Be Careful Of THIS Email Scam!

As soon as I saw this in my email box I knew that it was a scam email! So please be careful if you receive an email similar to this one! Just so you know that you're not alone, I decided to post a copy of this email - past dated 2008!


YAHOO INTERNET AWARDS 2008
Yahoo Awards Center
124 Stockport Road, Longsight,
London M60 2DB
United Kingdom.

Dear Email Owner,

CONGRATULATIONS!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of GBP800,000,00 British Pounds (Eight Hundred Thousand British Pounds). Only for the email users this 2008 Prize promotion which is organized by YAHOO INTERNET AWARDS 2008.

Yahoo! Collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online this 2008, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and few from other e-mail providers. 12 people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners this month of October 2008.

PAYMENT OF PRIZE / CLAIMS

Winners shall be paid in accordance with their Settlement Centers. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not less than 3Weeks from the date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited and returned to its source as unclaimed Prize/Fund.

STATED BELOW ARE YOUR IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:
BATCH NUMBER: xxxx............
REFERENCE NUMBER: xxxx............
FILE NUMBER: YAHOO/xxxx............

You are Advised to contact your Claim Agent with the below contact details and forward your winning and personal identification numbers to him:

CLAIM AGENT NAME: DR. JAMES SMITH
TEL: xxxx............
CONTACT E-MAIL: xxxx............

You are advised to send the below following informations to your claim agent to enable him facilitate the release of your fund to you by our Paying Bank.

1. Your Full name:
2. Your Country:
3. Contact Address:
4. Telephone Number:
5. Fax Number:
6. Marital Status:
7. Occupation:
8. Sex:
9. Age:

Congratulations!!! Once again.

Yours in service,
Mrs. Susan Leonard.
(Awards Notification Officer)

Yet Another Email For Viagra!

Here is yet another email I got concerning Viagra!

Viagra is an oral drug for male impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction. Having been around for a lot longer, Viagra has a great safety track record and proven effects that start acting in 30 minutes and last for about 5 hours.

Viagra is used to treat impotence in men. It increases the body's ability to achieve and maintain an erection during sexual stimulation.

Viagra should be taken as needed about 1 hour before sexual activity. However, Viagra can be taken anytime from 4 hours to 30 minutes before sexual activity.

Viagra is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. It works by helping the blood flow into the penis to achieve and maintain an erection.

Viagra !??????????????????????

Seems to be a very POPULAR choice as far as email spam is concerned!

I was just checking my spam mail today and saw that I got at least 2 emails today - junkmail really - concerning viagra!

I did a check on Google's search engine and found that there are over 81 MILLION search engine results for the word viagra!

The Junk Mail Seems To Be Getting More Sophisticated!

There seemed to be a time - way back when - when you got junk email the messge was included in the email.

Now I am seeing more and more junk mail that has "eye-catching" subject lines like "reduce your debt" or "free money" - please see my Grant Basics 101 Blog - but the body of the junk email sometimes just includes a line or two prompting one to "click here".

Of course this means that the junk email wants you to go to their website.

You just can't be too careful these days! Legitimate-looking clicks could be not-so legitimate!

When these kinds of emails show up in my inbox - I delete them!

Grant Funding

Here is what the email said:

Don't miss your chance! If you can't read or see this e-mail. Click here or enable image viewing on your browser.

I guess these people don't know that I do grant research for a living so there is really no need for me to click on their link. I wouldn't have done it anyway - who knows where that "click" would lead to?

Since the email didn't say anything about grant funding in the email itself - this is probably another clever ploy for you to click the link to go to their website.

I know that a lot of people don't know the "ins and outs" of grants and the whole grant program process. That is one of the reasons why I started my Grant Basics 101 Blog. If you visit my grants blog you will find some general information about grants and the grant process in general.

Since I didn't visit the link on the email I really can't tell you too much about them since the link was all that was provided in the email.

"If You Can't Read This Email.........."

Ever get the annoying email that you open and it says if you cannot view the images or see the links then "please click here" - this is supposed to be a clever ploy to get you to click on their link and go to their site! The problem is that you don't know what you will be getting yourself into if you click on that blue link!

Do You Belong To A Yahoo Group?

Do you belong to any of the many Yahoo groups?

I do. Some of the Yahoo groups that I belong to I have chosen to get the posts by email. Of those Yahoo groups that I belong to - not all of them are moderated which means that anyone can post to them which means that anyone can post spam posts to them - and they do.

I'm deciding whether or not to get rid of my memberships to those Yahoo groups that I belong to that are not moderated because the spam email that I get just clogs up my inbox.

I'm sure its easy to say that one should just delete the junk mail but when it is so much junk mail it becomes very annoying!