get their money out of the country?

They shouldn't pull this stuff, obviously, but I have to admit that I don't have much sympathy for anyone who falls for those type of scams.

Tina

[Kevin Barnes]

You would be surprised at how many Newbies fall for this stuff. I actually got something like that threw skype the other day!! good this skype allows you to block.

[James Clark]

Funny! I have never received one those. Most be annoying.

[20092009]

"They must think people are stupid"

O, I thought you were talking about the government!

[mikemcmillan]

Jon, I saw a thing on (I think it was 60-minutes or some show like that) about how people send out emails like that to get private info. One guy would get credit card info and somehow buy stuff online and send it to a warehouse he had rented where he would pick it up every few days. He was sending a millions of those emails out a week and, hey--even if one out of ten-thousand people bite, well he was making a killing.

You'd think no one would be stupid enough to fall for that stuff. News Flash: We live in America in 2009 and there are plenty of people in that category. Sometimes I think the only ones who aren't are here in the WF .

[Slin]

Sad thing is people do fall for these, took me awhile to teach my awesome mom to ignore these things.

But I have friends who have fallen for these...really I can't wait until public education starts teaching kids to avoid this stuff. According to my 7 year old little brother they actually are already, which is cool.

[clansullivan]

I Can't believe they are still getting people with this stuff!

[michellegreen]

They're only still doing it because it's still working. Sad really...!

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by Jon Tees

no one is dumb enough to actually give it to them.

On the contrary, people can and do fall for these things all the time. Some because they aren't savvy, others because they go through their email in a daze and aren't thinking.

Last time I had to actually go to a teller window at my bank, I saw a large notice posted by the window warning people about sending large amounts of money or banking details to foreign countries. It mentioned Nigeria specifically.

I used to work for a guy that always said that no one ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the general public. Schemes like this make me wonder if he was right...

[whitney01]

There are those people who believed some of those scam mails. i knew one who replied one scam email saying that he won a raffle draw and that he needs to provide some of his personal info needed to claim the price. He even sent his identification ID as a registered nurse and his id as instructor in one University here.

[cconlan]

It is crazy what people will try out. They must be desperate lol There was something in the news recently about some hackers getting hotmail account addresses, they are supposedly working their way through the alphabet. Hopefully Karma bites them hard.

[jgand]

Yeah, these fishing email are annoying, but they keep trying because it must work on some people, I guess a lot of people aren't expecting it and they give their information.