Congratulations. You Have Been Awarded...

[white avenger]

Is there anyone else here who gets these stupid notifications?

Some government official of some obscure little country managed to escape just before the rebels took power. He took the entire national treasury with him, and needs someone (you, obviously) to provide a bank account in which to deposit the funds, for which you will receive several hundred thousand dollars as a commission, sometimes even tax free. Or

You have been awarded first prize in a contest you not only didn't enter, but have never before heard of. Or

Someone's parent or business partner is dying, and, having heard about your sterling character and dependability, wants to make the executor of his estate ontil his children reach legal age, for, once more, a commission ranging in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I even got one recently, supposedly from the FBI, informing me that there was a crate of currency, estimated to be in the neighborhood of several million dollars, addressed to me and waiting at Laguordia Airport in New York.If I didn't claim it soon, legal action was going to be taken against me.


Not a week goes by that I don't get at least 2 or 3 of these things. I never reply to any of them, never open any of the attachments accompanying them, and almost never read them anymore, but, still, they keep coming.

If just one of them had as much as a shred of truth to it, I could hace a huge Buffy Boards party and pay everyone's expenses for coming.

 

[brinkster130]

I haven't received any messages like that; sounds like a nuisance!

The BB party, on the other hand, sounds like something that would be tons of fun! 🙂

 

[TotallySpiked]

I got some text messages recently that said I had won £10000000 or some other ridiculous amount. Seems highly unlikely since I come from Australia. I feel sorry for the people who fall for it, considering it's so transparent.

 

[Robb Stark]

Well, I used to, but I just got an email from the prince of Nigeria and he assures me I'm going to make a fortune! He seems like a real straight shooter!

 

[Pike]

I always get a phone call from "My Captain" saying that I won a free cruise. I can ever hear a generic 'ship horn' in the background. Hahaha.

The other time was these people trying to get me to make a payment about some old check from years ago that I wrote. They had third party people on the line, waiting music, a website, etc.. it took me nearly six hours to figure out it was a scam. It was so stressful.

 

[tec]

I gotten the text about contest I won from target

A the call about the cruse with the horn

I hate both with a passion

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I got texts from Apple that I had won something or whatever... I figured it might be legit 'cause I gave my mobile # to Apple when I registered my Itouch... When my mom got the same text, I figured it was junk........

 

[white avenger]

Just as an example of when something like this is actually on the up and up, however, I had just joined a different forum, now defunct, whose theme was various types of edged weapons (I'm a long time collector of Bowie knives and Alamo memorabilia) and, about two weeks after joining, I got an email informing me that I had won a "Braveheart" type claymore, made by Valiant (as opposed to the many knockoff junkers on the market, Valiant produces quality swords,hand forged from the finest material, literally the type of sword that someone in Wallace's time would have been proud to carry into battle) All that I had to do was to send $20 to cover shipping and handling charges. I almost deleted the email, then I said, "What the heck, it's only not much money, and it's Paypal, so I can always get my money back if it's a scam." I sent the money, and, lo and behold, the sword was delivered a week later, great quality and razor sharp. So, occasionally, you actually CAN get something for nearly nothing like that.

(Just in case you haven't seen the movie...)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwhD9h6Y_3U"]Valiant Armoury William Wallace Sword - YouTube[/ame]

But that's one in a million, and I wouldn't recomment anyone else ever doing it.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I used to work for a network operator here in Ireland and the amount of scam sms things that have grown in the last year is crazy, it's it's like 4 times as many as there was before it's crazy.

So many customers were tricked into giving their on-line passwords and then has text messages sent from their accounts.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I get these every day. Luckily, I got a great spamfilter, so it doesn't bother me.

What really bugs me about all the spam things, though, is where they all got my email. When I look in my spam folder, I find emails in English, German, Dutch and French. All languages I speak. How do they even get this information? It's not like I go around handing out my e-mail address to everyone...

 

[white avenger]

How do they even get this information? It's not like I go around handing out my e-mail address to everyone...

Just about any time that you order anything online, or contact any business, your email address in effect becomes pretty much public knowledge. The same thing's beginning to take place with cell phone numbers. I've been getting junk calls and surveys lately on what should be an unlisted number.

 

[Jeff86]

Yeah, these things are never fun. I usually get "you've won a $1,000 gift card to (Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Sears, Best Buy etc.) !" or "You are our lucky winner! Just send us your bank account information, and we'll wire you the grand prize!" e-mails. Thank god for spam filter. I've also been getting phone calls claiming I've won a free cruise or something. Of course, I don't remember entering a contest to win a free cruise. I smell something fishy. I think my other favorites are the "local girls are dying to meet you! Sign-up now!" First of all, I doubt they are. Second of all, sorry but I like guys, LOL. :tongue: Ah, the joys of my inbox sometimes.