Collaboration phishing

I’ve received a couple of emails claiming to be from people who are interested in working with me on a project based on a blog post.

The first one I received a couple of days ago almost seemed genuine enough to make me think about it a little bit longer than usual before deciding it was just another form of phishing. The second one I received today pretty much confirmed that.

If the random URLs the spammers picked for their email were even remotely related to the claimed project, I almost might have been fooled. Big fat fail, spammers.

Both emails had the same form

I am curious if you are the person responsible for adding content to the following page: <Insert random URL>

If not, feel free to forward me on to the correct person! I came across your page during my research for a project for which I am contributor. It is a resource primarily aimed at health care professionals in a <Insert random health care profession> capacity. Our mission is to be an objective, informative source of information for those in the specialized fast-paced field of <Insert random health care profession>.

I would love to send over more details about this project and partner with you, let me know!

Thanks for your time. I look forward to working with you!

The future called. I’m a winner!

Found in my email this morning

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a surprise but please find time to read it carefully as we congratulate you over your success in the following official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online Sweepstakes organized by Microsoft Corporation ,in conjunction with the foundation for the promotion of software products,(F.P.S.) held this morning 230th November 2010 here in Jakarta-Indonesia, A winning prize of $2,500.000.00 (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) will be issued in your name.It is important to note that your award was released with the following particulars attached to it.