Ian's SMS topic reminded me of a spam email I received last year - now we all know about the Nigerian prince with $80 million to sneak out of the country and you can have half for helping, and we spot them a mile off - but have you had any that caught you, or had you thinking it was genuine, at least for a while?
I find the ones that can fool you (at least for a few seconds) don't rely on content, they rely on timing. I have had emails supposedly from Paypal that arrived immediately after me being on the Paypal website, or paying at Ebay for something using Paypal - same for HSBC. It is this coincidence that makes it 1000 times more believable to me.
But one had me absolutely convinced for a minute. It was well written, and was "from" someone I knew. It said they were on holiday in Marbella or somewhere and had been attacked and mugged. They had lost passports, money, credit cards and had nothing - and he "had tears in his eyes as he was typing" - the police station had kindly let him use a computer to contact people to help and send emergency money.
Well, I'm no novice on the internet and I was falling for this hook line and sinker! Here was a guy I knew and he needed help and he had decided I was the man to help. The fact that I only vaguely know him was the clue I was missing - why would he choose me to contact? There must be brothers, parents, best friends, children to contact long before me -but strangely at first that little matter actually added to the effect, almost like 'things must be serious if he's had to contact me'!!!
Be careful out there guys
