# MSN/Hotmail Spam Scam - BEWARE!!!



## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

I got this message that arrived in my Junk Mail Box saying my that I needed to update my online records for my email account which of course included my credit card number. They said "failure to update your online records will result in a halt of your account and a possible reactivation fee." LOL this email account is the basic free one which when I registered my credit card number wasn't needed. 

The return address in which this suppose message from MSN had a msn.net domain. All the messages I receive from MSN/Hotmail have a hotmail.com domain. The message contains spelling errors and just by the way it starts off, (Darling Msn user) I new right away it was a scam.

Is there an agency that handles spam scams where I could forward a copy to and perhaps they could take some action?

Below is the copy of the spam scam message I received:


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Thanks for posting this, GoJoAGoGo

Sticking this at the top for a bit


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## joe2cool (Feb 7, 2002)

Cheers ! for the alert!!...........


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## joe2cool (Feb 7, 2002)

http://www.elsop.com/wrc/complain.htm


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Thanks gojo.

By the way there is no msn.net. If you type it in it will take you to http://www.msn.com// so that address you had most take you some place else.

If you can find out what it is I will add it to my hosts file and block it.


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

eddie5659 said:


> Thanks for posting this, GoJoAGoGo
> 
> Sticking this at the top for a bit


You're welcome and thanks for sticking it on top.


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

joe2cool said:


> http://www.elsop.com/wrc/complain.htm


Thanks for the link. I'll forward a copy of the spam to them and hopefully this nonsense will stop.


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

hewee said:


> Thanks gojo.
> 
> By the way there is no msn.net. If you type it in it will take you to http://www.msn.com// so that address you had most take you some place else.
> 
> If you can find out what it is I will add it to my hosts file and block it.


You're welcome.


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## Raven Writer (Oct 25, 2004)

The entire e-mail is a little unprofessional, especially for MSN's automated e-mail notfication alert standards. If anyone fell for that badly written e-mail, I feel sorry for them. Notice how they unprofessionally call you "Darling" and fail to capitalize the "sn", yet at the end, they capitalize "MSN" entirely? Not only that but when MSN tell you not to send a reply, its definitely put a lot better than that and they do not refer to it as a "just department". Since when did MSN use the term "push here"?

It's kind of amusing to notice how many flaws this e-mail has and how, sadly, it still works on some users. Good on you for spreading the awareness.

I recall getting an e-mail similar to that, though I never opened it but the subject line was similar, I think it said "YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED". Never bothered me too much, they have no reason to close my account unless they were closing the free e-mail service for good.



hewee said:


> By the way there is no msn.net


Not as a website, no but there are e-mail accounts that end in "msn.net".


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Thanks


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## joe2cool (Feb 7, 2002)

Good Luck GoJoe !


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

Some action was taken on this spam scam as now the link to the page where these jokers wanted victims to post their personal information now appears as "The page cannot be found" HTTP 404 - File not found. :up:


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Great to hear.


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Thanks for the update. If its stays like that for a week or so, I'll drop this back down 

eddie


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

OK, thanks eddie ...


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## StoneBridge (Nov 27, 2004)

Hey,

I have seen MANY of these sorts of emails (mainly for online banking or Ebay), but they are always pretty poorly made.
Some of them are made to look identical to their website, which is quite good, but then the wording throughout them is terrible (since when does MSN start refering to people as 'darling'?? See my point?? haha). 

Also, one good way to see whether it is a fake or not is to highlight the link (but dont click it) and look in the bottom left-hand corner to see if the link matches the address displayed there.

Anyway, if you are not sure of the email, then you can always go to the website (by typing it in manually eg. ebay.com.au) and updating your account details there directly. 

Cheers,
Chris


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## icemanx (Nov 30, 2004)

lol thats why I use a program called Mailwasher from Firetrust and I can bounce back crap that I think is spam...

I would have bounced that straight back when I had have seen it

have a nice day all


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## bleepster (Jun 8, 2004)

well - this is good to hear. glad a lot of you are on top of things. I have seen fraud e-mails from PAYPAL, EBAY, and CitiBank.

Just a word - NO COMPANY WILL EVER REQUEST VIA E-MAIL ACCOUNT INFORMATION UPDATES- NOT ONE!!!!!!!


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## Craig321 (Dec 4, 2004)

GoJoAGoGo said:


> I got this message that arrived in my Junk Mail Box saying my that I needed to update my online records for my email account which of course included my credit card number. They said "failure to update your online records will result in a halt of your account and a possible reactivation fee." LOL this email account is the basic free one which when I registered my credit card number wasn't needed.
> 
> The return address in which this suppose message from MSN had a msn.net domain. All the messages I receive from MSN/Hotmail have a hotmail.com domain. The message contains spelling errors and just by the way it starts off, (Darling Msn user) I new right away it was a scam.
> 
> ...


I wonder how he managed to get a msn.net e-mail as www.msn.net just redirects to msn.com


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## maxygolf (Oct 13, 2004)

I regularly forward this type of e-mail scam to the local FBI, as they can investigate and prosecute


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## vast_xtc (Dec 20, 2004)

Thanks for the heads-up. If anyone else gets this plz post. I would like to see how wide spread it is.


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## Sephiroth11 (Sep 24, 2003)

It's not hard to get a msn.net email, there are anonymous emailers with IP Ghosting ALL over the internet. I've seen them before. With them, you could send an email from a domain that DOESN'T EXIST. It's pretty kewl, yet bad for fruadulent purposes...


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## sstewart (Jan 7, 2005)

Thanks! I get similar stuff about ebay, paypal, etc... Also from banks where I don't even have accounts!


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## kensterz (Jan 17, 2005)

There are still many more scams going around. I recently got one in Hotmail about my delivery not being complete and I had to put in my social security number. I put a fake one in, and in the Extra Message box, I put "Go to hell stupid retarded scammers I'm calling the police"


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## alisonf1972 (Jan 24, 2005)

I'm getting really sick of the amount of spoof emails I get, some supposedly from eBay telling me to update my user name and password details (at one point, someone else was using my details to buy things, even though I never responded to any of these spoofs!), others from Paypal...it amuses me that most of them look really crap, as already mentioned!
And of course LOADS of infamous lottery wins - I should be a billionairess by now


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Thanks Gojo,I had a similar email 2 weeks ago
Thanks for the update good to know someone is on the case.


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

blue_harp28:

You're welcome ... :up:


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## moose69 (Aug 20, 2003)

Thanks for the warning

moose69


:up: :up: :up: :up:


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

moose69:

You're welcome ... :up:


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

I received an e-mail like this one below last week. The MSN Home Page now has posted a link to the copy of this latest e-mail scam that has the scammers using MSN as there bait:

.


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## crazyinengla (Jun 10, 2005)

a week ago i recieved a chain saying that they wanted to know who was using their account...it said it was from MSN, and that failure to do so would result in deactivation of your account

i hate chains...bin it the moment i get it


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## riversdad (Jul 31, 2005)

Thanks for the heads-up bro! :up: I've been increasingly suspicious and concerned of using hotmail. It is very comercialized and not very professional. 

Hey I'm curious to know about how to obtain a G-mail account? Can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks man, Bradley.


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

riversdad said:


> Thanks for the heads-up bro! :up: I've been increasingly suspicious and concerned of using hotmail. It is very comercialized and not very professional.
> 
> Hey I'm curious to know about how to obtain a G-mail account? Can you point me in the right direction?
> 
> Thanks man, Bradley.


Hi Bradley:

The chain letter crazyinengla received was most likely from a *"Spam Scam"* idiot that was trying to obtain personal information and was never sent by MSN/Hotmail. Did you read the first message of this thread? Here's a quote from it that should show you how these *"Spam Scam"* idiots will try and obtain personal information from anyone:


GoJoAGoGo said:


> I got this message that arrived in my Junk Mail Box saying my that I needed to update my online records for my email account which of course included my credit card number. They said "failure to update your online records will result in a halt of your account and a possible reactivation fee." *LOL this email account is the basic free one which when I registered my credit card number wasn't needed.*


G-mail/Google or any other e-mail service are also targets to these *"Spam Scam"* idiots. The bottom line here is not to give out your personal information over the internet unless you are positive it's really necessary. The best thing to do is to contact the customer service department of the alleged e-mail service that wants the personal information and find out for sure if they sent you the message in question.


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## riversdad (Jul 31, 2005)

Huh! interesting, I see. Thank you so much now I understand. Msn/Hotmail is simply a host for a certain breed of criminal. Thanks to you my knowledge is increasing!

God bless you and take care man


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## puter hater (Nov 12, 2000)

I recieved the same type of request for my paypal account. Which of course was a bogus email to get my credit card info....

puter hater


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## TomasKay (Aug 13, 2005)

Heck, I get one of those every other day... Most of them take the form of fake Paypal reciepts which claim i've paid obscene amounts for obscene (and a bit confusing!) items!


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## Cmeagan (Oct 23, 2003)

Note the "push here". That's to get around spam filters that block the text "click here".


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

Here's another MSN/Hotmail scam I received yesterday. This one is a little more professional looking than the one I posted at the beginning of this thread. Once again these scammers are trying to get personal information out of me on an account I don't even have. I have a free MSN/Hotmail account which doesn't involve any monthly payments to MSN. Here's a quote from this message:

*"There has been a problem processing your current payment method for this month's
billing cycle. Unfortunately while trying to authorize your payment method it
was denied in our system."*


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## Eriksrocks (Aug 7, 2005)

riversdad said:


> Hey I'm curious to know about how to obtain a G-mail account? Can you point me in the right direction?


Check out my sig. 

BTW, I've had a Gmail account for about a month now and I've only recieved one piece of spam or any mail that I didn't want! Also Gmail is all around better in my opinion.


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## js73 (Jun 10, 2002)

I have been getting similar e-mails from supposedly Yahoo administration, saying that I should update (with a 77 K attachment, which I do not open), or that my password has been changed. They normally show up in the bulk folder and are immediately deleted.


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## soniq (Nov 26, 2003)

i posted a thread for yahoo too,somebody e-mailed and said your account is gonna be suspended unless u read the attachment


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## crazyinengla (Jun 10, 2005)

Eriksrocks said:


> Check out my sig.
> 
> BTW, I've had a Gmail account for about a month now and I've only recieved one piece of spam or any mail that I didn't want! Also Gmail is all around better in my opinion.


yes i believe Google mail is the best :up:

and www.bebo.com also has a mail service, its not a proper email hosters, but you get countless chains saying bebo is closing accounts unless you pay, or forward it on as they have a tracking device, what utter fake...

Bebo has now attachted to the bottom of the compose mail page saying that they are NOT closing, cos they've had so many of it...


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## weatherwitch (Oct 11, 2004)

Regarding .net addresses I have an MSN (hotmail) account that ends in .co.uk - not your ususal hotmail .com address either


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## sasnak (Dec 22, 2002)

On my wife's computer at her Hotmail address was a message to go to a site and update some personal info. We never deal with Chase Bank on hotmail at all. so I knew it was a scam.


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## GoJoAGoGo (Dec 26, 2002)

Hi sasnak:

Thanks for posting, there are so many scams around. We need to stay on guard and not supply any personal information ... :up:


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## Killer360 (Mar 17, 2006)

How did that guy get a hold of an Microsoft email account? Thanks for notifying everyone.


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## moneyspider1 (Mar 5, 2006)

Excellent!!! Its about time more was done to stop this activity.


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## Holly3278 (Jan 29, 2003)

Thankfully most scams like this are easy to detect because misspelling or something else is obviously wrong with the e-mail.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi,

I get plenty of spam going in my Gmail account,
yet i dont think i have used it since i set it up.

Fortunately, their spam filter is pretty good and
anything in the spam folder gets deleted after 30
days.
Just as well, otherwise it would soon fill up.

John


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

It's amazing, really! You would of thought that if someone wanted you to think that they were Microsoft, that they use some phrases from Microsofts actual emails??!!


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Ive been wondering what would happen if we all fed back false information ..
Such as information from the Social Security death index.

Would they get in trouble if they tried to use it ???


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

I hope so!  I would love to try, but is it illegal to send false information, even if it is to scammers?


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## scottsheat (Jul 25, 2005)

Hi Peeps
When I get 1 of these sort of mess I (a) forward (with full headers) to [email protected] & (b) another to my e-mail provider. To most of us, they are evident but, regretfully they can cause others anguish.

Keep it up guys u do a grand job!


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## dm01 (Jul 26, 2006)

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I have had this program for years, and I still don't know all of the features. I have used this program successfully to foil harmful spammers in less than the time it would take to fill out all of the information they wanted.

This program has all of the whois directories as of the time of release.

This program is not 100%, but is very, very good.

I am not paid to promote programs, I just think that this is a great utility.
More information on Sam Spade is available here!
Download Sam Spade here! Please note the file is rather large.


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

I currently have 501 Spam in my Spam folder.

This has to be the most unbelievable email ever (see attachment)


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## mroonie (Sep 6, 2006)

I can't help but get frustrated when reading posts and articles about phishing and spamming that occurs day and day out. Doesn't anybody else feel like companies need to take more responsibility for trying to prevent scammers from using their company in the name of "spam" or "phishing"?


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