Fake email from Gmail Customer Service

This fake email, asking for all sorts of info that you should never provide anyone -- like your date of birth and your password -- originated from the charter.net domain, with a reply-to in the live.com domain. I suspected hacked accounts. Don't reply, don't be fooled!

From: Gmail Customer Service

Subject: Gmail Warning: Unused Account Removal

CONFIRM YOUR ACCOUNT SERVICES. VERIFY YOUR FREE GMAIL ACCOUNT NOW !!!

Dear Valued Account Member,

This Email is from Gmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Gmail User Accounts Owner for safety. We are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of Free & Unused Gmail Accounts. So we are shutting down some Gmail Accounts and your Account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account information in our Database system.

Due to the congestion in all Free Gmail Account users and removal of all unused Accounts, Gmail Team would be shutting down all unused Accounts. You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

* Username&E-mail ID:
* Password:
* Verify Password:
* Date of Birth:
* Occupation:
* Country/Territory:

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences. Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Gmail Team Admin

Domain scammers will charge you fees and worse

This is a popular type of scam, which I call "domain scams." I get several of these scams every month, all offering a variation on the same offer. These scammers have not been approached by anyone to register any of your names. They're cold calling, and yes, they want to set up a business relationship. If you respond, they will register your name, and then charge a big fee to sell it back to you. The scammer will also demand a recurring fee to keep your domain safe... and that means handing over your credit-card number. You'll never hear the end of it. Just ignore these scams. Don't respond, don't be fooled. (I changed the domain name used in the this message to MYDOMAIN.)

From: "michelle"
Date: June 22, 2009 8:54:21 PM PDT
Subject: Copyright of MYDOMAIN (To principal) Urgent

Dear Principal,

We get your name and email address from the Internet. It is glad to write to you with keen hope to open a business relationship with you in the future.

We are a professional internet consultant organization in HongKong, On June 22nd, 2009, we received an application formally from Pre-research Holding Ltd. They want to apply for the registration of the domain names and internet brand name "MYDOMAIN" from us.

After our initial examination, we found that the brand name and domain names applied for registration are the same as your company's name and trademark. These days we are dealing with it. We need to know the comment of your company. Because the domain names and Internet brand name may relate to the copyright of brand name on internet. Now we have not finished the registration of them yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.

Have a nice working day !

Best regards,
Michelle Po

Domain Name Dept.
HongKong Net Center
TEL:00852-3072-3948
FAX:00852-3072-3949
Web:hkitos.com
Email: michelle@hkito.net

Guess why we're delaying? Because it's fake!

The message appears to come from an msn.com account, with a reply-to address in the gmail.com document. The headers do indicate that it was sent via msn.com or hotmail.com. Do not reply to this spam scam — don't be fooled!

Subject: RE:WHY DELAY FOR YOUR CONTRACT PAYMENT?????????????

Attn: Dear

Your file appears in my desk two days ago Through FMS office that you are among people approved to be paid half of their payment of USD$8 million dollars. Signed by the Vice President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, On behalf of Mr.President.

I need your above information, to confirm with the one we have already here in our file, if you are the rightful owner to be paid.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Regards
Mr. Chris Mike
Special Adviser to Mr. President