FNB Giveaway Scam

It’s amazing how emails advertising free stuff spread like wildfire! Two days ago I received the same e-mail from two different friends, which said:

Dear All,
You may wish to add another mobile to your wardrobe
Nokia Is Giving Away Phones For "FREE"!! Nokia is trying word-of-mouth advertising to introduce its products. And the reward you receive for advertising for them is a phone free of cost!
To receive your free phone all you need to do is send this email out to 8 people (for a free Nokia 6210) or to 20 people (for a free Nokia WAP).
Within 2 weeks you will receive a free phone.
(They contact you via your email address).
You must send a copy to nokiaworld@mail2gsm.com

It had the FNB logo attached to it, as well as FNB employee’s name and details. I knew immediately that this was a hoax as I have received several such e-mails in the past. And I can’t believe that people still fall for this crap!

And of course, I was right about it. News 24 ran a story on it yesterday, describing how it became a huge nightmare for this bank official, who decided to just forward it to a few friends. His “friends” obviously forgot to delete his details from the e-mail message – actually, he should have deleted them when he sent out this e-mail, especially since it was not work related!
Suddenly he got bombarded with calls from as far as Namibia, from people claiming their “free phone”. As his details remained in the message as it was forwarded from person to person, it was soon regarded as an “FNB Giveaway”. He has now reported it to top management, but it will take a while for this to stop. Once word gets out, no matter how ridiculous, it’s hard for it to stop spreading.

Apparently, these sort of hoaxes have been going on since March 2000, according to Nokia, so it looks as if this will go on for quite a while still. I just can’t believe that people are so gullible! Nothing in life is for free, damnit!