For the past few days I have been receiving this e-mail that looked shady. Essentially, it seems like there is a company that is targeting people who use Intuit products where they then attempt to get people’s user data. This is the e-mail I got:

X-Account-Key: account2
X-UIDL: 1349447270.25898.pt05
X-Mozilla-Status: 0001
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
X-Mozilla-Keys:
Return-Path:
Received: from sagembox ([41.142.189.164])
with ESMTP via TCP; 05 Oct 2012 14:27:48 -0000
Received: from [233.235.243.121] (port=57610 helo=[192.168.2.50])
by 41.142.189.164 with asmtp
id 1rqLaL-000EM-00
for alan@al6400.net; Fri, 5 Oct 2012 15:27:47 +0100
Message-ID: <506EEE42.1090806@kurdogluholding.com.tr>
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 15:27:47 +0100
From: “Intuit GoPayment”
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20110929 Thunderbird/7.0.1
MIME-Version: 1.0
Subject: Welcome – you’re accepted for GoPayment Merchant
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=”————090604060909050803080202″
X-Spam: Not detected
X-Mras: Ok

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
————–090604060909050803080202
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

New Respective Client!

Your Intuit Merchant request for ONDEMAND , DEVELOPMENTS has been approved.
Service Information
Account #:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX69
Email Address:XXXXXXXXX

WARNING :
Additional fees for this kind of activity may happen.

Next step: Access to confirm your UserID

This is really important lets you:

Manage your payment service in the Merchant Service Center
Review charges Log In to other Intuit products you may use, like TurboTax, Quicken, and Intuit Payroll
The good news is we see you have an existing Intuit accountfor your email address,You can use this ID for your payment service also, or enter a new one. Verify Access ID

Get started:

Step 1: If you still did not, download the Intuit GoPayment software.

Step 2: Launch the Intuit application and sign in with the AccesID (your email address) and Password you setup. Easy Operate Your GoPayment AccountThe GoPayment Merchant Service by Intuit Center is the web site where you can learn more about GoPayment features, customize your sales receipt and add GoPayment users. You can also review transactions, deposits and fees. Visit this link and access with your GoPayment AccesID (your email address) and Password.

For additional information on how to begin using Intuit GoPayment Merchant, including tutorials, FAQs and other resources, visit the Service Center at this web site.

Please DO NOT reply to this message. automative notification system cannot accept incoming messages.

Merchant Terms & Agreements© 2012 Intuit, Inc. All rights reserved.

As it turns out all of the links eventually go to a site called http://quantummantenimiento.com and not the Intuit site. Basically, stay away or just delete the e-mail as if you run a business giving out account passwords and user ids that have access to all your financial data won’t be too pleasant.

Guess this was bound to happen. As a result of that earthquake in Japan it seems like somebody is trying to get people to donate money for what seems to be a charitable cause. In this case, the e-mail advertises itself as from the Salvation Army.

Just looking at the sender e-mail makes me think it is a phoney. So far any of you that are even considering handing out your hard earned dollar to a sketchy message like this you should look the other way I say. Here is a copy of the e-mail:

From – Tue Mar 15 23:19:58 2011
X-Account-Key: account3
X-UIDL: 1300195922.21415.pt01
X-Mozilla-Status: 0001
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
X-Mozilla-Keys:
Return-Path:
Received: from smtp2.telecomrio.com.br (smtp2.telecomrio.com.br [200.214.74.2])
with ESMTP via TCP; 15 Mar 2011 13:32:02 -0000
Received: from User (ml82.128.15.87.multilinks.com [82.128.15.87])
by smtp2.telecomrio.com.br (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9818E4C55;
Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:47:31 -0300 (BRT)
Reply-To:
From: “SALVATION ARMY”
Subject: Japan earthquake and Tsunami: How to help/Salvation Army
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:48:46 +0100
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset=”Windows-1251″
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
Message-Id: <20110315124732.9818E4C55@smtp2.telecomrio.com.br>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Salvation Army National Corp.
Alton, Hampshire, GU34
United Kingdom
www.salvationarmy.org

Mission and Programs

Mission

The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

Programs

A 127-year old, faith-based charity, The Salvation Army helps people with all kinds of needs in virtually every community across America. Some of these activities include operating Adult Rehabilitation Centers, running programs for children and seniors and providing emergency disaster services support.
Additional Comments from the Organization

According to management expert Peter Drucker, The Salvation Army is “by far the most effective organization in the U.S.” A responsible steward of the generosity of the American people, at least 83 cents of every dollar donated to The Salvation Army goes directly to assist those in need.

Who We Are
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

NTEE Code

* P24 (Salvation Army)
* P40 (Family Services)
* Q33 (International Relief)

Donate

Add to Japan earthquake and Tsunami
I want to contribute: E.g ‘Amount’ ‘USD’
You must enter donation amount.
You must enter a valid dollar amount.
You must enter a minimum $10 amount.
($10 USD minimum)

1 in 3 donations is recurring This is a one time donation
I would like to make this a recurring donation deducted

Please share with this charity:
My full contact information
My name and email address only
None of my personal information (anonymous)

Designation (Optional)
To designate your donation for a specific fund or purpose, please enter a description of how you’d like your donation to be used.

Dedication or Gift (Optional)
To make a donation on behalf of or in memory of another person, please enter the person’s name. You will have a chance to send an eCard to this person at the end of making a donation.

REMMITANCE OPTION

* To donate: Contact us by email using relief.salvationarmy.diversity@dnsau.org.uk

Salvation Army National Corp.
Alton, Hampshire, GU34
United Kingdom
www.salvationarmy.org
Tel: (44) 07024048270
Fax: (44) 07024048271

Questions?
Frequently asked questions about the Network for Good donation process.

Privacy and Security
Your donation is safe and secure.

Click for company profile

Read more about Privacy & Security

So today I received an e-mail from a company that was trying to get businesses to try a demo of their product. As an incentive they planned to give people that participated quite a bit of money in the form of a giftcard. The funny thing was I never heard of the company before. However, in the body message of the e-mail was a link on where you could register to try out its product. In that link it actually showed exactly which lead generation company was selling my information that the business used to solicit me.

I was just thinking how much bad publicity that must give the company for not only selling information like that, but if the company that used the list turns out to be bad then people will automatically put it in the same negative light. I suppose in that sense you really have to think about how doing business with people will affect you in that sense as it’s not always just about making the dollar right there and then.

I guess like most people who run a site they have to deal with a gargantuan amount of spam. While browsing through my list for this blog it was interesting to see that one spam in particular was a review of sort for Yahoo! Web hosting it seems. It basically had generic praises as if it was someone that used the service and was praising it.

I am usually one of those people who heavily rely on user reviews too when it comes to making a purchasing decision on various products and services. Examples like these sure make you wonder how many of them are just robot generated reviews. I must admit though that these types of things probably generate companies a lot of business.

Seeing one product with like five highly praised user reviews versus one that has none is usually enough to sway most people. Whether or not it’s the actual company doing it is a mystery of course too.

Okay, who are these guys trying to fool? An online “cyber draw” from “Google Corporations” and I apparently won “GBP950,000,00 {Nine Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling}” in money? Yeah, sure. Here was the e-mail:

From – Wed Jan 13 17:48:49 2010
X-UIDL: 1263433506.24562.pt01
X-Mozilla-Status: 0011
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
X-Mozilla-Keys:
Return-Path:
Received: (qmail 14725 invoked from network); 14 Jan 2010 01:45:06 -0000
Received: from User [41.216.44.207] by mail.freewheelindesign.com with ESMTP
(SMTPD-8.20) id A3A8861AC; Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:30:16 -0600
Reply-To:
From: “Google Corporation”
Subject: Re: GOOGLE GPA/7402/10
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:30:30 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=”Windows-1251″
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 100113-0, 01/13/2010), Outbound message
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
Message-Id: <201001131930566.SM186064@User>

Google Corporations
Stamford New Road,
Altrincham Cheshire,
WA14 1EP
London,
United Kingdom.

Your e-mail address award details:
Winning No: GPA/7402/10
E- No: GPA/533/10

GOOGLE AWARD GPA/7402/10
We wish to congratulate you over your success in the new year official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online Award organized by Google the internet search engine giant. This promotion was set-up to encourage the active users of the Google search engine and the Google ancillary services.

Hence we do believe with your winning prize, you will continue to be active in your patronage of the Google search engine. Google is now the biggest search engine worldwide and in an effort to make sure that it remains the most widely used search engine, we ran an online e-mail beta test which your email address won GBP950,000,00 {Nine Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling}.

The online cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of over 5,000,000 email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web. (NO TICKETS WERE SOLD).

A winning cheque will be issued in your name by Google Corporation and a certificate of prize claims will be sent along side your winning cheque.

You are adviced to contact the processing office immediately upon receipt of this message for the processing and eventual payment of the above prize to you with the following details to avoid unnecessary delay and complications:

Google Promotion Award Team
Email: gpateam@gala.net
Phone: +44 701 114 8814

Do e-mail the Processing office at once with all the claim requirements below;

VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.
(1) Your contact address.
(2) Your Tel/Fax numbers.
(3) Your Nationality/Country.
(4) Your Full Name.
(5) Occupation/Sex//Age.

Google believes in your right to privacy and your information will be used exclusively for the purpose of this promotion only.

The Google Corporation has discovered a huge numbers of double claims due to winners informing close friends about their prize and also sharing their pin numbers. As a result of this, these friends try to claim the prize on behalf of the real winners. Google Corporation have reached a decision from headquarters that any double claim discovered by the Board will result in canceling that particular prize, making a loss for both the double claimer and the real winners. You are hereby strongly adviced one more to keep your winnings strictly confidential until you claim your prize.

Congratulations from the Staffs & Members of the Google Award Commission
Sincerely,
Dr. Leslie Spears.
Google Corporations.
©2010 Google Corporations
This email was sent from a notification only email address. This email and any attachments to it contain information that is confidential and may be privileged. It is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s).

Please don’t tell me people are falling for these.