Scam Email...

BlackNinja

BlackNinja

Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
1,513
To all fellow Busse (& BF) members... I received a scam Email which is almost convincing. I called Microsoft Live to verify that it was a fake. It sounds obvious not to respond, but who wants to find out the hard way. It reads:

Subject: Hotmail Alert – Account Alert

Dear Account Owner,


This Email is from Microsoft Customer Care and we are sending it to every 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. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account and if you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.Confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 48 hours for security reasons.

* User Name: ............................
* Password: ..............................
* Date of Birth: .........................
* Country Or Territory: .............
* Alternative Email: ..................
* Alternative Password: ............

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way

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.
Sincerely,
The Windows Live Hotmail Team

:thumbdn::thumbdn::mad::thumbdn::thumbdn:
 
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I contact them. I never accept emails to me as legitimate contacts from serving companies. Most have a policy of NEVER asking you for your personal information.
 
No legit company will ever ask you for your account name and password in an email.
If they do, then it is a scam or you just shouldn't be dealing with that company.
Any company that asks you to click on a link - DON'T. go to that companies website proper and find the page there.
If Amazon sends you something saying "click on this link to go to your account" DON'T. go to www.amazon.com and sign in.
 
I get a similar scam from banks, including an occasional bank I've never done business with. :)
That's why they call it phishing.
 
However, while I understand you want to warn your closest online friends, you are neglecting doing the same for others on Bladeforums. i'm going to copy this to FEEDBACK, so the rest can see this, too.
 
I hope you were not really "almost" convinced as to the legitimacy of that e-mail. To me, it is a very poor attempt at social engineering, but one which nonetheless many people will fall for because of ignorance. Educate yourself about some signs of fraudulent e-mails. Better yet, adopt some hard and fast rules: If you don't know who the e-mail is from, simply delete it without opening it. If you are expecting an e-mail from someone, but you don't know their e-mail address, then the subject line should give you a clue as to the legitimacy of the e-mail and its sender. If not, delete it without opening it. And if you get an e-mail from someone you do know, but it seems uncharacteristic of them (say for eg, your brother appears to send you an e-mail with sex jokes or some type of chain e-mail where you have to send it to 5 people, but those are very uncharacteristic for him to read, have, or forward to others), then again--delete the e-mail without opening it. These rules may sound harsh, but practicing them without exception is far less harsh than the alternative.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
However, while I understand you want to warn your closest online friends, you are neglecting doing the same for others on Bladeforums. i'm going to copy this to FEEDBACK, so the rest can see this, too.
Click to expand...

Thanks,
I wasn't exactly sure where else to post it (besides where I pretty much live). Sorry about any inconvenience.

Edge,
I would normally not even think twice about an email like this, but when I called MS, they put me thru about 4-5 different people to finaly verify that it was a fake. That's enough for me to post a warning to other members.
 
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