the sephone blog

Ok- quick and to the point.

Bill Gates, MS, AOL and INTEL are NOT going to pay you $245.00 per authenticated email address. Period. dot. the end.

I just received an email from an old coworker (hi Mel) asking to propagate an email that was sent to her.

It sounded way to good to be true and then of course being a little older, I recalled a previous incarnation of this several years ago.

To learn more about it- visit http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailhoaxes/a/maoltrack.htm

But in the shortened version- Supposedly someone saw this on ABC-GMA and assured it was true that Bill Gates and AOL are attempting to perform an email campaign to prove IE is the most  widely used browser-  DUH – it is!, unfortunately.

Anyway-  if this email is forwarded to others- MS, AOL and INTEL will pay upto $245.00 for the first person, and on and on…  whatever, blah blah blah!

Needless to say No One actually saw the GMA spot or recalled seeing the 2 page spread in USA Today as in some versions.  In all versions, senders are going on implied supposition that this is true; based on “quotes” from real attorneys.

It ain’t true-  dont forward the email;  dont add to the SPAM that your ISP is indeed going to wade through to deliver your other precious mail-  Resist the urge, I am sorry to have to say.

Bill Gates and AOL may be rich… Be assured they arent gonna give it away, especially like this

the email, incase you havent seen it…

Dear Friends,
Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. For every person that you forrward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a cheque.

I thought this was a scam myself, but two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on, Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a cheque for US$24,800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this Bill Gates is the man. It’s all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible.

You are bound to get at least US$10,000.00.

Remember the old adage, If it sounds too good to be true – it is. Emails promising riches are no exception. Forward them only to the nearest Recycle Bin.