Am I being phished

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:10 am

Copy of email I recieved. I deleted "Register Here" link so the less intuitive don't get sucked in.

"Living&Working in U.S.A(Greencard)

US government will give away 50,000 Greencards! Don�t miss this opportunity of a lifetime!

USA, the land of opportunity, gives immigrant visas to 50.000 persons through a lottery organized every year."

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:38 pm

wow!
thats a shiny new lure they have there!

Havent seen that one before.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:21 pm

I believe there is (or was) a Green Card lottery.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:03 pm

I've had about 20 of these e-mails so far. Danged spammers can't even figure out who to target.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:05 pm

....WTH is "pished" ??????

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:19 pm

phishing is the process of tricking people into providing you their personal data.

HaAGen DaZS · Post by **HaAGen DaZS** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:33 am

and pished is slang for rather drunk.

this is quite old, ive not had it in an email, however, theyve been on popups and sites for years...

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:42 am

There definitely is a green card lottery and I believe the number of green cards given out each year is 50,000.
I have a friend who trys to win each year....so far no joy.
The U.S. decides which countrys people we are lacking in to keep our population diverse and concentrates the 'free green card' givaway in those locations. For example the U.K. hasn't been getting any for a long time because we have an abundance of U.K. citizens here.
The email you got is probably someone trying to scam people into buying something to improve their chances of winning.

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:45 pm

well, I decided to google a bit and found this page.

http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

Guess there is a lottery! but I would stay away from the 3rd party sites and go directly to the Gov't sponsered site.

Kyouryuu · Post by **Kyouryuu** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:03 am

I got an e-mail at work the other day requesting account information, purportedly from Washington Mutual. Though I have no doubt it was a scam, I can easily see how an unsavvy user would be duped by this. It spoofed Wamu's e-mail address, their header graphic, sounded very official. I don't remember if it was a phone number or a web address before I deleted it, but it's clear they went to great lengths to forge a corporate document.

I could tell it was a fake because I have no dealings at Wamu and have never done on-line banking there, much less under my work e-mail address.

I feel pity for the suckers who get taken in by this one...