From the Windows Live™ Team
The *criminal mastermind* who sent this email alert is hoping the ™ symbol, and coloring some text blue to look like hyperlinks, will impress.
Subject: Account Alert™
4:31 AM
Windows Live™ Team
From: Windows Live™ Team (jademoi@hotmail.com)
Sent: Sun 1/16/11 4:31 AM
To: members_servicealert2228@live.comDear Valuable User,
Your online account information must be confirmed and verified to ensure uninterrupted service. To enhance the level of service you receive from Windows Live Hotmail, we regularly review user account informations automatically but a breakdown on our server recently caused us to go through it manually at this time. We have issued this warning message to inform you that we have detected a slight error on your account information.
As a result, we require you to confirm your account by clicking the reply button and filling the below information accurately:-
* Full Name…………………………….
* Username:……………………………
* Password:…………………………….
* Date of Birth:…………………………
* Country Or Territory:………………Note
Failure to fill the above information or supplying inadequate information will result in permanent account suspension. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience we caused by having this done manually.
Thank you for your understanding, YOUR DETAILS WILL NOT BE SHARED.Sincerely,
Windows Live Alert TeamMicrosoft Corporation
“Send me your email user name and password.. I won’t share it with anybody.” Kind of hard to believe there are still people out there naive and inexperienced enough to fall for this tired old ‘form’.. but there are.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
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Hey Paul—glad that you caught this one. I can’t believe how many people still fall victim to these fake e-mails. This one is even more strange because I am not sure what someone could really do with my Windows Live user name and password—do you know what they might use it for?
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TuneUp Blogger,
I do not know from direct experience fortunately, but the reasons an Evil Doer would want an email’s username/password are only limited by their creativity.
They may simply want the ability to send email (spam, maybe viruses) in your name, from your machine, to your friends and family.
And/or, they may want to change the login password and lock you out … maybe they’ll charge you some small extortion for the new password.
And/or, some email logins provide access to more services than just the email — some include access to advertising accounts, for example (Google’s AdSense, for example).
Perhaps they’re just malicious.. and take some devilish delight in sending a letter to your boss.. and get you fired.
But perhaps the main reasons are these — people are um, er, basically lazy and inclined to convenience, so they use the same password for everything. By learning an email password, they’ve frequently just learned the password to the bank account. And Facebook (where they will again send viruses in your name). And Pay Pal.
It would not be hard to assume your identity..
And.. if you fall for a phish like this, you are *naive* enough to fall for bigger, better scams.
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Hey Paul – interesting perspective on why people hack these accounts. It’s sad to think that some people simply get satisfaction out of messing with other people, but you’re right! Thanks again for the insight.
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TuneUp Blogger,
Yes.. “sad to think” sums it up pretty well.
But, there is a reason that one of Man’s early inventions was “Jail”.
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