A friend of my father's recently got this text message from Yahoo! Mail stating that he - or rather his cellphone number - had won over a thousand bucks in a drawing, under a contest known as the '2006 Yahoo! Mid-Year Gift Dash'. It was an odd message, since we are in Oman, and Yahoo! hasn't percolated so much in this country for our cellphone numbers to become part of a contest. So I sent an e-mail to the address they had given, and the recipient replied with a fancy no-holds-barred message about the contest details. Apparently, Yahoo! is celebrating its 11th birthday, and has decided to pick up 100 numbers at random from all over the world and reward them halfway thru the year with money - the e-mail looks fake however, even with all the disclaimers and 'copyrights' (for one thing, there is a Santa Claus GIF). Is this a real contest (and if so, how come I haven't seen any mention of it on the 'Net), or am I just paranoid?
2006-07-27 01:52:56 · 3 answers · asked by Jean_Atkin_Mark_Hoot 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
I've tried searching the web for any mention of this contest but have found none. Which is odd, because if other people have been conned before, there should be some warning somewhere...
Other reasons I suspect the e-mail:
1) As I said, I'm in Oman - lonely country, not much Yahoo! usage. Why suddenly an Omani number being picked out as the winner?
2) The e-mail is written in an italicized bold Arial font, and the title is in Times New Roman - not exactly the best of fonts to use, and definitely not Yahoo!'s font of choice.
3) There is an animated GIF of a Santa Claus with 'Happy Holidays' written below it, and I'm required to give 'no bank or personal information, and no credit card information'.
4) I had e-mailed them without even giving them my number, and yet they reply with a 'Congratulations'.
5) 'IT'S' - wrong possessive pronoun.
The list goes on - I wonder who can be conning us, if indeed it is a con. I would like it if someone from Yahoo! could answer this
2006-07-27 03:01:14 · update #1
It's definitely a scam. I've never heard of a contest with that name before, but it's very similar to other scams I've heard of. Apparently they're smart enough now to change the name because they know people will be able to find information on it online.
Either way, Yahoo! has no contest by that name, and if they did have a contest you would have to sign up first before being eligible.
2006-07-28 03:26:09 · answer #1 · answered by Flif 7 · 13⤊ 1⤋
Never heard of it, and it sounds like a hoax/scam to me. try checking out hoaxbusters at this page before thinking about sending the fee or your bank account info, or anything of that nature;
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
2006-07-27 08:55:38 · answer #2 · answered by chuckufarley2a 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hey~i guees it is.
2006-07-27 09:25:18 · answer #3 · answered by afiq_04 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋