Anti-Spam Notice of E-mails

What is SPAM?

2007-11-11T18:44:00.000+02:00

DEFINITION:
Spam is unsolicited, unwanted e-mail sent by someone with whom the recipient has no personal or business relationship.

WHAT DAMAGE DOES IT CAUSE ?

Surveys of businesses and other organizations that rely on the Internet for their communications show that around 70 per cent of inbound email traffic is either spam, or other types of illegitimate messages. Most conventional spam, is purely commercial in its intent, setting out to encourage Internet users to buy goods or services. Others are so-called

“blended threats”, messages that use social engineering techniques to persuade recipients to open the message and, typically, activate a Trojan, virus or other malware.

But a growing percentage of spam aims to cause damage or disruption to a company or to its IT assets.Denial of service attacks delivered over email, for example, could take down a company’s mail servers, rendering it unable to do business on line. More sinister still, cyber criminals can use a combination of hacking and spam techniques to “harvest” email addresses and user identities, opening the door to further attacks. Email-based denial of service attacks could also be directed at network providers, with the knock-on effect of damaging the communications of dozens of businesses that outsource their email hosting.

The threat to corporate IT systems is by no means static. As the quantity of spam grows, legitimate email traffic on the Internet is being drowned out by it. Industry estimates suggest that just 30 per cent of email traffic is technically valid. Of that valid traffic, two thirds consists of spam or other unsolicited mails. Just one in 10 emails is both legitimate and genuine.

The vast majority of email security systems in production today scan only for the content of the messages, relying on techniques such as keyword scanning. This means they will accept the vast majority of malformed messages as legitimate.

These messages move through a company’s perimeter defenses unchecked and pass on intact to email systems and often, the desktop. This places an enormous and unnecessary burden on networks and server resources, as well as wasting staff time.

Spam is forcing businesses to invest in additional bandwidth, storage space and CPU capacity just to collect, store and forward enormous quantities of unwanted email traffic.

The very high ratio of illegitimate messages to legitimate mail forces companies to invest more and more resources in building spam detection and filtering systems. For some businesses, the need to scan the content of a vast amount of email, just to find the relatively small proportion of real messages, creates serious bottlenecks within the IT infrastructure.

There are no authentication standards built in to the SMTP email protocol. And as there is no real cost involved in sending email, there are few economic incentives to prevent spammers from continuing to ply their trade. Legal restrictions on spammers have been increased, in particular in the USA. But these measures will do little to deter the authors of other illegal traffic types. Their actions are already unlawful in much of the world, but enforcement remains extremely difficult. The responsibility remains on businesses to protect themselves.

CURRENT MICROSOFT SPAM FILTERING TECHNOLOGY:

Innovative spam-filtering technology, called SmartScreen, developed at Microsoft Research is being deployed across all Microsoft e-mail platforms as part of the company's multi-pronged effort to chase unsolicited e-mail and practitioners of illegal spamming out of consumers' inboxes.

SmartScreen Technology is a machine-learning-based filtering technology. It uses a probability-based algorithm to essentially "learn" what is and what isn't spam based on characteristics of both types of mail. The source material for educating SmartScreen Technology has come from hundreds of thousands of e-mail users who contribute to Microsoft's feedback loop program. Gates called SmartScreen Technology a major advance in the battle to help secure consumers' inboxes and return greater productivity to people's e-mail experience.

HOW DOES THE SmartScreen TECHNOLOGY WORK?

The spam-filtering SmartScreen Technology is built on machine learning, meaning that your computer uses a series of probability-based algorithms to distinguish between legitimate e-mail and spam. It basically "learns" what is and what isn't spam. The SmartScreen Technology filter has to be trained to recognize the different characteristics of both legitimate e-mail and spam. To get enough training data, Microsoft has instituted a feedback program in which customers voluntarily review messages to make a determination as to whether they believe a given message is spam. Based on that information, those messages get placed in a training database for SmartScreen Technology. The machine learning algorithm extracts specific words or characteristics from each e-mail message and weights them, based on their likelihood to indicate that a message is spam or legitimate mail.

As new e-mail messages arrive at a Microsoft e-mail server or client machine running SmartScreen Technology, the filter analyzes it for the weighted characteristics and generates an overall probability that the message could be spam. If the message hits a specific threshold of probability, it gets marked either for deletion or placement in the user's junk e-mail folder. The key advantage of SmartScreen Technology is that it is always adapting and learning more about what is and isn't spam. It learns the latest characteristics that distinguish spam from good mail based on data that the filtering technology collects over time, both from the e-mails that individual users deem as spam and the data collected centrally through Microsoft's feedback loop program. SmartScreen Technology already searches for more than 500,000 characteristics of spam that are based on feedback from e-mail users, which enables the filter to be highly effective. And Microsoft will also issue periodic updates to the filtering technology to augment the machine learning process.

Microsoft is currently heavily investing in research and development to bring more effective anti-spam innovations to light. They have announced that they we'll continue to dedicate resources toward fighting spam from all angles of technology, enforcement, education, legislation and industry self-regulation.

SOURCES: Microsoft , Computer Crime Research Center

Examples of Emails Spams

2007-11-10T23:17:00.000+02:00

note: green letters are our comments

Email Spam 1:

FROM: Mr. COLIN ELMER SUBJECT: Business Proposal (maybe different)
(colinelmer22@yahoo.com)
I am Mr.Colin Elmer the Executive Director and Chief FinancialOfficer of the Kleinwort Benson Private Bank Ltd.I have urgent and very confidential business proposition involving transfer of (12,500,000GBP) that will be of great benefit for both of us.Contact me on my private emai address(colinelmer22@yahoo.com)for more information.
Regard,
Colin Elmer

After any answer to that colinelmer22@yahoo.com email you will probably get this:

FROM: COLIN ELMER SUBJECT: More Details

Dear Friend,

Thank you very much for your response.I received your mail.Being a next of kin does not necessary mean you must come from the same country or be related to the deceased,what matter most is that you having the necessary documents backing you up as the next of kin which my attorney will provide on your behalf if i am assured of your interest in assisting in transfering the funds.I can not apply for it or be the next of kin because my bank will know is from me that is why i need you. Like I said before, due to this issue on my hands now, it became necessary for me to seek your assistance I appreciate the fact that you are ready to assist me in executing this project. I intend to resign immediately this project is concluded and invest my part of the money in a lucrative business. You should not have anything to worry about, I will do everything legally required with the help of my attorney to ensure that the project goes smoothly and i will make sure it passes through all Laws of International Banking, you have my word.

Having resolved to entrust this transaction into your hands, I want to remind you that, it needs your commitment and diligent follow up. If you work seriously, the entire transaction should be over in a couple of days.

READ THE FOLLOWING AND GET BACK TO ME:

Firstly, I will want to know precisely the type of occupation that you do and how old you are, you should note that this project is capital intensive, I need your total devotion and trust to see this through. I know we have not met before, but I am very confident that we will be able to establish the necessary trust that we need to execute this project. I am now in contact with a foreign online bank; I now intend that you open an account in your name in this foreign bank. The money would be transferred to your account which you will open in this bank for both of us, this is the best way, I have found, it will protect us from my bank.So you should listen to my instructions and follow them carefully for a successful conclusion of the transfer. Also you have to know that I cannot transfer this money in my name as my bank will be aware that it is from me, this is where I need you. As a result of this, you will have to open an account in your name in this corresponding bank. I will obtain a certificate of deposit from this my bank,this will make you the bonafide owner of the funds. After this, the money will be banked online for both of us. We can then instruct the bank to transfer our various shares into our respective home bank accounts. I will also perfect the documentations with the assistance of my attorney to give the transaction the legal right it requires.

Before I commence, I will need you to send me a copy of any form of your identification (Driver's licence, Work ID or International passport). I want to be sure that I am transacting with the correct person or I want to know who I intend to work with very well before entrusting this transaction to him or her considering the money involved. As soon as I get these from you, I will commence the paper work with the help of my attorney.

I hope you will understand why I need all these, the money in question is big and I want to be sure that I know you well before I proceed to give you all the details to commence the project, I will send the name and the bank website to you immediately I receive any form of your identification so that you can commence communication with them. I will also send you my Work Identification for you to know who you are working with. Ensure that you keep this project confidential; do not discuss it with anybody because of its confidential nature and my job.You can call me on my mobile number:+447031902928 for better discussion.

Please reply soonest

Regards,

Mr.Colin Elmer

Types of E-mail Spams

2007-11-09T04:22:00.000+02:00

INTRODUCTION:

Today spam is a household word, since 70-80% of all email traffic is spam. Although spam written in English is the most common, it comes in all languages including Chinese, Korean and other Asian languages. In most cases spam is advertising, and experience shows that spammers have targeted specific goods and services to promote. Some goods are chosen because a computer user is likely to be interested, but most are grey or black market goods. In other words, spam is usually illegal not only because of the means used to advertise the goods, but also because the goods and services being offered are illegal in themselves.

Other mass mailings are outright fraud, such as the notorious 419 messages which offer the recipients a share of funds which allegedly cannot be accessed by the sender for political reasons, in return for the recipient's help in legalizing these funds. The recipient is asked to provide bank account details; of course, if the recipient provides these details, the bank account will be emptied without their consent. This type of spam is usually called a 'scam'.

The commonest types of spam:

Spam worldwide tends to advertise a certain range of goods and services irrespective of language and geography. Additionally, spam reflects seasonal changes, with advertisements for Christmas items and car heaters being replaced by air conditioner advertising in summer.

However, when averaged out over the course of the year, 50% of spam falls into the following categories:

Adult content
Health
IT
Personal finance
Education/training

Adult content:

This category of spam includes offers for products designed to increase or exhance sexual potency, links to porn sites or advertisments for pornorgraphy etc. Examples

Examples:

Subject 1: very cheap erection tool :-)

Good day!

We would like to offer cheapest Viagra in the world!

You can get it at: {LINK}

Sincerely, Liza Stokes

Subject 2: i think you're gonna like watching me get off :-)

Hi...im Brooke..and I just got a webcam...lets have a little chat.. while you watch me get dirty .. haha;-) {LINK}

Health and Medicine:

This category includes advertisements for weight loss, skin care, posture improvement, cures for baldness, dietary supplements, non-traditional medication etc. which can all be bought on-line.

Examples:

Subject: Lose up to 19% weight. A new weightloss is here.

Hello, I have a special offer for you...

WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT?

The most powerful weightloss is now availablewithout prescription. All natural Adipren720100% Money Back Guarantée!

- Lose up to 19% Total Body Weight.

- Up to 300% more Weight Loss while dieting.

- Loss of 20-35% abdominal Fat.

- Reduction of 40-70% overall Fat under skin.

- Increase metabolic rate by 76.9% without Exercise.

- Burns calorized fat.

- Suppresses appetite for sugar.

- Boost your Confidence level and Self Esteem.

Get the facts about all-natural Adipren720: {LINK}

Subject: Legal Low prices for Valium (Diazepam) (Caffeine FREE)

Rx Shopping Service Brings You our Newest Product:

Your personal shopping service that legally providesOver the Counter (OTC) approved drugs from Canada andaround the world.
Order Valium (Diazepam) and it will beguaranteed Delivery within 7 DAYS!
Do not miss out *Limited Quantity!
Visit Here: {LINK}

IT:

This category includes offers for low-priced hardware and software as well as services for web site owners such as hosting, domain registration, web site optimization and so forth.

Examples:

Subject: Huge savings on OEM Software. All brand names available now stewardess

Looking for not expensive high-quality software?

We might have just what you need.

Windows XP Professional 2002 ............. $50Adobe Photoshop 7.0 ...................... $60Microsoft Office XP Professional 2002 .... $60Corel Draw Graphics Suite 11 ............. $60 and lots more...

Personal finance:

Spam which falls into this category offers insurance, debt reduction services, loans with low interest rates etc.

Examples:

Subject: Lenders Compete--You Win

Reduce your mortgage payments
Interest Rates are Going Up!Give Your Family The Financial Freedom They Deserve

Refinance Today & SAVE *Quick & EASY *CONFIDENTIAL *100's Of Lenders *100% FREE *Get The Lowest Rate
Apply Today! {LINK}

All credit will be accepted

To clear your name from our database please {LINK} or use one of the optins below. Thank You

Call 1-800-279-7310Or please mail us at:1700 E. Elliot Rd. STE3-C4Tempe, AZ. 85283

Education:

This category includes offers for seminars, training, and on-line degrees.

Examples:

Subject: get a degree from home, Mas#ters, Bachelors or PHD

Call {Phone Num.} to inquire about our degree programs.

Whether you are seeking a Bachelors, Masters, Ph.D. or MBA

We can provide you with the fully verifiable credentials to get your career BACK ON TRACK!

No testing or coursework required Call: {Phone Num.}

we are sorry if you did not want to receive this mail.

To be removed from our list please call {Phone Num.}

Some new trends in spam content:

Spammers are constantly seeking to enter new markets and develop new techniques. Some areas are evolving rapidly and should be monitored closely.

Political spam

This category includes mudslinging or political threats from extremists and possible terrorists. Though these are merely nuisance messages to end users, security and law enforcement officials need to be aware of such mailings, since they can provide clues to genuine potential threats, or be actual communication between terrorists.

Antispam solutions

Spammers advertise supposed antispam solutions in an effort to cash in on the negative publicity generated by spam itself. However, such offers often lead the user to sites where a Trojan will be downloaded to the victim machine, which will then be used for future mass mailings.

Example:

Subject: Join the thousands who are now sp@m-free

FORGET SPAM BLOCKERS!

Get SMART Spam Control That Always Delivers The Email You Want!

Finally, we discovered the ultimate solution that is guaranteed to stop all spam without losing any of your important email! This revolutionary advanced technology also protects you 100% against ALL email-borne viruses - both known and unknown.

We didn't believe it either until we actually tried it. So you be the judge and see for yourself.

{LINK}

Spam, viruses and junk email:

Today, most people class all unsolicited email as spam, including automatic replies, emails containing viruses and unsolicited, but legitimate business propositions. Classifying all such emails as spam is broadly correct, but it must be highlighted that some categories of spam are more dangerous than others.

In particular, the alliance developing between virus writers and spammers is worrisome. The first half of 2004 brought several virus epidemics where viruses were circulated using spammer techniques. These outbreaks were classic examples of how botnets can be created by virus writers, and then sold to spammers for use in future mass mailings.

SOURCE: viruslist

What is HOAX?

2007-07-04T03:05:00.000+03:00

What are Internet Hoaxes and Chain Letters?

Internet hoaxes and chain letters are e-mail messages written with one purpose; to be sent to everyone you know. The messages they contain are usually untrue. A few of the sympathy messages do describe a real situation but that situation was resolved years ago so the message is not valid and has not been valid for many years. Hoax messages try to get you to pass them on to everyone you know using several different methods of social engineering. Most of the hoax messages play on your need to help other people. Who wouldn't want to warn their friends about some terrible virus that is destroying people's systems? Or, how could you not want to help this poor little girl who is about to die from cancer? It is hard to say no to these messages when you first see them, though after a few thousand have passed through your mail box you (hopefully) delete them without even looking.

Chain letters are lumped in with the hoax messages because they have the same purpose as the hoax messages but use a slightly different method of coercing you into passing them on to everyone you know. Chain letters, like their printed ancestors, generally offer luck or money if you send them on. They play on your fear of bad luck and the realization that it is almost trivial for you to send them on. The chain letters that deal in money play on people's greed and are illegal no matter what they say in the letter.

The Risk and Cost of Hoaxes

The cost and risk associated with hoaxes may not seem to be that high, and isn't when you consider the cost of handling one hoax on one machine. However, if you consider everyone that receives a hoax, that small cost gets multiplied into some pretty significant costs. For example, if everyone on the Internet were to receive one hoax message and spend one minute reading and discarding it, the cost would be something like:

50,000,000 people * 1/60 hour * $50/hour = $41.7 million

Most people have seen far more than one hoax message and many people cost a business far more than $50 per hour when you add in benefits and overhead. The result is not a small number.

Probably the biggest risk for hoax messages is their ability to multiply. Most people send on the hoax messages to everyone in their address books but consider if they only sent them on to 10 people. The first person (the first generation) sends it to 10, each member of that group of 10 (the second generation) sends it to 10 others or 100 messages and so on.

By the 6-th generation there would be a million e-mail messages being processed by our mail servers. The capacity to handle these messages must be paid for by the users or, if it is not paid for, the mail servers slow down to a crawl or crash. Note that this example only forwards the message to 10 people at each generation while people who forward real hoax messages often send them to many times that number.

Recently, we have been hearing of spammers (bulk mailers of unsolicited mail) harvesting e-mail addresses from hoaxes and chain letters. After a few generations, many of these letters contain hundreds of good addresses, which is just what the spammers want. We have also heard rumors that spammers are deliberately starting hoaxes and chain letters to gather e-mail addresses (of course, that could be a hoax). So now, all those nice people who were so worried about the poor little girl dying of cancer find themselves not only laughed at for passing on a hoax but also the recipients of tons of spam mail.

How to Recognize a Hoax

Probably the first thing you should notice about a warning is the request to "send this to everyone you know" or some variant of that statement but not always necessary this, it maybe be for a good purpose like info people about something. This should raise a red flag that the warning is probably a hoax. No real warning message from a credible source will tell you to send this to everyone you know.

Next, look at what makes a successful hoax. There are two known factors that make a successful hoax, they are:

(1) Technical sounding language.
(2) Credibility by association.

If the warning uses the proper technical jargon, most individuals, including technologically savvy individuals, tend to believe the warning is real. For example, the Good Times hoax says that "...if the program is not stopped, the computer's processor will be placed in an nth-complexity infinite binary loop which can severely damage the processor...". The first time you read this, it sounds like it might be something real. With a little research, you find that there is no such thing as an nth-complexity infinite binary loop and that processors are designed to run loops for weeks at a time without damage.

When we say credibility by association we are referring to who sent the warning. If the janitor at a large technological organization sends a warning to someone outside of that organization, people on the outside tend to believe the warning because the company should know about those things. Even though the person sending the warning may not have a clue what he is talking about, the prestige of the company backs the warning, making it appear real. If a manager at the company sends the warning, the message is doubly backed by the company's and the manager's reputations.

Both of these items make it very difficult to claim a warning is a hoax so you must do your homework to see if the claims are real and if the person sending out the warning is a real person and is someone who would know what they are talking about. You do need to be a little careful verifying the person as the apparent author may be a real person who has nothing to do with the hoax. If thousands of people start sending them mail asking if the message is real, that essentially constitutes an unintentional denial of service attack on that person. Check the person's web site or the person's company web site to see if the hoax has been responded to there. Check these pages or the pages of other hoax sites to see if we have already declared the warning a hoax.
Hoax messages also follow the same pattern as a chain letter (see below).

Recognizing a Chain Letter

Chain letters and most hoax messages all have a similar pattern. From the older printed letters to the newer electronic kind, they all have three recognizable parts:

The Hook

First, there is a hook, to catch your interest and get you to read the rest of the letter. Hooks used to be "Make Money Fast" or "Get Rich" or similar statements related to making money for little or no work. Electronic chain letters also use the "free money" type of hooks, but have added hooks like "Danger!" and "Virus Alert" or "A Little Girl Is Dying". These tie into our fear for the survival of our computers or into our sympathy for some poor unfortunate person.

The Threat

When you are hooked, you read on to the threat. Most threats used to warn you about the terrible things that will happen if you do not maintain the chain. However, others play on greed or sympathy to get you to pass the letter on. The threat often contains official or technical sounding language to get you to believe it is real.

The Request

Finally, the request. Some older chain letters ask you to mail a dollar to the top ten names on the letter and then pass it on. The electronic ones simply admonish you to "Distribute this letter to as many people as possible." They never mention clogging the Internet or the fact that the message is a fake, they only want you to pass it on to others.

Chain letters usually do not have the name and contact information of the original sender so it is impossible to check on its authenticity. Legitimate warnings and solicitations will always have complete contact information from the person sending the message and will often be signed with a cryptographic signature, such as PGP to assure its authenticity. Many of the newer chain letters do have a person's name and contact information but that person either does not really exist or does exist but does not have anything to do with the hoax message. As mentioned in the previous section, try to use other means than contacting the person directly to find out if the message is a hoax. Try the person's web page, the person's company web page, or this and other hoax sites first to see if the message has already been declared a hoax.

For example, the PENPAL GREETINGS! hoax shown below appears to be an attempt to kill an e-mail chain letter. This chain letter is a hoax because reading a text e-mail message does not execute a virus nor does it execute any attachments; therefore the Trojan horse must be self starting. Aside from the fact that a program cannot start itself, the Trojan horse would have to know about every different kind of e-mail program to be able to forward copies of itself to other people. We have had to modify this statement slightly for the newer html mail readers. If a mail message is formatted with html and contains scripts, those scripts will run when the e-mail message is read. Active scripting should always be turned off for a mail reader so that malicious code like the KAK worm cannot automatically run.

Notice the three parts of a chain letter, which are easy to identify in this example.

The Hook

FYI!

Subject: Virus Alert

Importance: High

If anyone receives mail entitled: PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete it WITHOUT reading it. Below is a little explanation of the message, and what it would do to your PC if you were to read the message. If you have any questions or concerns please contact SAF-IA Info Office on 697-5059.

The Threat

This is a warning for all Internet users - there is a dangerous virus propagating across the internet through an e-mail message entitled

"PENPAL GREETINGS!".
DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS!"

This message appears to be a friendly letter asking you if you are interested in a penpal, but by the time you read this letter, it is too late. The "trojan horse" virus will have already infected the boot sector of your hard drive, destroying all of the data present. It is a self-replicating virus, and once the message is read, it will AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone who's e-mail address is present in YOUR mailbox! This virus will DESTROY your hard drive, and holds the potential to DESTROY the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your inbox, and who's mail is in their inbox, and so on. If this virus remains unchecked, it has the potential to do a great deal of DAMAGE to computer networks worldwide!!!! Please, delete the message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!" as soon as you see it!

The Request

And pass this message along to all of your friends and relatives, and the other readers of the newsgroups and mailing lists which you are on, so that they are not hurt by this dangerous virus!!!!

Validating a Warning

CIAC recommends that you DO NOT circulate warnings without first checking with an authoritative source. Authoritative sources are your computer system security administrator, your computer incident handling team, or your antivirus vendor. Real warnings about viruses and other network problems are issued by computer security response teams (CIAC, CERT, ASSIST, NASIRC, etc.) and are digitally signed by the sending team using PGP. If you download a warning from a team's web site or validate the PGP signature, you can usually be assured that the warning is real. Warnings without the name of the person sending the original notice, or warnings with names, addresses and phone numbers that do not actually exist are probably hoaxes. Warnings about new malicious code are also available at the antivirus vendors sites and at the operating system's vendor site.

What to Do When You Receive a Warning

Upon receiving a warning, you should examine its PGP signature to see that it is from a real response team or antivirus organization. To do so, you will need a copy of the PGP software and the public signature of the team that sent the message. The CIAC signature is available at the CIAC home page: http://ciac.llnl.gov/ You can find the addresses of other response teams by connecting to the FIRST web page at: http://www.first.org/. If there is no PGP signature, check at this and other hoax sites to see if the warning has already been declared as a hoax. If you do not find the warning at the hoax sites, it just may mean that we have not yet seen this particular hoax. See if the warning includes the name of the person submitting the original warning. If it does, see if you can determine if the person really exists. If they do, don't send them an e-mail message. It is likely that they have nothing to do with this hoax and thousands of people sending them questions will be just as damaging to them as sending around the hoax message. Instead, check their personal or company web site. Often if a person has been the brunt of a hoax, that hoax message will be debunked on the person's company web site. If you still cannot determine if a message is real or a hoax, send it to your computer security manager, your ISP, or your incident response team and let them validate it.

When in Doubt, Don't Send It Out.

In addition, most anti-virus companies have a web page containing information about most known viruses and hoaxes. You can also call or check the web site of the company that produces the product that is supposed to contain the virus. Checking the PKWARE site for the current releases of PKZip would stop the circulation of the warning about PKZ300 since there is no released version 3 of PKZip. In most cases, common sense would eliminate Internet hoaxes.

SOURCE: HoaxBusters

Types of E-mail Hoaxes

2007-07-02T01:10:00.000+03:00

1. YOU HAVE WON £1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds)

THIS HOAX USUALLY APPEARS IN THE FOLLOWING FORM:

----- Original Message -----

From: "Microsoft Events Manager"

To:
Subject: YOU HAVE WON £1,000,000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds)

Microsoft Award Team 20 Craven Park, Harlesden London NW10,United Kingdom.

Dear Lucky winner,

WINNING NOTIFICATION

The prestigious Microsoft and AOL has set out and successfully organized a Sweepstakes marking the end of year anniversary we rolled out over 100,000.000.00 (One Hundred Million Great Britain Pounds)

Your email address as indicated drawn and attached to ..................................................................

Please Contact your Events Manager
Mr. Lennox Sherman
Microsoft Events Manager
Payment And Release Order Dept.
Email: ........................
You are advised to contact your fiduciary agent with the following details:
Your Full Names:
Date of birth:
Sex:
Address:
Nationality:
Country:
Occupation:
Phone Number:
Ticket Numbers:
Batch Number:
Serial Number:
Lucky Numbers:
Sincerely,
Dr.Ann Hawkes
Head Customercare Service
Microsoft Promotion Team

-------------------------------------------------------

THAT IS WHAT MICROSOFT ABUSE TEAM SAYS ABOUT IT:

The message is most likely a “phishing” attempt. Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your money or your identity, by tricking you into disclosing information like credit card numbers, passwords, or other confidential personal information.Online scam artists do this by sending fake e-mail that appears to come from a source you would normally trust – like your bank or credit-card company. As a general online practice, we strongly recommend that you do not respond to requests for personal information via e-mail.

To help you identify if the e-mail you have received is a hoax e-mail, here are some additional information:

- Microsoft does not send unsolicited e-mails that include attachments. If you ever receive an unsolicited e-mail with an attached executable claiming to be from Microsoft, it is best to delete it immediately.

- To verify that an e-mail message that claims to be from Microsoft is genuine, visit the following Web site: ms_genuine_mail

- If you have already opened the attachment, suspect that your system is infected, or want information about viruses, visit the following Web site: ms security

- For information about this and other hoaxes, visit the following Web sites: http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

(CIAC is the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, a United States Government organization.)

http://www.snopes.com/

http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/

Note: The links in this message may lead to third-party Web sites. Microsoft provides third-party resources to help you find customer service or technical support resources. Information at these sites may change without notice. Microsoft is not responsible for the content at any third-party Web sites and does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party information.

We hope this information is helpful.

Thank you for using Microsoft products and services.

Srinivas

Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

FORWARD TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS SO TO KNOW ABOUT AND DELETE IT AT ONCE, NO FURTHER CONSIDERATION IS NEEDED.

-------------------------------------------------------

The above-mentioned hoax message can be classified as both fishing scam (because it requests for the user's personal information that may later be used for identity theft) and advanced fee fraud, more precisely one of its categories called foreign lottery scam, (as it "informs" the recipient that he/she has won a lot of money and if the person responds to the message by providing the requested information, the scammers would instruct the person to pay some made up fee in order to claim the prize; and after the scummers receive the money they disappear).

THE FOLLOWING IS MORE DETAILED INFO ABOUT THESE TYPES OF SCUM:

Phishing.

Phishing scams are information gathering scams for identity theft. They usually come as a message indicating that there is a problem with your account, credit card, etc. and ask for a lot of personal information such as your username and password. Usually they point you to some web pages that appear to be associated with the real company. They use all sorts of methods to hide the fact that you are not really where you think you are. The web pages contain a login page for your username and password and then a page for all your personal information. What you don't realize is that the login page accepts anything for a username and password and saves what you typed for the scammer. If you dutifully fill in all your personal information the scammer now has everything he needs to empty your bank accounts and charge items to your credit card. He can open new accounts in your name and make charges without paying. Eventually, you will find out when your bank account is empty or your credit report shows unpaid accounts.

A difficulty here is in determining if an e-mail message really came from your bank or came from a scammer. Most of the scam e-mails are crafted so that it is difficult to tell that you are not going to the company you expect to be going to. In the current ones you have to read the html source code for the message in order to tell where the link will really take you. The best course of action if you get a message of this type from a financial organization where you have an account is to open the organization's web page directly. Never use a link in an e-mail message to connect to your account. If there really is a problem with your account, you will be able to find that information when you login. You can also test the login by typing garbage for your username and password. If the website lets you in anyway, the site is a scam. Don't do this more than once or twice in a row as most sites disable your account if they get too many login failures. If the message is from an institution where you do not have an account, just put the message in the trash or send it to abuse@sitename and let the company handle it.

Advanced Fee Fraud.

Probably the most well known examples of advanced fee fraud are the Nigerian 419 and Lottery scams. In advanced fee fraud, you are generally offered a lot of money in exchange for what appears to be a safe transaction. What happens later is that after you are "sucked in," the scammer will start asking for money for taxes, shipping, bribes, etc. in order to get the large amount of money out of the country. What's $10,000 when you are going to get $15,000,000 for just the use of your account? You may also be asked to travel to a foreign country to pick up the money. At which time you are kidnapped and your relatives are asked for money for your release or you enter the country illegally with the scammer's representative (he told you it is OK to enter without a visa) and are blackmailed into delivering more money.

The most well known of the advanced fee fraud is the Nigerian 419 scam. In this scam there is some money in a foreign country and the scammer wants you to help him get it out of the country. The money may be someone's inheritance, stolen money obtained from over billing a government, money stashed away by a dictator, or any other source of a large amount of money (usually many millions of dollars). The scammer only needs to use your bank account and offers you a substantial percentage for its use. You could give him access to an empty account but as soon as he has you hooked, he will start asking for money. Bribes, shipping fees, taxes, whatever he can talk you into until he cannot get any more and then he is gone.

Foreign Lottery scams are the second most well known of the advanced fee fraud schemes. In this scam you get a message from an official of the lottery telling you that you have won. Woopie, you are rich!! Of course you do not remember entering the lottery but they come up with some sort of a story for why you don't remember. They get your information and then you start getting requests for money. Taxes are due before the money can be paid out. A bribe is needed for a public official because it is illegal for an American to play foreign lotteries. And so on until they take as much from you as they can get.

A new version of advanced fee fraud involves people listing expensive items for sale on the Internet. The scammer sends you a message indicating that he wants to buy your item. Someone in your country owes him some money so that person is going to send you a cashier's check for your item and you should take out what you are owed for your item and forward a new cashier's check to him with the balance. As you might expect, the cashier's check sent to you is a fake but while you are waiting for the check to clear, the scammer will be bugging you to send him his share.

If you have been scammed, contact your local or state law enforcement as soon as possible and change the passwords on all your accounts.

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SOURCE: Microsoft, HoaxBusters.

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2. MSN 18 Contacts Hoax

----- Original Message -----

Hello! PLEASE READ THIS!!!

Hey it is Andy and john the directors of MSN, sorry for the interruptionbut msn is closing down. this is because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the name (eg making up lots of different accounts for just one person), we only have 578 names left. If you would like to close your account, DO NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE ON. If you would like to keep your account, then SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. This is no joke, we will be shutting down the servers. Send it on, thanks. WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSEAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED AND YOU WILL COST £10.00 A MONTH TO USE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS or REPLY. COPY THE WHOLE EMAIL. GO BACK TO YOUR INBOX AND CLICK ON NEW. AND PASTE THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION hey everyone, i dont normally send this sort of stuff out but had a look on the internet and its actually true. On the 1st of november , we will have to pay for the use of our MSN and email accounts unless we send this message to at least 18 contacts on your contact list. It's no joke if you don't believe me then go to the http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1189119.stm) and see for yourself. Anyways once you've sent this message to at least 18 contacts, your msn dude will become blue. please copy and paste don't forward cos people won't take notice of it. thank you for your attention.

Commentary:

The hoax warns that users will have to pay for MSN Messenger and email accounts unless they send the warning to at least 18 contacts.

This hoax message is just one more in a long line of similar hoaxes that warn that MSN is about to start charging for its free services. From time to time, pranksters come up with an updated and equally untrue version of the message that includes a new deadline set a month or so in the future. Another version was circulating in August and early September 2005. Earlier versions have specifically targeted Hotmail users.

If MSN was considering implementing a charge for its standard MSN Messenger and email services, it would certainly not base its decision on how many times a silly message was sent to others. Such claims are simply ridiculous.

The "warning" advises recipients to "go to the site and see for yourself". However, there is nothing on the MSN site that confirms the story in any way.

Like its many predecessors, the message is pure nonsense and should be deleted rather than forwarded.

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3. Cancer News from John Hopkins

----- Original Message -----

FW: Cancer News from John Hopkins

No plastics in micro

No water bottles in freezer

No plastic wrap in micro

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in their newsletters worth noting... This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dioxin Carcinogens cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Don't freeze your plastic water bottles with water as this also releases dioxins in the plastic.

Dr. Edward Fujimoto from Castle hospital was on a TV program explaining this health hazard. (He is the manager of the Wellness Program at the hospital.)

He was talking about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.

This applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxins into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Dioxins are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies. Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, without the dioxins.

So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He said we might remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

To add to this, Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels.

Pass this on to your family & friends & those that are important in your life!

Commentary:

An earlier variant of this hoax referred only to the freezing of plastic water bottles. This later version has added on spurious information about using plastics in microwave ovens as well. Both versions contain false and misleading information.

Rolf Halden of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has expertly debunked the rumour linking plastic bottles to cancer. According to Halden the claim is an urban legend. He explains that:

Freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don't think there are.

Experts also contradict the claim that using plastics in microwaves can cause dioxins to leech into the food. According to Edward Machuga, Ph.D, of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), "The FDA has seen no evidence that plastic containers or films contain dioxins and knows of no reason why they would". The general consensus is that using plastic containers or plastic wrap in microwaves is not dangerous, so long as microwave safe plastics are used and manufacturers guidelines are followed. The FDA article does admit that substances in plastics can leach into food. However, the FDA does not consider this to be a significant risk to humans. The FDA article maintains that:

The agency has assessed migration levels of substances added to regulated plastics and has found the levels to be well within the margin of safety based on information available to the agency.

This email is labelled false for the following reasons:

The email falsely claims that freezing water in plastic containers causes dioxins to enter the liquid.

The email makes statements about a particular product, Saran Wrap, that have been effectively proved to be untrue by the company that makes the product.

Dr. Edward Fujimoto is a real person who apparently did make at least some of the statements attributed to him. However, although Dr. Fujimoto told TruthorFiction.com that he had evidence supporting his claims, the article notes that he has so far failed to produce this alleged evidence. It appears that his claims remain unsubstantiated. To my knowledge, they have never been backed up by any sort of credible scientific studies. In fact, experts in the field have resoundingly refuted his claims. If credible scientific information backing up the claims in the email had been presented, the FDA, and other health authorities worldwide, would have certainly re-examined the issue. The previously mentioned FDA article states that the FDA will revisit its safety evaluation if new scientific information raises concerns. Apparently, no such scientific information has been forthcoming.

The email makes no effort to back up the information it contains with any sort of checkable references.

Some versions of the email (including the example above) claim that the information is endorsed by John Hopkins University and /or the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. However, I have found no evidence to support this claim. Earlier versions of the email did not include this supposed endorsement, so it appears that someone has added it to the message in an attempt to make the information sound more believable.

The mainstream media and the medical establishment remain relatively silent on the issue in spite of the fact that versions of the email have been circulating for several years. If the information in the email had been proved to be true, or even partially substantiated by credible medical studies, then it would almost certainly be widely publicized in a variety of media. If true, informing the public about health risks associated with the use of plastics would certainly not be left to the random forwarding of a poorly written email.

Therefore the information in this email forward should not be taken seriously. The misinformation contained in the email clearly identifies it as just one more among the many bogus warnings that continually circulate around cyberspace.

However, while the claims in this email forward are demonstrably untrue, alarmist and highly misleading, it is important to keep in mind that not all plastics are necessarily safe to use in microwave ovens. As stated earlier in the article, plastics are considered by experts to be safe to use in microwave ovens so long as microwave safe plastics are used and manufacturers guidelines are followed. However, some plastic containers - such as those that hold meals from fast-food outlets, or cold food receptacles such as margarine tubs - may not be suitable for microwave use. The American Plastics Council has information and resources about safely using plastics in the microwave oven on its website.

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SOURCE: hoax-slayer