Trials, Tribulations and Temper Bursts
In: Rants
30 Aug 2009419 Scams are nothing new, at-least not to techies. However there are scores of people across the planet who continue to fall for these scammers who are primarily based out of Africa.
Why do people fall for such schemes? Lack of common sense is obviously the reason. Greed is another. Take a look at this SMS message that I received on my phone the other day:
Congrate!! you won GBP.400.000.00.In Onging Hewlett Packard CO UK. Mobile Draws.for claims Contact Mr.Martins via E-mail:hewlettpackard09@hotmail.com
Sender: C.H.H.P@
SMS Centre: +919247055007
It is obviously a scam, but to the un-initiated, here’s what ticked me off:
Now where does hotmail come in my angst? The fact that maximum such emails tend to be generated using Hotmail and Hotmail has done precious little to get aggressive about it’s misuse.
While M$’s ex-chairman wants to introduce ‘Email Postage’, he has done little to put his own house in order. Try submitting an email abuse claim to Hotmail and you are likely to receive a pre-formatted terse message. In fact, since they require email headers to be sent and this message was received by SMS, I wonder if they will even accept it.
The SMSC in use may belong to Reliance GSM Service (India) and is used by SMSGUPSHUP.com
The SMSC is also show as the mobile number of ‘Peter D’Souza‘ based in Maharashtra (India). Mr. D’Souza seems to specialize in offering get-rich-quick schemes.
What makes this article most imperative is the number of people across the world who seem to have received similar SMS messages and the smaller proportion of fools who are querying the process required to claim this award.
God save those who have already contacted the scammers hoping to come into some new-money.
Hello and Welcome to my blog! This blog records what I face, What I think & What I do. I hope information presented here maybe of some use to you & helps you save money or time.
1 Response to Hotmail – The New Hotbed of 419 Scam
Tony M
September 12th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Hi, I received one mobile message stating that
“Congrate!!! have you won GBP 400.000.00. I n on going
Hewlettpackard mobile draw for claims contact Mr.Martins at Email:
hewlettpackard09@hotmail.com”
AND, I WANT TO ALERT EVERY ONE THERE NOT TO SEND ANY REPLY TO
THESE MESSAGES OR YOUR MOBILES WILL BE HACKED. SO, PEOPLE BE
ALERT….