Gmail Scam Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ
73Gmail
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McAfee Internet Security 3User 2010
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What The Hell Security
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Internet Safety and Your Family: A parent's best guide to phishing, spoofing, spam, filters, blogs, gaming, social networking and online worlds
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Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ
Gmail Scam
If someone managed to get hold of your Gmail account, they could also get hold of your other personal details, like passwords, private messages, personal mail and any other details that you may have stored in there.
There is an email in circulation asking for your gmail account details,
I received the email today claiming to be from the Gmail team.
VERIFY YOUR FREE G MAI L ACCOUNT NOW !!!
It asks for my Gmail ID My Password, my date of birth and country or territory where I live.
The email claims that if I don't send these details that my Gmail account will be closed in Seven days.
Below is the text from the email copied and pasted, as is, with no editing.
Screen shot of the fake email
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23170-ALLUME SYSTEMS IC SPYWARE & ANTI-PHISHING SUITE 4
Current Bid: $1.25
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The Phishing Manual: Compendium to the Music of Phish b
Current Bid: $3.95
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The Phishing Manual Phish Biography Dean Budnick
Current Bid: $15.99
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Spy Catcher 3.0 PC Software Spyware Phishing NEW
Current Bid: $9.99
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The Email
G MAI L BETA
VERIFY YOUR FREE G MAI L ACCOUNT NOW !!!
Dear G ma il Account Owner,
This message is from Gmail messaging center to all Gmail free account owners and premium account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are deleting all unused Gmail account to create more space for new accounts.
To prevent your email account from closing you will need to update so as to validate our user email database.
CONFIRM YOUR IDENTITY BELOW
Gma il! ID : ..........
Password : ...........
Date of Birth : ......
Country or Territory : ...........
Enter the letter from the Security Image : ........ 859304
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
Thank you for using Gmail !
Warning Code:VX2G99AAJ
Thanks,
The Gmail Team
G MAI L BETA
Another scam in Gmail
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23170-ALLUME SYSTEMS IC SPYWARE & ANTI-PHISHING SUITE 4
Current Bid: $1.25
|
|
|
The Phishing Manual: Compendium to the Music of Phish b
Current Bid: $3.95
|
|
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The Phishing Manual Phish Biography Dean Budnick
Current Bid: $15.99
|
|
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Spy Catcher 3.0 PC Software Spyware Phishing NEW
Current Bid: $9.99
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Do Not Give out Your Personal Details
The text above is pasted from the screenshot you see above, note that there are a few errors,
(why the gaps) G ma il
We are deleting all unused Gmail account ( plural so where is the s)
Gma il! ID : (Again with the gaps)
Enter the letter from the Security Image : ........ 859304
(WHAT LETTER? I SEE ONLY NUMBERS)
The real giveaway that this is someone trying to steal your gmail account is the fact that you can only answer the questions by replying to this email, if Gmail wanted to check an account was active they would send an email which when opened would automatically inform them that your account was being used. And why would Gmail revert to using garish lettering in the logo?
Protect your Gmail account, do not reply to this email if you receive it.
NEVER SEND YOUR PASSWORD TO ANYONE, OR ANY OTHER PERSONAL DETAILS, IT COULD COST YOU A LOT MORE THAN YOU THINK
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Comments
Good alert, thanks for posting this!
It's a shame that phishing has become so widespread, and slightly alarming that it HAS, as it seems it wouldn't unless people were actually falling for these scams.
Typos and bad grammar are always a dead giveaway. You can also hover your cursor over any link and see where it REALLY takes you.
I don't know if gmail/google has a "spoof" department, but many major domains do. For example, I always forward PayPal phishes to "spoof@paypal.com."
Thanks for the heads up
jimmy - good article. if gmail ever wants to check to see if an account is active they will actually not email you they will just check their logs.
Yes the trouble with this sort of email is that most people are honest and gullible and they catch those type of people. They believe they will lose out if they do not do it.
I nearly got caught with ebay like that. Because they told me I would not be able to sell on ebay anymore. And at first I thought it was true because they had all there letterheads insignias etc. But thats how smart they are.
I even had someone get in and say that I had sold them a laptop. I didnt own one at that stage. But ebay soon sorted them out. Everyone needs to be wary and never ever give any details to anyone on the emails. Good hub
Gmail, Paypal, Ebay, bank, credit card company... no one will ask you to send your A/c number/user name/password.
If you receive anything like that, it might be a phishing Scam! Beware!
I have five in three days, I send it tothe authorities and never hear another jingle about it
Great hub
Thanks so much for posting that for all of us. The grammar in that email is laughable, but who knows who might not be paying attention and fall for it anyway?
Great hub, thanks for warning everyone!
And nice Xmas profile pic!
Jimmy, thanks for the warning. I have learned to ignore all such requests and never respond to these emails. I did get tricked by one of these phishing emails when they first started. I was visting family out of town and while checking my AOL email on my brother-in-law's PC I responded to an email supposedly from AOL asking me to update their files with more info which I did.
I had a big scare the next day when I ran across an article about the scam in a newspaper on the plane on the way home. Fortunately, AOL took steps to limit the damage before any attacks were made on my account. Since then, I have always made it a point to open a new browser window and access my accounts directly when I receive such an email and think that it might be legitimate. Of course, I always discover that the emails never are legitimate but this has saved me from divulging information about my PayPal, eBay, bank accounts, credit card accounts, etc. to these characters.
Thans for the great Hub, Jimmy and best wishes from my family to yours for Christmas and the coming year.
Chuck
thanks for the heads up. I almost do what the email asked.
ha ha ha I was right, I recently got this on msn and was obviously fake considering their spelling...
This is good information. I have a question? How can you verify a gmail acct? Another person sends you an advertisement from a gmail address? Does google verify all of their acct holders before issuing accts or what?
Very Good Information, thanks a lot, it will help.
i just received this one today, the only difference is that it came to my hotmail account.
I just got this today. They have cleaned up the language and spacing, but still ask the same basic questions. They claim it is for congestion.
This scam has now moved onto hotmail. It is exactly the same error code and comes from either monkeysislandjacinto@hotmail.com or teamlivewindow@hotmail.com
Clever to use the email teamlivewindow (notice the singular window)
Thanks for sharing. It is useful for me.
Thank you for the imformation. I doubt on dat because i receive this mail today sent by some verizon domain. If gmail sent this mail, why gmail use own main domain instead of verizon. Neway thanx for the imformation. It will really helpful to unknown and other person.
Thank You again.
Fortunately the very look at the mail can get one suspicious about the authenticity. But many times scams look real as the real ones and people come with new ideas of fooling people. Thanks for the Hub. We all need to be aware of what is going around.
I just got the mail this morning. and got freaked out!
thanks for your post though.
I think they have upgraded their forms again.. no need to verify the code anymore. Hahaha!
they really need to eliminate these people. i have been job searching and they send emails wanting men to obtain my own credit reports. i would have to enter all my info ssn and all decided not to answer them . they raise your hopes of a job interview. thats so wrong
Just received the same email today except it was with my hotmail account.
I just got this email for google account. Thank you for your site, MAT
thanks for the heads up. just got my message. shifty bastards.
Glad you posted this. I received this email today and, although I'm no sucker, I did wonder for a moment after I googled "Gmail Account Deletion" and found a lot of threads talking about how their accounts were deleted. It was only when I Googled the warning code that I came upon this thread. Should Google, at least on their Official Blog, address this? Thanks.
Oh I answered it OK. MTL they won't like what I told them though. :>)
this is also in yahoo, please watch out
Just received this with the Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently. signed: The Gmail Team G MAIL beta
Thanks for the watchful eye.
Joseph
Hey!! I just got this e-mail and searched "Warning Code: VX2G99AAJ" because it's obviously a hoax and I was wondering how many people were getting it. Your site came up first! :)
what happens if you respond. i got a bounce back. does someone still get it
I recently stayed at a hotel with complimentary wireless and while there received the above gmail request. At first I was going to submit the info then decided to investigate further. Thanks for this info. Do you think it had anything to do with the unsecured wireless connection? Thanks again.
thank you for this information. i am glad i have to do my research when i got this email, i also thought that the GMAIL color is weird and the email looks very unprofessional. it is always good to be careful. thank you for posting this, i got my answer.
i got this same scam on my yahoomail...glad to know this man
Stacie Naczelnik says:
2 years ago
I'm an avid gmail user, so this is good to know.