When something is too good to be true
By
Villu Arak on March 11, 2008 in Insight.
In his book “Yes Man,” Danny Wallace tells us (among many, many other silly things) about his correspondence with Omar, “son of the murdered sultan of Oman”, who needed to enlist Danny’s “professionallism” in fleeing the country with 40 million bucks. A cool 10 million for Danny’s troubles and it’s “God’s will”. That’s my kind of god, I tell you.
Serious officials in ill-fitting suits don’t really like young sultans, presidential widows or sad princesses who need regular people like us to pull them out of a pickle. I guess they have a point.
A few days ago, however, the topic got a bit more interesting for me. That’s because some generous soul is busy populating people’s inboxes with what appear to be Skype lottery certificates. I mean, what’s not to like about 200,000 dollars?
The downside? (Besides the somewhat lacking production values — but I guess they’re passing on their savings to you, the lucky winner.) Oh, just “confirm your data” — bank account information and other meaningless details — and the money is yours. It’s even possible to get the funds delivered via diplomatic courier. Probably in a black limo. Pimpin’.
Don’t do it. We’re in the letting-people-talk-for-100-billion-minutes-or-until-the-Sun-expands-and-destroys-all-life-on-Earth-whichever-comes-first business. Ok, so I’m prone to exaggeration, but you get the drift. We’re not in the lottery business. Just like you’re not in the losing-your-life’s-savings-to-scammers-business.
Comments
Wow talk about creativity. Along these same lines what steps is skype taking to stop the 50 to 75 Contact Exchange Requests a week I get from PORN Spammers. A person can only take so many of these. I have sent in 70+ screenshots of spammers and I have another 40 requests in my missed event to screenshot and sent over. Does anyone know if these types of users are calculated in the concurrent usage stats that show up on this blog every few months?
-BC
braydencorleone | Wednesday, Mar 12
Attn Mikheil Djintcharadze,
I am Mr.Robert Cullam the fiduciary agent assigned to your case. I wish to Congratulate you on your victory, you are a lucky person to have won this lottery. Your Skype address was amongst those chosen this quarter from our new java-based software that randomly selects Skype addresses from the web From which winners are selected. You are required to forward the following details to help facilitate the processing of your claims and certificate which will facilitate the release of your winnings.
1. Full names.
2. Phone number.
3. Fax number.
4. Occupation.
5. Sex.
6. Age.
7. Nationality.
8.reference number.
9.batch number.
10.employer.
11.marital status.
12.contact address.
You are advised to forward this information as soon as possible to enable us attend to your winnings.Our firm has been contracted to handle payments on your behalf, once we confirm your information, your payments would be processed.
Everything was done in such a way that our payments mode would meet the standards set by the Lottery boards. After you have sent down these information, a certificate will be prepared for you. This is to be your proof of winning from this office to the payment center before they release your funds. You are advised to keep your winning numbers secret to avoid unscrupulous elements from taking advantage of the situation.
For further Detail's, I can be Reached on +447031963930 anytime.
Once again, congratulations.
Sincerely,
Mr.Robert Cullam
mishkini | Wednesday, May 14
did i win some lottery?
mishkini | Wednesday, May 14