Amy,
It's one of the oldest hoaxes perpetrated in hopes of getting people to
clog up bandwidth and e-mail boxes by sending it all over the world. You
probably already know this, but there are three general criteria you can
apply to such a message to see if it's probably a fake:
* Assertions that it was on the news. In that case, you should
be able to quickly and easily find coverage of it on CNN, Yahoo, MSN,
USA Today, your local TV/newspaper sources, etc. But nary a peep.
Something of this magnitude, which would effectively mean millions or
billions of dollars given away--simply for clicking Forward!--would be
big, big news. The stock market would take a major hit. The people
who're being paid all this dough would have their faces plastered all
over the place. Everyone and their brother would be sending mail to
everyone from the President to the Pope. But again, nary a peep.
* The frantic message to Pass it on! Now! To everyone you know!
Urgent! Other than something like September 11 or perhaps the arrival
of a malignant and incurable computer virus, there are very few events
that warrant millions of e-mails being sent all over the place
immediately. They're just hoping to start a chain reaction of hoax
messages cascading around the Net.
* The promise of big bucks for doing basically nothing. Remember
the old adage You can't get something for nothing? No one gives away
money for free, certainly not Bill Gates, and certainly not for tracking
e-mail. Trust me, between cookies, portals that make you sign up with
your name and e-mail address, info they could get from their own
resources (such as Hot Mail) or even your ISP (legally or not),
Microsoft has no need to pay huge sums of money for this.
Keith
-Original Message-
From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Amy Harlib
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 21:09
To: Mike Sargent
Subject: [scifinoir2] Fw: PLEEASE READ it was on the news!
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Is this and urban legend hoax thing?
THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL
Subject: PLEEASE READ it was on the news!
This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through
with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class
action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric
not too long ago.
Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates
sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later.
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an
effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used
program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.
When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track
it ( If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period.
For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay
you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on,
Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives
it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact
you for your address and then send you a check.
Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations
1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX
292-1085 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this
e-mail and forwarding it on. Micros oft contacted me for my address and
withindays, I receive a check for $24,800.00. You need to respond before
the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this, Bill gates is the
man.
It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many
people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10,000.00. We're not
going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a
little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a
few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game. She
showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped
Paid in full
Like I said before, I know the law, and this is for real.
Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the
largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that AOL remains the
most widely used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.
When you forward this e-mail to friends, Intel can and will track it(
if you are a Microsoft Windows user)for a two week time period.
Try it; What have you got to lose
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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