Will Bill Gates pay you if you forward an email?

We always get these fwd emails:

• For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00.... Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later. Snopes.com
• snopes.com: Bill Gates $5,000 Giveaway
• Thousand Dollar Bill - Snopes
• Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune, as e-mail says - snop

For understanding about such forwarded emails, see Cyber Crimes  by G. Ram Kumar

Description: Will Bill Gates pay you if you forward an email? Is a great fortune of millions of dollars awaiting you in an African country? Do you get mails announcing that you have won a bumper lottery? Con men of the cyber space use these tricks to catch their gullible victims. Net users usually rise to the bait and part with critical information like passwords, bank details, etc. A new breed of crooks, cyber criminals, lurks over the Internet conning unsuspecting users out of their money and personal information.
Ram Kumar’s Cyber Crimes comes as a timely alert for both experienced users of the net and those who are new to it. Written in a clear language for every user of the Internet, Cyber Crimes will help you understand the evil forces of the cyberspace and be on your guard. The SAFE INTERNET COMPUTING GUIDE provides useful dos and don’ts for your safety in your cyber journey.

Contents: Cyber crimes • Junk Mail - Spam & Spim • Online Frauds - Scams, Phishing Attacks & Urban Legends • Malware I - Viruses, Worms & Trojans • Malware II - Cookies, Adware, Spyware & Scumware • Identity Theft - Spoofing, Forgery & Social Engineering • Password Cracking & Hostile Profiling • Computer/Network Intrusions - Hacking & DoS Attacks • Cyber Squatting, Software Piracy & Copyright Infringement • Cyber Stalking & Digital Bullying • Cyber Terrorism & Cyber Warfare • Safe internet computing guide • Tips for Online Security • Blocking Spam • Guarding against Spim • Handling Scams & Phishing Attacks • Protecting yourself from Pharming Attacks • Containing Viruses & Trojans • Clearing Cookies, Adware & Spyware • Avoiding Identity Thefts • Tips for Choosing a Secure Password • Reporting Hacking Attempts • Dealing with Cyber Stalking • Online Auction Frauds • Safe Online Shopping • Safe Online Chatting• Email Account Privacy • Safe Net Banking •Endspeak • Virus Message • Nigerian Scam Message • Phishing Scam Message • Urban Legend Email • Social Engineering • Dumpster Diving • Key Internet Usage Statistics -- source

Is that forwarded email Truth or Fiction ... Pathfinders Again

• Computersight - Widely Circulated Emails: Truth or Fiction ...
• Snopes 'Exposed' - Is Snopes.com Biased? - Urban Legends 
• Another Reason You Cannot Trust Snopes Or Factcheck 
• Snopes... Reliable? Authentic? Accurate? Find out! [Archive ...  
• Top 10 sites to debunk urban legends - TechRepublic
• Snopes Verifies This is True: Common Sense is Dead - Yahoo Voices

Is that forwarded email Truth or Fiction ...Pathfinders To Detect Spam

Pathfinders To Detect Spam

• 419 BAITER
• Better Business Bureaus in Canada
• Blog of Scams
• eHow.com
• Federal Trade Commission's website on spam email
• Forward scam emails to
• Fraud Aid
• Fraud Email Collection
• Fraud Email Gallery
• How to Identify and Avoid E-mail Scams
• iDeceive - Deceptive Internet Practices
• Indian Consumer Complaints Forum
• Legit or Scam?
• Museum of hoaxes
• Paypal Fake Emails
• PCQandA.com
• Rumor Detectives
• Scam Types dot Com
• Scam Warner: Stella Jamal's Romance scam
• snopes.com
• Spam Laws
• Spam Scammers
• Stop Spam Email
• Suckers Wanted - Job scam quick guide
• Thats Nonsense
• The Universal Seduction
• The Virtual Chase's Hoaxes and Other Bad Infor
• Tips To Detect Scam Websites
• Truth or Fiction
• Urban Legends

Facebook isn’t going anywhere on February 29

The bottomline: STOP Forwarding / alerting friends / panicking. 

February 29, 2013 is a date that doesn't exist

Extract from The Right Click  By Tori Floyd:

"Nevertheless, many people have likely seen this post appear on their Facebook wall, asking them to spread the word:
"Share this message with at least 15 of your friends for the best chance of alerting everyone," reads a message circulating on Facebook, according to Mother Nature Network. "Many people will try to log in from February 29 to 31, just to find the site closed down for those days with no warning."...

If you're faced with what appears to be a chain message via Facebook, there are some basic rules to follow:

• If it asks you to click a link or send along personal info, don't. Facebook has more official means of contacting you than a Wall Post put up by one of your friends.
• Before entering in any sensitive information, including your Facebook password (or any other password), banking information, or home address, verify that the URL you're visiting is actually Facebook. And as a point of common sense, you probably shouldn't be too generous with your banking info and address to Facebook, either.
• Use common sense. Read 'important messages' that are meant to be official communications from Facebook twice, since chances are good they aren't real. And if a message is promising something that sounds too good to be true — like a free iPad or money just for reposting —then it almost always is. ... continue reading: The Right Click 

Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends - To all with love and malice towards none

1. Police warn of another email scam
   
2. "Poorly worded" email plea prompts scam worries‎, April 23, 2011, dailypress.com ["Tornado Damages Moton Campus — We Need Your Help!"]
   
3. Police Newsletter: Crime: 13 April 2011, Thames Valley Police, UK
   
4. Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends - Topix
   
5. Something phishy is going on
   
6. 5 Natural Disaster Scams To Watch For
   
7. Beware of new phishing email Dodge County News, 16 Apr 2011
   

On the same shelf:

My ad about a 2002 Chevy in Craiglist: Fake Spam Email

I am not alone to receive this fake blessing, you may also be one of those who are spammed--I neither have a van nor advertised for it in the New York's Craigslist. The message looks 100% genuine, and official:

Confirmation for Posting ID# 1779115062
Your ad, titled '2002 Chevrolet 3500 Express Van' has been posted as follows:
http://newyork.craigslist.com/ctd/1779115061.html (cars & trucks - by dealer)

Posts will appear in the list of postings and in search results in about 15 minutes.
If you have trouble finding your ad, please check our help page: [?]
Please log in into your account if you need to edit or delete your posting:
https://acount.craigslist.org/login

If you did not post this ad please change your account password asap:
https://acount.craigslist.org/login/chgpwd
For your protection please check our list of common scams.
Thanks for using craigslist!

A consumer protectionist, John Stark, reports the same fake email, read his experience (interestingly John and me received this email today, and we hereby advise you not to click on this fake email message):

Fun with craigslist

June 9th, 2010

Here’s a bogus e-mail that hit my inbox seconds ago. It asks me to verify the ad I supposedly posted for a 2002 Chevy van. Said ad, of course, does not exist. The game appears to be: Let’s get this guy’s craigslist password for fun and profit. But since I don’t have a craigslist account, the scheme didn’t work.

Read more: http://blogs.bellinghamherald.com/consumer/#ixzz0qPoGbEoT

forwarding and forwarded email - media monitoring

• Facebook scam causes pocketbook panic for some users
  
  
• Pentagon to talk to Michigan company about Bible verse scopes

More @ Google News

On the same shelf:

Interfaith Alliance head protests Bible verses on military gun sights

Think Before You Click: You have received A Card from a Family Member

There is a long list of emails that come to you and sound genuine, but most of the time are spam, malware, virus, etc., sent to you by robots...

To save us from the above, there are alerts, including:

'You have received A Hallmark E-Card' Urban Legends' say: 'You've Received a Postcard' Virus
See More About:

computer virus warnings

e-cards

trojan warnings

E-Card Fraud Alert, says: Hallmark Site

snopes.com: 'Hallmark Postcard from a Family Member' virus -- MIXTURE OF REAL VIRUS WARNING AND HOAX

Solutions / Discussions:

Greetings! Someone Has Sent You an E-Card Virus, Todd R. Weiss, Computerworld pcworld.com

ECard Virus Removal, By Colin Richards @ ezinearticles.com

Security Alert: Virus Emails - You've received A Hallmark E-Card ... @ Carnegie Mellon University

Galewher.com Facebook, Twitter Virus: Koobface Strikes Again

Received an invite to make quick bucks @ Facebook. Facebook security offers help. click here and here Facebook Blog: New Tools to Secure a Compromised Account.

Here is the news: Galewher.com Facebook, Twitter Virus: Koobface Strikes Again

"Apparently, Galewher.com is an extension of the Koobface worm, which has been running amuck for some time now."

More news here: GALEWHER.C0M (GaleWher.com) Facebook Virus

My Instant Messenger and Email Sends Spam Messages to My Buddies...

This is common, nothing new or just found. Although some see it now (see the first item below), many have experienced it for almost years.  And, believing that 'This can be checked by an antivirus software or firewall' is partially correct. You need to be more cautious, careful and most important: ASK your Buddies NOT TO CLICK or try such links (see the links, below):

• Thursday, December 17, 2009: Now computer viruses not only spoil your hard disk but also your dignity
  
• My Yahoo IM sends Spam Messages
  
• How to stop your MSN sending out SPAM messages, its not virus [read here: 'Fact about Spam IM from MSN Friends with Malicious Links']
  
• SPAM Messages On MSN
  
• How to Stop MSN Messenger spam Message
  
• Windows Live (MSN) Messenger Friends’ Messege Spam Phishing URL (Clean ‘Virus’)
  
• Characterizing Botnets from Email Spam
  
• Storm botnet recruiting again

See also: Something related in terms of the spam (but not with msn / yahoo messenger), it is with emails (msn, yahoo, etc.) :

Spam being sent from my personal account = Someone has hacked my e-mail account.

JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST MSN VIRUSES! Is someone spamming your MSN contacts in your name? + How to avoid becoming a victim?

This site lures you to "verify who blocked you on their msn contact list", stealing your MSN/Hotmail password and therefore your MSN identity @ MSN experts pls, is this a scam site

10 Instant Messaging Safety Tips @ Microsoft Security:
1. Never open pictures, download files, or click links in messages from people you don't know.
2. Be careful when you create a screen name.
3. Create a barrier against unwanted instant messaging.
4. Never provide sensitive personal information, such as your credit card numbers or passwords, in an IM conversation.
5. Block unwanted messages.
6. If you decide to meet a stranger that you know only from IM communication, take appropriate safety precautions.
7. Don't send personal or private instant messages at work.
8. If you use a public computer, do not log on automatically.
9. When you're not available to receive messages, be careful how you display this information to other users.
10. Monitor and limit your children's use of IM.

A Pathfinder To Detect Spam and Forwarded Email Scams

I have compiled a list of sites that help in detecting spam, scam, fake and fraud sites. Are there any more, or I am missing any important one, here:

• 419 BAITER
• Better Business Bureaus in Canada
• Blog of Scams
• Federal Trade Commission's website on spam email
• Forward scam emails to
• Fraud Aid
• Fraud Email Collection
• Fraud Email Gallery
• http://www.snopes.com/
• Indian Consumer Complaints Forum
• Legit or Scam?
• Museum of hoaxes
• Paypal Fake Emails
• PCQandA.com
• Rumor Detectives
• Scam Types dot Com
• Spam Laws
• Spam Scammers
• Stop Spam Email
• Thats Nonsense
• The Universal Seduction
• Tips To Detect Scam Websites
• Truth or Fiction
• Urban Legends

Has any one evaluated these sites?