Friday, June 11, 2004

I found this in my inbox this morning:

Greetings,

Your email address was entered into our Microsoft X-Box promotional competition by either yourself or a friend, or perhaps a family member, at http://www.prize-station.net.

This is a prize draw, you have actually won a brand new Microsoft X-Box Gaming Console.

Your package also includes these top 5 games:
- Halo
- Metal Gear Solid 2
- Max Payne
- Splinter Cell
- Panzer Dragoon Orta

You are now invited to login to our website and claim your prize that you have already won. There are only 5 winners in total this month, out of thousands of emails, so do count yourself lucky.

We have provided the following web link for you, it is temporary and expires in 72 hours. If you do not login within this time, your winning shall unfortunately be returned to the prize pool.

Here is your link!
http://www.prize-station.net/ ....
On this page you will need to enter this pass code number to proceed:

MX-BOX

This is very important. Do not lose that number! Put in your address, and we will send your X-Box to you.

We hope that you will enjoy your new X-Box gaming console.

Congratulations on winning,

From Microsoft and the Prize-Station team!

WARNING: I have noticed that Shipping option for INTL: FedEx International Economy - Rest of World is not working. Therefore, you will see this note after you have clicked submit: "Updated 06-09-04: We are sorry that we can not accept credit cards at this time, due to temporary technical issues with our merchant account. We do hope to have credit card available as an option as soon as possible." Guess it's too late to realize you have entered all your contact informations, including your credit card and PIN details.

HOAX? Well, curiosity prompted me to check out if this is real or not, SO, I suggest you visit this site, http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_xbox_giveaway.htm written by David Emery, commented that :

"Microsoft, the manufacturer of Xbox, has denounced this email offer as a hoax and says the sender is not affiliated with Microsoft in any way. Virtually identical emails have surfaced monthly since September 2003, in each case pointing "winners" to a different Web domain where they can supposedly claim their "prize" by providing a debit card number and PIN to prepay shipping charges. It has all the elements of a scam, plus a false claim of affiliation with Microsoft. Caveat emptor!"