I checked my email yesterday afternoon and saw that my mom sent me another chain mail message. Most of the time I do not even bother to open the emails but the title of this message seemed more desperate than normal. The title PLLLLEEEAAASSSSEEE REEEAAADDD! IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA WEDNESDAY naturally sparked my attention so I decided I would actually read this one. I was not surprised to read another idiotic scam that people actually believe. This particular email said that Bill Gates was conducting a survey and he wanted this email to reach as many recipients as possible. According to the email, sending the email to one person would make you $245, the second person would make you another $243, the third person would make you $241 and so on. And it was no surprise to read the typical story saying that “I did not think this would work either but I gave it a shot and two weeks later I received a check for $24,800.”
Emails like this always make me laugh because I find it hard to believe that so many people are gullible enough to believe they will actually receive money for forwarding an email. I will admit that in middle school I received an email with a similar message so I decided to test my luck. As you can imagine, I was throughly disappointed when I never received my sum of money for doing the company a favor of sending out a mass email. Seriously, for all the work I put into finding email recipients I honestly thought I deserved something! But thinking realistically, will Bill gates actually be willing to spend millions upon millions to have people send around a message in which the context of the message only says “please forward this to as many people as you can.” I think not! Yes he is wealthy, but even the most wealthy men are not willing to spend millions to conduct a survey that could easily be advertised for a lot less money.
I decided to google email scams online and it took me to a link on the FBI website. I was completely unaware of the mass numbers and variety of emails that people receive and actually believe are legitimate. Some of the emails download viruses to your computer, while others make you computer more susceptible to hacking. I even read about an email scam going around that claims a family member will be kidnapped if a desired ransom is not paid. The scams often use names and telephone numbers of governmental officials to make the letters seem more believable. The emails usually contain a link that will cause a virus so the authors can find personal information that is stored on your computer. Next time you receive a seemingly friendly or even threatening email be very cautions to open it because it could lead to many negative effects. To read more about different viruses go to http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm
2 comments:
I guess it proves your point that I could not resist reading this article because it said "PLEEEAASSEE REEAADD!"...Something about capital letters just makes you want to read a post. Reading your article though, I might think twice about opening those emails now.
I hate forwards they are out of control. I just can't believe that so many people buy into them, people will do anything for free money. I also love that it's now 2009 and it's still being sent around.
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