Odd emails!

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kikie

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A couple off weeks ago, I received two emails concerning a "labour contract". The odd thing is that I didn't apply for any job. Still these emails, in English, were send to my email address.

Just a few minutes ago, I received, again, two emails.

  • 1 email to confirm an airplane tickett bought online with a credit card
  • 1 email with a credit card report.
I don't have a credit card and I didn't buy an online airplane tickett.

All the attatchments that came with these 4 emails were infected with "worms" and were eliminated by my anti virus program (kaspersky).

I've got 2 personal email accounts and both emails seem to be corrupted.
When I made an account (server) to create these emails, I didn't use my personal "data". The only thing that I used was my first name. I don't trust the internet, and I never mut my name, surname, address online not even when I made an account on the server.
A very good friend of mine is a police officer whom investigates internet crimes. I'm going to contact him tomorrow. He has worked on international internet fraude cases (Nigeria swindlers whom operated from the UK) .
 
That it happens to everyone. I get e-mails like this all the time. And some dated 30 years into the future.
 
Yeah, I got the aeroplane ticket one. I took it seriously for several whole seconds.
 
It's called phishing, I think - email is the perfect way to contact people directly and attempt to elicit all sorts of useful information from you - either by infecting your computer with a virus (usually via an attachment), by asking you directly for information (either by replying to the email, or by phoning a number), or by following a link to a website.

Some of these are laughably false, but some others are extremely convincing - esp. if they have links with the same address as one you trust/recognise... a decent email client like Eudora, however, can spot these false links and warn you that the site you are actually about to visit is not the same as the site address written in the link.

Make sure you have up to date virus definitions for your anti-virus software, and never respond in any way, shape or form to these emails - ever. No legitimate business, charity or bank will ever ask you for info via an email.

And by the way, all these starving orphans with cancer and "THIS IS NOT A HOAX, PLZ FORWARD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!" messages should always, ALWAYS be regarded as fraudulent.
 
Thanks.

I wasn't going to respond. I never respond to emails like that.

I just removed the 2 first emails a couple of weeks ago and didn't think of it any more.

Now, I'm going to reinstall this computer, using a clean "image" (Ghost) in case this pc is infected. Kasperky seems to be a good anti virus programme
 
Touring Mars
And by the way, all these starving orphans with cancer and "THIS IS NOT A HOAX, PLZ FORWARD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!" messages should always, ALWAYS be regarded as fraudulent.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is some degree of irony in this, isn't there?

"THIS IS NOT A HOAX" = this is a hoax.
 
I particularly like the "HOTMAIL IZ CLOZIN DOWN FREE ACCOUNTS! OH NOEZ!" ones that ask you to send it to 10 people to stop them doing this disastrous move. You pay attention the first time, but when you read through it and realise that every bit of it is absolute horse piddle, you get a bit annoyed when the exact same sender and the exact same forwarders that took it seriously 3 weeks ago send it to you for the eighth time and consequently all forward it to eachother 10 times too... Well most people get a bit annoyed. I, on the other hand, explode.
 
I regularly get e-mails from fetish pron sites, discounts on viagra and ways to improve the size of my manhood....although that's just the ones that I have signed up to.

The e-mails that I don't request are always trying to sell me fake watches.
 
Often I'm asked if I want to increase the size of my manhood as well.
These people obviously don't do their research unless they're trying to tell me something :odd:
 
I wonder how research scientists who really do work with Viagra ever get any emails - our spam filters at work are pretty good, and pick up anything like that - but there are people who work on topics related to "sex" (i.e. evolutionary biologists) who often get important emails rerouted into their spam folders :D

GilesGuthrie
Yes, there is some degree of irony in this, isn't there?

"THIS IS NOT A HOAX" = this is a hoax.
Click to expand...
The real irony is that you end up emailing all your friends to alert them about the hoax :lol: Indeed, there are plenty of emails about "viruses" etc, or hoaxers on Facebook, when the intention behind them is purely to create more traffic. These things are even more insidious, since your friends/family think they are doing you a favour, when infact they have just made the situation much worse.
 
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I got an e-mail from "MSNBC" the other day saying that Paris Hilton was going to operate the LHC :scared:

Ooh, and I just got one sent to Me, 30 years in the future, from Myself, advertising Viagra.

From,
Chris.
 
Wallrunner51
Ooh, and I just got one sent to Me, 30 years in the future, from Myself, advertising Viagra.
Click to expand...
More believable than the Paris Hilton/LHC email, me thinks. :sly:

I kid, Chris. I kid.
 
I have this horrible feeling that in 30 years time, I will be sending myself emails about Viagra :sick:
 
GilesGuthrie
Yes, there is some degree of irony in this, isn't there?

"THIS IS NOT A HOAX" = this is a hoax.
Click to expand...

The same thing holds true with paper junk mail. "IMPORTANT - Postmaster Deliver to Addressee ONLY - Recipient Please Open IMMEDIATELY" means it gets a direct and very quick trip to the recycling bin.
 
These emails are'nt very convincing to ppl who know their way in the IT or computer systems. But for "IT handicapped" it is an another story. For instance, I've tried to teach my 55 year old father some basic internet, mail and banking stuff and I know he would get a fit if he would get one of these emails. I got some in my email so here it is for those who haven't received them yet:

Subject: Your Online Flight Ticket N 54389

Dear Gentlemen,
Thank you for using our new service "Buy flight ticket Online" on our website.
Your account has been created:

Your login: jarno.maja@kolumbus.fi
Your password: passIP0Z

Your credit card has been charged for $661.36.
We would like to remind you that whenever you order tickets on our website you get a discount of 10%!
Attached to this message is the purchase Invoice and the flight ticket.
To use your ticket, simply print it on a color printed, and you are set to take off for the journey!

Kind regards,
AirTran Airways
Click to expand...

There are several ways to tell it's fraud. First one I checked, was where it's from. Email says it's from AirTran Airways but the adress is tequilla@qc.aira.com.... Odd thing is that the mail adress and login isn't mine? It is close to mine, but still misspelled.
 
Subject: Your Online Flight Ticket N 54389

Dear Gentlemen,
Thank you for using our new service "Buy flight ticket Online" on our website.
Your account has been created:

Your login: jarno.maja@kolumbus.fi
Your password: passIP0Z

Your credit card has been charged for $661.36.
We would like to remind you that whenever you order tickets on our website you get a discount of 10%!
Attached to this message is the purchase Invoice and the flight ticket.
To use your ticket, simply print it on a color printed, and you are set to take off for the journey!

Kind regards,
AirTran Airways
Click to expand...

You can also tell by the weird grammar, random capitalization, and misspelled words. Some aren't as obvious as others in this email, but AirTran is an American company that would not make glaring English-language grammatical and spelling mistakes.
 

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