Wish they'd at least put some real effort into these

It's so nice when Microsoft contacts me directly.

I know what you mean but there are still enough stupid people out there who will follow the link blindly! It never enters their head that Microsoft do not know they exist.

As the saying goes 'God must love stupid people, he makes so many'

I'm worried about the day when these dodgy e-mails do actually look real :eek: I bet people fall for the "log in to paypal" ones all the time unfortunately.

I have no doubt that they do, since there are people who will fall even for the "a Nigerian minister wants to send you $500,000,000" ones.

My favourite thing is when they sign their emails with "Mr." -- I never see real company correspondence do this, it's always just Will Smith, instead of Mr. Will Smith. Maybe that's a British thing and they copied it, I don't know.

Some of the better ones already do. I have a friend that sent me one and had me check it out. The only way to tell it was fake was to check the sender's IP address against the domain name. It claimed to be from Bank of America and the from email address was even the sending mail server said it was on the BoA domain. Luckily I noticed the IP as being in a range that belongs to China, otherwise I wouldn't have known either. And remember I am a network security guy with 10 years IT and 7 years network security under my belt so it takes a slick person to get one by me.

If I get a ring at the door I will start worrying. I'm not trying anything from the internet that can be sent to everyone in hopes of a reply.

While that is certainly creepy AND good to know, I find it strange that people would fall for someone from a bank emailing them to contact them. Usually the only communications you get via email from financial institutions are newsletters, or alerts or notices you've signed up for. If you want to opt for a paperless statement, then you typically have to accept a separate user agreement. Since email is not considered a particularly secure medium, you are more likely to be contacted by phone or mail.

To paraphrase W. C. Fields - "never give a sucker an even break"

You mean I haven't really won the Lagos Lottery?

No, you really did. Yours was real. The others are fake. Now send me...er...um...THEM your info.