Email Safety Blog

The scammers are trying to use established companies to make the scam more believable.

GOOGLE® ANNIVERSARY WINNING NOTIFICATION.

Winning No: GPA/7642/17279/2010
Ticket No: GVC/0667/6617279/2010

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a surprise but please find time to read it carefully as we congratulate you over your success in the this edition of official publication of results in the E-mail electronic online Award organized by Google® Corporation in conjunction with MasterCard® and confirmed by our co-sponsor Msn® International through their latest internet software.

The online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of over 5,000,000 email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web. (NO TICKETS WERE SOLD).

We wish to congratulate you once again on this note, for being part of our winners selected this year. This promotion was set-up to encourage the active users of the Google search engine and the Google ancillary services.

Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active and patronage to the Google search engine. Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an online e-mail beta test which your email address won GBP 850,000.00 {Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling}. A winning cheque will be issued in your name from our office in United Kingdom.

CONTACT THE CLAIMS HEAD OFFICE:
Google® MasterCard® Promotion
Head Office
Suite 427 W Anderson Lane
Austin, TX 78759,
United States.
Email: gpateamclaims@gala.net
Phone: +1 512 541 1220

Do e-mail the Claims head office at once with all the claims requirements below to avoid unnecessary delay.

PAYMENT PROCESSING FORM.
(1) Your contact address———————-

(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers———————
(3) Your Nationality/Country——————-
(4) Your Full Name——————————
(5) Occupation/Company———————–

(6) Age/Gender———————————–
(7) Ever won an online lottery?—————–
(8) How Do You Feel As The Anniversary Winner?—–
(9) Choose from the Mode Of Prize Remittance below. (i) Cash Pick-Up (You coming Down to United Kingdom Personally to Pick Your Prize). (ii) Courier Delivery Of your Certified Winning Cheque Name and other Winning Documents safely to you.

Google® believes in your right to privacy. Your information is 100% secure and protected and will be used exclusively for the purpose of this promotion only.

So you are hereby strongly advised once more to keep your winnings strictly confidential until you claim your prize.
Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google Interactive Award Board Commission.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eli Anderson.
Coordinator

Below is another religious based scam we received.

Greetings in the name of the lord.

A letter from me to you.Mrs. Deborah Hutchinson, 65yrs old from Switzerland. You might be wondering where I got your contacts from but I have really taken my time in searching thoroughly. You came into my mind has the lord has directed me to and am willing to do so. I have noticed that you are God fearing, courageous, fulfilling and ambitious in life. I want you to know that you have been the chosen one and please, try and do my will because each of my words or statements must not go unfulfilled reaching the unprivileged,orphanages and the needy as you are blessed.
Dear Beloved One, I am the above named person but now undergoing medical treatment in Western Africa. I am married to Mr. Williams Dale Hutchinson, who worked as a world contractor for over a decade before he died. We were married for fifteen years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for two weeks. Before his death he made a vow to use his wealth for the down troddenand the less privileged in the society. Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of ($12.000.00 millions us dollars) with a Vault with a bank in Western Africa. Presently, this money is still there.

Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next three months due to cancer problem. Though what disturbs me most is my stroke. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to an individual or better still a God fearing person who will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct here in. I want an individual that will use this to fund and provide succor I understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I do not have any child and relatives.
I do not want my husband’s hard earned money to be misused or spent in the manner in which my late husband did not specify. I do not want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner,hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going.

I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Almighty. With God all things are possible. My happiness is that I lived a life worthy of emulation. Whosoever that wants to serve the Almighty must serve him with all his heart and mind and soul and also in truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.

Please assure me that you will act according to my specification herein. Lastly i want you to also reply me with some vital information of yours such as:

Full Name:
country:
State and Zip Code:
sex:
phone number:
occupation etc……
Hoping to hear from you.
Thank you and May the Almighty bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Deborah Hutchinson

When you hear the word “virus” what do you think?  Some of us may think of the flu and call to schedule a flu shot. Still, others may run to their computers to make sure things are working properly.  Honestly, I am part of the latter group, yet I am still not aware of every harmful virus out there.  It may be almost impossible to stay on top of every virus made, but it is possible to understand what a virus is and how to avoid them.

Computer viruses are man-made and can interfere with hardware without the owner’s knowledge or consent.  Viruses can also replicate and easily be passed along from one person to another causing serious damage.  When a virus hits unnecessary ailments can happen including, but not limited to server damage, deletion of files, execution of miscellaneous videos, images, or text, and memory depletion.  All viruses have the potential to be minor and irritating or the ability to destroy your entire computer system. Some of the less harmful viruses will simply slow your computer and cause crashes. You may be experiencing these issues and not have any idea how or when you were infected.

As noted, different viruses behave differently and respond differently. Some viruses are only initiated if a specific program is running. For example, if you downloaded and ran a suspicious program a virus could infect your computer when you are running the application.  There are also viruses that exist in a file or on a disk that will constantly harm your computer until you turn the hardware off.   Furthermore, there are also viruses that will live in your hardware until detected and removed by an anti-virus program.

Regardless of the virus form, you don’t want to get one!  Be cautious and look twice at what you download and what file attachments you open. One common tool for a virus to spread is the email attachment.  It’s also a good idea to choose an anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date.  This will give you a solid form of protection.  Another step you can take is to set up firewalls and avoid forwarding any curious looking attachments on emails you receive.  Remember, it doesn’t matter who the email is from!   Friends and family can forward email viruses without knowing that they did.

Protect your system and all the documents you have!