Personal
A MXIT scam? Unbelievable.
I logged on to MXIT this morning, and I had an invitation from someone I didn’t know, who had also forwarded me this message. I can’t believe this scam actually made it on to MXIT.
Microsoft has introduced a new mxit mail tracking system in an effort to ensure mxit remaims the most popular chat room on the market. This message is a beta test of the new software and microsoft has generously offered to compensate those who participate in the testing process.
For each person you send this message to, you will be given R5. For every person they give it to, you will get R3. For every person they send it to you will receive R1. Microsoft will tally all the messages produced under your name over a 2 week period and then message you with more instructions.
I know you hate forwarded messages, and i was skeptical myself until last week when i got a real check in the mail for R821. Seriously , it really works. I wanted you to get a piece of the action. You wont regret it.
It’s that exact same Microsoft scam that used to be popular via email. If you honestly believe that Microsoft is interested in MXIT usage, is capable of tracking these messages, has anything to gain by their proliferation, has any way of identifying who forwarded the message, and actually takes time out to send thousands of cheques to relatively anonymous MXIT users, you have another thing coming.
I’ve had a few of these scams pass through my inbox, but I can’t recall a single person that I know that actually recieved a cheque from Microsoft, Apple, Sony Ericsson, or any of the other companies that seem to have resorted to “viral Email marketing” of this sort. It’s spam, plain and simple, and you’re not doing the world a favor by passing it on.
I can’t remember ever getting the memo that MXIT was a “chatroom”, or that it needed to “remaim” as anything. I also apparently missed the briefing that plaintext XMPP messages are capable of carrying embedded tracking code, or that forwarding these messages was a means to ensure popularity of anything except spam.
Like, just don’t bother. You’ll be doing the rest of the world a favor.
Discussion
6 comments for “A MXIT scam? Unbelievable.”
Post a comment
Greetings,
Something new going around on MXit lately. At least the spelling errors are not as bad as the “Tegnical Notice” one :D
Someone got really bored and decided to start yet another chain letter through the IM. This is indeed a hoax and Microsoft will not be sending you a cheque through the post.
Microsoft also cannot track these messages sent and received through MXit users. MXit honours privacy so all messages sent and received privately on MXit are safe.
So there is no point sending this message off to every single one of your contacts, you will gain nothing but lose a few extra cents by bulk sending this :)
Regards,
MXit_Team
Tegnically speaking, there is no such thing as “MXIT mail” - at least not that I’m aware of, anyway :)
I’m just wondering what the spammer stood to gain. Apart from widespread frustration, nothing much else presents itself.
I wonder when the 419s will hit, though. Isn’t there a way for MXIT to pick up on mass forwarded messages like that?
~ Wogan
“I’m just wondering what the spammer stood to gain. Apart from widespread frustration, nothing much else presents itself.”
That’s exactly what I was thinking..
Unless it was spread by the mxit team themselves, in an effort to boost data transfere? I don’t know.. either way, it’s stupid.
If anything, MXIT will be looking for ways to reduce data transfer. They rewrote the default XMPP protocols to make them lighter, and they constantly have to upgrade their servers. Spam chain mail can only slow them down, which is really what they don’t want.
Yes. Either way, it’s stupid, lol. I don’t think people use MXIT for the sole purpose of passing around chain mail ;P
~ Wogan
Hi Wogan May,
I actually heard of someone who did receive a cheque, I don’t know them personally, but it was a friend of a friend who worked with someone. Lucky guy. He apparently also won the Dutch lottery online without even entering, and also earned millions when he helped a Nigerian oil traders daughter get her money out of the country.
Some people are just lucky I guess.
Seriously? Wow … He must also have been the guy that married that girl he met online, after transferring her $10′000 so she could buy a plane ticket out of her country. And he must be the guy whose estranged family member left a massive inheritance they couldn’t trace other heirs for.
You’re right, Shaun. Some very lucky buggers out there indeed.