Replies

Guess what... I just got this email from a friend who believes it.

Subject: FW: THIS IS FOR REAL. IT WAS ON THE NEWS LAST NIGHT.

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 forward 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.
> Regards.
> Chinu! 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.
>

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG!

What do I do for my friend... Can this idiot be saved?

Hair, I get those all the time, and the bogus stories about Capt Kangaroo bein' a WWII combat vet/hero and the PBS interview where the general compares the newswoman to a prostitute...I always reply to the sender with the link to truthorfiction.com and urbanlegends.com and politely tell them that the truth is out there, it just ain't on the internet... do some research before they forward something... show a little common sense...and to quit wasting my time...I don't usually get bothered by that peson again...come to think of it, I don't get very many e-mails anymore...

What do I do for my friend... Can this idiot be saved?

Some people view the internet as a toy. Can you imagine? They don't realize it's for serious business like freeping and sneaking...

As for the people who do believe those emails, I'll either blast 'em back with a link from Snopes.com or in the case of my sister and my sister-in-law, I'll delete their email without opening it.

What do I do for my friend... Can this idiot be saved?

Try pointing her at this page. This scam is a variation of what Snopes cleverly calls the "Inboxer Rebellion".

Or, just let her be disappointed when her check doesn't arrive in two weeks!