A week ago I received the following email which obviously is a scam.
The “to:” field is empty.
Does this statement: “Your Email ID makes you Lucky of sum pay out of 2,500,000.00 in NOKIA UK”, make any sense? The pay out is a mere 2,500,000.00 and in what currency?
This is the prelude message sent by a confidence trickster that asks for Personally identifiable information, similar to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation scam.
If you receive any similar letter I recommend you to ignore it and desist from replying, however tempting the “pay out” amount might be.
Goodnews
from:
Berlinda Eghuizen <b.eghuizen@windesheim.nl>
to:
date:
Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 11:57 AM
subject:
Goodnews
mailed-by:
windesheim.nl
Your Email ID makes you Lucky of sum pay out of 2,500,000.00 in NOKIA UK
Is deze mail niet voor u bedoeld? Informeer dan alstublieft degene die de mail heeft verzonden. Verwijder het bericht en eventuele bijlagen en openbaar de inhoud niet aan derden.
This message is intended for the exclusive use of the person(s) mentioned as recipient(s) and may contain personal and/or confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete this message from your system immediately. Directly or indirectly copying, disclosing, distributing, printing, publicising and/or in any way using this message or any part thereof by any means is strictly prohibited if you are not the intended recipient(s).
Since 1997, we have seen in circulation hoax emails appealing with phrases such as: “Forward this message to others and help fund medical care for a sick or dying child“.
Invariably, these messages named a large charity as the benefactor that stood ready to direct monies towards the costs of medical care for a child fighting for life. That trend continued into 2010.
Here is a heart-wringing message I came across on Facebook.
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Everyone with a sympathetic heart wants to help sick children to get better. The message about a little boy or a little girl suffering from some dreaded disease or infirmity certainly tugs the heartstrings of many. Even so, on the internet pranksters play upon the pathos of others for their personal odious amusement.
Search through the archives on the internet failed to turn up any news about the shooting of any young man by his stepfather and his struggle for life in any hospital.
Lamentably, this message is a hoax.
This message does not give the date and the place where this incident occurred nor does it mention the name of the hospital that takes care of the boy.
Similar appeals to save a young life began circulating first through e-mails and later as cell phone text messages and in social websites such as Facebook.
Here are three earlier versions of this hoax message cited by snopes.com:
Version #1:
[Collected via e-mail, February 2010]
Last friday 2-12-10 a 14 yr old boy was shot 6 times by his step dad. The boy was protecting his 2 yr old sister, in whom the step dad was atempting to rape. The young girl was not harmed, bc of that young mans courage & loyalty to his sister. The mom was at work during this time. The 14 yr old boy is now fighting for his life, and the doctors say he will not make it unless he has this life saving surgery in wich the boys mom cant afford. So At&t has agreed to donate $0.45 every time this msg is sent. So fwd & help save a life! (sic)
Version #2:
[Collected via e-mail, February 2010]
Last friday 2/12/10 a 14 y/o boy weas shot 6 times by his step dad. the boy was protecting his 2 y/o sistetr, whom the atep dad was attemping to rape. the young girl was not harmed because of that young mans courage and loyalty to his sister. The Mother was at work when this took place the 14 yr old boy “dominicjamesdaggner” is now fighting for his life, and the doctor says he will not make unless he has life saving surgery in which the mother cant not afford. So, Verizon and AT&T have agree to donate $12.00 everytime this text is sent. (sic)
Version #3:
[Collected via e-mail, May 2012]
14 YEAR OLD BOY WAS SHOT 6 TIMES BY HIS STEPFATHER, THIS BOY WAS PROTECTING HIS LITTLE 2 YEAR OLD SISTER WHO WAS ABOUT TO BE RAPED BY THIS POOR EXCUSE OF A MAN. THE LITTLE GIRL DID NOT GET HURT THANKS TO HER BRAVE OLDER BROTHER. THEIR MOM WAS AT WORK WHEN ALL THIS HAPPENED. NOW THIS BRAVE YOUNG MAN IS FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE, BUT DOCTRS SAY HE WILL NOT SURVIVE UNLESS HE GETS AN OPERATION WHICH IS VERY COSTFUL AND WHICH HIS MOM CANNOT PAY. ALL FACEBOOK COMPANIES HAVE AGREED TO DONATE 45 CENTS FOR EVERY TIME SOMEONE POSTS THIS TO THEIR WALL, SO PLEASE PASTE AND PASS THIS ON SO THAT TOGETHER WE CAN HELP SAVE THIS BOYS LIFE (sic)
The first two versions mention a date (2-12-10) when the shooting supposedly occurred while the third version does not mention a date . The second version even quotes a name for the victim as “dominicjamesdaggner.“
According to the current version of the message, an ante of 45 US cents would be paid by “Facebook Companies” for each forwarded message. In Version #1, cited above AT&T also offered the same amount per forwarded message. Version #2 of the message surpasses these two offers; it states that Verizon would pay a fantastic $12.00 as ante per forwarded message. And the third version says: “ALL FACEBOOK COMPANIES HAVE AGREED TO DONATE 45 CENTS FOR EVERY TIME SOMEONE POSTS THIS TO THEIR WALL…”
The message “shot 14-year-old boy”, circulated on the web similar to the hoaxes that used the name of the American Cancer Society, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, or some other large social or business entity. The pranksters even roped in McDonald’s and Pizza Hut in the Justin Mallory hoax: “… epileptic in need of long-term care … ” and AOL and ZDNet in the Rachel Arlington hoax: “… brain cancer sufferer in need of an operation …“
Please, do not immediately believe that whatever appears on Facebook or any other site on the web as 100% true. First, verify the news. If it is true, and you want to help, then give your money or your time for the cause.
So, from now on, refrain from forwarding worthless messages to others. Well-intentioned forwarding of messages does nothing towards helping a sick child; however, it does make the day of the prankster who initiated the hoax.
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The killing of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden might or might not result in revenge attacks, but a worldwide attack seems to have taken place. Yes, you have already become a victim of a cyber attack if you were sent, shown, made to click any image or video appearing to be that of the dead al Qaeda chief.
Amidst a clueless world totally devoid of any image or video of the final moments of the world’s most wanted man — Osama bin Laden, spammers flooded the internet with fake still and motion pictures. Did you notice it?
Alarmed by the such viral trend, I had written early Tuesday… warning that some cartoons, images, videos were flashing on the internet. Sad… many chose to ignore the caution. Hey, you did it at your cost.
Result: Your internet account was compromised. And if you are on a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter, the accounts of your friends and connections are also no longer safe. Mind you, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to stay secure on the net. At least this latest episode should smart you.
Remember: The moment you notice any suspicious activity on your friend’s wall or on your wall via your friend or a seductive chat liner, please alert your friend immediately… yes, at once. This is in your interest only as, under such circumstances, your account too becomes vulnerable and falls easy prey to the Osamas of Internet.
Advisory: In case you are seriously concerned, you must go through a brief prepared by me. It is being published below in your interest. Remember to share it with all your contacts to help make internet free of Osamas. Do your bit. Don’t fall into a trap.
When you are online: Stay alert, cautious, smart and secure and away from a wild world. Don’t blindly click links that you see online — on email, searches or networking sites. You must also raise eyebrows when you get directed to an altogether unexpected site that you didn’t intend to visit.
In my email account, I recently noted unusual activities. Mails were being ‘sent’ by ‘me’ to ‘me’ (and also to my contacts). Therefore. I took it up with my mail service operator.
Their response … ufff … was surprising. They said this is normal these days. According to them, my email account (or your mail account in like manner) is not compromised under such circumstances. Neither the account is (actually) hacked.
As per my email client, the frauds have become smarter. They have now devised ways to ‘forge messages’ which look like having been sent from genuine senders. The modus operandi is such that they forge your e-mail address as the “From” field on the unsolicited e-mail. This doesn’t require the person to log in to the account.
Sometimes, individuals forge message headers to suggest that the e-mail originated from your mail account. Then, the spammers also send unsolicited e-mails using bulk e-mail programs that forge headers in the e-mail message. Some of these programs combine the sender’s account name or e-mail address with another domain name to try and make it appear more authentic.
The above methods clearly bypass your mail filters because the message appears to originate from the recipient’s own account. This is becoming a very difficult practice to guard against. How secure is the net, you can well guess.
Many of my friends have also discussed with me some surprising mails that they keep getting, other than the now infamous ones … that you have won some lottery or jackpot worth millions … or promotion of viagra etc. Such mails are undoubtedly from frauds, though with suggestive and tempting subject lines. Some examples are: “This is pretty interesting”, “This is amazing”, “You will certainly like this”.
I expect you not to open such mails, and as far as possible to report such mails to your service providers or to the police if it requires their intervention. Three years back when my mail account was indeed compromised, the hacker mailed my contacts soliciting money on my behalf, telling them that I was stuck in London and needed money urgently.
On Facebook walls also, I find many of you trying to see ‘who visited your profile’ etc. Please do not visit such links as they are seductively created to fool you. Similarly, you must be receiving direct messages from Twitter which prima facie look suspicious. And have you forgotten the twitter messages that promised top journalists a quick boost in their followers and many indeed fooled themselves dreaming to become twitter avatars.
Also, never give your (any) account details in response to any mail, how genuine it may appear. Remember, no (no) service provider … in any situation … asks for such details. Mails seeking private information are absolutely bogus and must be dealt with properly.
Sometimes, and quite shockingly, a user falls victim to some type of phishing scheme – either they reply to an email that threatens to close their account if they don’t provide their password, or they go to a website that looks like their mail sign-in page and provide their password.
According to senior journalist Anil Maheshwari, “hacking is not a new development. It has been prevalent since the World Wide Web (www) became popular. Hackers are now reinventing themselves to gain access to confidential information.”
Hope you will take adequate care. And do not forget to regularly change your password, which is still a good practice.
. By T.V. Antony Raj
Impressions 