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.
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.
Can anyone give me some advise.
My son gave a “friend”his pin number to try and get mixit working. Now 6 months later they have fallen out and someone is sending malicious messages to other kids in my sons school, using his mixit pin and cell phone number. He stands to be expelled as the messages sent are shown as coming from his phone with his name and number? I understand that mixit cannot trace the messages or when they are sent. Any ideas.
THank you
@sueffun It should be as easy as changing his MXIT PIN, in the Profile section. When the pin is changed, the other guy will lose access to your son’s account.
He has now deleted mixit from his phone completely, its just that the school now wants to do a forensic audit to see where the message came from and who sent it, i tried to explain how mixit works, but they don’t seem to understand how the log in and numbers work. Are mixit able to trace messages to a certain phone or not?
Thanks
Unfortunately, no - this is why MXIT cautions users not to hand out their PIN numbers. I suppose the only way to prove he wasn’t sending the messages is to get the timestamps (time/date sent) of the incriminating messages, and try to prove that he wasn’t using his phone at those times.
OK Thank you very much, how do you get timestamps?
“Timestamp” is simply the technical term for the time/date attached to every message sent. The children that the messages were sent to (if they still have them, which they should, if they’re trying to make a case), will include the time and date the message was sent (aka, the timestamp)
You are so helpful, what a wonderful site you have created, thank you so much for all your advise. It would be very difficult to prove either way if he had or had not sent the message. So I will just hope things work out ok, especially now he hasn’t got mxit.
I just had a thought, it would be rather stupid to send a message knowing that your name and phone number would come up. A bit like doing some graffiti and signing it with your name and number (lol) so maybe that would be good enough for them.
@sueffun A site’s only as good as its webmaster - I hope I’m doing okay…
The catch there is that your phone number isn’t necessarily tied to the messages you send on MXIT. It’s really an arbitrary username. I registered MXIT on one phone, changed numbers twice, and still use my original number to log in.
The only way to protect yourself is to keep your login details private, or at least change them the moment your problem has been solved by someone else…
I hope you get it all sorted out…
I will let you know, I have bookmarked your page, so i will come back again, I think you are an excellent webmaster, do you sit on the site all day answering question, its almost as good as live chat.
Heheh. Unfortunately, no, I don’t sit online for the sole purpose of answering questions ;) I am online most of the day, however, and make a point of responding to comments on my blog as quickly as possible. Courtesy, something like that.