Here’s a copy of email I received:

================================================

Subject of email: FOR YOUR URGENT ATTENTION!!!

Goodday friend,

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope this
mail meets you in a perfect condition.You may not understand why this mail
came to you.But if you do not remember me,you receive an email from me in
the past regarding a multi-million-dollar business proposal which we never
concluded.

I am using this opportunity to inform you that this multi-million-dollar
business has been concluded with another person who financed it to a
logical conclusion.I thank you for your great effort to our unfinished
transfer of fund into your account due to one reason or the other best
known to you.But I want to inform you that I have successfully transferred
the fund out of the security company to my new partner’s account in London
that was capable of assisting me in this great venture.

Due to your effort, sincerity, courage and trust worthiness you showed at
the course of the transaction I want to compensate you and show my
gratitude to you with the sum of $300,000 (THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED
STATE DOLLARS) I have authorized the finance house where I deposited my
money to issue you international certified bank draft cashable at your
bank.

My dear friend I will like you to contact the finance house for the
collection of this international certified bank draft,when contacting them
ensures you provide them with your details as stated below;

1.FULL NAMES:
2.ADDRESS:
3.SEX:
4.AGE:
5.OCCUPATION:
6.TEL: (If any)
7.COUNTRY:
8.Cash credited File: YM35447XN
9.A medium of identification, i.e either a copy of drivers license or
international passport or any other legal means of identification(if any):
10.ACCOUNT COORDINATES: (Details of the account where you want your funds
transferred):

The name and contact address of the Person with your BANK DRAFT ( DR.
MURPHY SASHA ) is as follows:

COMPENSATION AND FINANCE HOUSE HEAD OFFICE
CONTACT AGENT: DENNIS WISE
EMAIL: dennis_wise007@yahoo.com
PHONE: +44 702 405 3382

At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects
which myself and my new partner are having at hand. Finally, remember that
I have forwarded instruction to the finance house on your behalf to send
the bank draft to you as soon as you contact them without delay.Please I
will like you to accept this token with good faith as this is from the
bottom of my heart.Thanks and God bless you and your family.Hope to hear
from you soon.

Your’s Faithfully,
Mr.Andrew Richardson
=============================================

another copy from a person who claims himself to be a soldier:

=============================================

Dear Friend,

My name is Quintine Mel Sanchez (Serge) I am an American soldier serving
in the military with the 3rd army infantry division here in Iraq. I am in
a desperate need of your urgent assistance. I have summed up courage to
contact you towards assisting me on my quest. I found your particulars
(email) in an International email list directory from the Internet here in
Iraq and decided to contact you to assist me move the sum of ($8 Million
U.S. Dollars) Eight Million United States Dollars to you in your country
of origin or any location of your choice. But I need to be assured that my
share will be kept safe in your care until I complete my service here in
Iraq.

Some money in various currencies were discovered in barrels at a farm
house near one of Late Saddam Hussein’s old palaces here in Tikrit-Iraq,
during a rescue operation. It was agreed by Staff Sergent Joey Jones and
myself and some other officers that part of this money be shared among us
before informing anybody about it and turning it over to the troop, since
we were the first to discover this money. Though this was quite an illegal
thing to do as an army officer, but I tell you what? No compensation can
make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole of
which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb last time and many
other American soldiers.

The above figure was given to me as my share and to conceal this kind of
money became a problem for me, so with the help of a red cross officer
working here in Iraq whose office enjoy some immunity, I was able to get
the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot as a
personal effect of my late brother in-law. The red cross officer does not
know the real content of the package and believes that it belongs to my
brother in-law who died by a road side bomb blast here in Iraq and before
giving up, entrusted me to hand over the package to his family in the
United States.

I have now found a very safe and secured way of getting the package out of
Iraq through Jordan so you can pick it up anywhere and I will discuss this
with you when I am sure that you are willing to assist me. I believe that
my money will be well secured in your hand because I feel you have the
fear of God at heart and that you can be trusted. I intend to part away
with 40% of this money as your share for assisting me conclude this
project if we eventually come to a reasonable agreement. You should also
assure me that this issue will not be discussed with any other person and
will be kept as top secret. Should you have any reason to reject this
offer, please and please delete this message for any leakage of this
information will be too bad for us soldiers here in Iraq.

I am not certain how long it will take before I am discharges from here in
Iraq. I have been shot twice, wounded and survived two suicide bomb
attacks by the grace of God. This and other reasons earlier mentioned has
prompted me to reach out for help by contacting you. I honestly want this
issue resolved immediately. Please contact me as soon as possible.

Best Regards,
Quintine Mel Sanchez (Sarge)

IN GOD WE TRUST!!!

=============================================

Remember nobody, nobody in this world has an extra penny to give you, so just delete such mails. Here are some variants of this mail – http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blnigeria.htm

Update:

Recently a woman from Pune fall pray to such email and lost around 20-22 Lakhs INR (about $50,000), which she tried to recover trying to lure others the same way and got arrested … Read it on Times of India.

How to identify if the email has a virus? Below are some common identifiers:

1. Email attachment size is small ( 181-285 KB )
2. Has extensions like:
   • *.scr
   • *.pif
   • *.zip
   • *.HQX
   • *.MQX
   • *.mim
   • *.bat
   • *.exe
   • *.com
   • *.txt
   • *.doc
   • *.clp
   • *.lhz
   • *.rhz
   • and more other new extension name files
3. Have email subjects like:
   • Hi
   • Pictures.
   • Weah ^_^ )
   • Hokki=)
   • ello!=))
   • Hello -:))
   • Hey, dude, it’s me ^_^
   • access Mpeg
   • Re:your text
   • Re:Text message
   • Re:Msg reply
   • Re:Is that your document?
   • Re:Hot Movie(MPEG)
   • Re:Information. ..
   • Re;Important info
   • Re:This is your photos!: )
   • And more and more…

Beware such emails are dangerous.

• If one of your files has an infected virus, it could infect other files and then all files in your hard drive when you open or access it.
• Don’t open or reply virus emails.
• If the email sounds genuine but has an attachment and you are not sure, just call up the sender and ask for confirmation before opening it.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I am happy that my blog has been helpful for lot of visitors and will keep doing so. 
From last few weeks this blog is receiving some comments from users asking for help, for example read some comments from users on Safeguard your mobile post.
I personally thank you for writing your comments/feedback and opinions on the posts but request you not to expect any action from my side as this is just a awareness information and not any kind of service. I am just like you, working in IT industry at UXM, Satyam (read more about me), and whenever I am free and I have some information that I think can help others, I just post it on this blog. It is natural that if your case/experience is similar to any post on this blog you might think this could be right platform to address your problem like many people have asked to find out their stolen mobiles but I am helpless and have no relationship with police/govt agencies.

I request you to write your similar experiences on my blog as they can help other visitors but if you are requesting for my help, forgive me as I won’t be able to help you on it and request you not to get frustrated if I could not write back to you if you are expecting my reply.

Keep visiting! Save yourself and Save others!!!!

- Dinesh Gajbhiye. 

Check out my ther blog – Hera Pheri, it will surely make you laugh

<email content start>

Dear All,

 I just want you guys to take hold of this  opportunity from NOKIA. NOKIA   is distributing cell phones for free over the internet to compete with Ericsson, which is doing the   same. They want to be better known through the Internet by word of mouth and so they are giving away their new WAP phone.  All you need to do is mail this to 8 of your acquaintances. In two weeks you will receive a NOKIA 6020. If you send this email to 20 people or more,   you will receive a NOKIA 6630 Phone. Don’t forget to mail a copy of this email to eric.dsouza@delhi.india.nokia.com to ensure that your participation is noted.

</email content end>

One old version of this mail with Nokia’s public denial can be read at this link: http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/nokia.html

You can see more about this on:Fatal Spider Bite in North Florida with different versions of the same email. Don’t trust such email. When such email comes to your inbox, rather than just forwarding spend couple of minutes to search on internet to see how real it is and break the chain there itself.

<email contents>

Be careful!!!

Three women in KL, turned up at hospitals over a 5-day period, all with the same symptoms. Fever, chills, and vomiting, followed by muscular collapse, paralysis, and finally, death. There were no outward signs of trauma. Autopsy results showed toxicity in the blood.

These women did not know each other, and seemed to have nothing in common. It was iscovered, however, that they had all visited the same Restaurant along Jalan Kuchai Lama within days of their deaths.

The health department descended on the restaurant, shutting it down.

The food, water, and air conditioning were all inspected and tested,to no avail. The big break came when a waitress at the restaurant was rushed to the hospital with similar symptoms. She told doctors that she had been on vacation, and had only went to the restaurant to pick up her check. She did not eat or drink while she was there, but had
used the restroom.

That is when one toxicologist, remembering an article he had read,drove up to the restaurant, went into the restroom, and lifted the toilet seat.

Under the seat, out of normal view, was a small spider. The spider was captured and brought back to the lab, where it was determined to be the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata), so named because ofits reddened flesh color. This spider’s venom is extremely toxic, but can take several days to take effect. They live in cold, dark,damp climates, and toilet rims provide just the right atmosphere.

Several days later a lawyer from JB showed up at a hospital emergency room. Before his death, he told the doctor, that he had been away on business, had taken a flight from Indonesia, changing planes in Singapore , before returning home. He did not visit the restaurant, while there. He did, as did all of the other victims, have what was
determined to be a puncture wound, on his right buttock..

Investigators discovered that the flight he was on had originated in India . The Civilian Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered an immediate inspection of the toilets of all flights from India , and discovered the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata) spider’s nests on 4
different planes!

</email contents>

Email Contents:
<emailContent>

PIN NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW)

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse.

For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine.

The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.

This information was recently broadcast on TV and it states that it is seldom used because people don’t know it exists.

</emailContent>
By the way, on funny side, what if pin number is something like 4444, 7337 

If you have the anti-theft software installed (high end mobiles only) you can trace it with the help of Police, but not always if the thief is really smart, moreover you can’t protect the low-end mobiles which doesn’t support installation, so what’s the best, simplest and easiest way to save your lost mobile from misuse? Here’s a good advice:

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? 

To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone:
*#06# 

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.  Do it right away!

Should your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. 

You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use/sell it either.  And don’t forget to file a complaint with police about your stolen mobile.

If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. 

Please spread this useful information around. 

 The story goes like this: Eight months ago a four year old Pooja was kidnapped by a begger to beg for him and got noticed by Kerala Police on Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station on April 13, who then jailed him and sent Pooja to Orphanage, Nirmala Sisu Bhavan in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. On interrogation, Police found that the begger was deaf & dumb and let him off as they didn’t get much information about the girl and her parents or place from where he had kidnapped her.
About Pooja: Pooja’s primary language is Hindi (Bihari accent) and as per Pooja, her mother’s name is Munni Devi and Father’s name is Raju. Pooja says she has a younger brother and an elder sister. She says her place is Nagaluppe, but no one has heard about this place.
More information about Pooja,her photographs and this incident is available on www.helppoojafindherparents.org, a website launched by a good human being to support this e-mail campaign.

According to a news dated November 13, 2006 on News website, Newindpress – IT hasn’t yet helped Pooja find her parents, the orphanage is getting large number of calls and almost all callers claim to be her parents or want to adopt the child. But these frequent calls have now become a nuisance for the orphanage authorities and they even fear to send Pooja to school. After 8 months there is still no success so authorities have only two choices Adoption or send Pooja for post-care and the CJM is expected to take a decision by end of this month.

We can help her by spreading the news and hope to find her parents one day and not by becoming a trouble for her and nuisance for the Orphanage as mentioned in above news.

just-for-fun type freaks

Let’s look at what orkut offers, what it does not and how to save our info from getting misused.

What Orkut offers:

• Profile with personal info
  • Available to public, some info can be kept private
• Photo on the profile
  • Available to public
• Album, where you can post photos
  • Available to public
• Scrapbook: sraps/Notes, your friends write for you
  • Available to public
• Testimonials: Testimonials from friends
  • Read only for public, Friends on list can only write
• Friends: Your friend list on orkut
  • Available to public
• Communities: Online communities you join or create
  • Available to public

What Orkut does not Offer:

• Security to your personal profile from anonymous visits
• Security to your scrapbook from anonymous writes
• Security to your photographs from anonymous viewing and downloading
• Security to your friends lists and joined communities from anonymous access

This means your personal data is at risk and can be misused. Phone numbers can be used for cold calls, email accounts can be spammed, photos can be misused, personal data can be used to create other accounts and so on…

Although orkut can be fun, it could a place for spammers/hackers/anonymous people to grab your personal details and use against you,  you just need to be little careful to avoid your personal data from getting misused.

Tips/Advice for preventing your personal info from misuse on Orkut  (safe orkutting)

1. Don’t write your personal contact numbers anywhere on Orkut
2. You might wish to give your personal contact details (phone number, email address etc) to someone but avoid posting it in scrapbook as it’s public. You can send it using the “write message” which is private to a user.
3. Avoid uploading your personal photographs in album
4. Validate person’s identity before you add him/her as your friend
5. Make sure the testimonial written for you comes from genuine person and the text is ok before you approve it.
6. Although keeping the scrapbook clean is a good habit, but people like to keep the scraps but make sure you delete scraps that contains info you don’t like others to read, contain your personal information, contain friends personal information etc
7. As cloning and fake profiles are on rise, make sure the profile is genuine before you add him/her as your friend.
8. Some companies may have policies that restricts employees from posting company name anywhere on the web, obey them.
9. Don’t just join any community, make sure it’s authentic and you really need it.
10. Last but very important, Don’t run behind the numbers, you are not contesting on orkut, are you? nobody cares for how many friends are there on your list or how many scraps you have or how many communities you have joined. Remember more the number more unsafe you are on the orkut.