# "\_CITI\_bank e-mail Veerification" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522 "2004-02-04T18:52:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/1 "2004-02-04T18:52:53Z")
WTF? DEAR CitibankOnline Member, This\_ EMAIL was se-nt by t\_he CitibankOnline servers to veerify your e-mail adderss. You mustt cmleopte this prscoes by clicking on\_the link beelow and enttering in the smmall window your Citi Debit full card\_nummber and Card Pin that you use in local Atm. This is _done_ for Your poertction -P- becouse some\_of\_our membres no lgeonr have acsecs to their email adsdesers and we must verify it. [http://citionline.net](http://citionline.net):%76%47@%6e%75%6e%62%6b93%76%62%2e%64%41%2e%72%75/%3f%4e%65%5442%5a To veerify your\_ e-mail _address_ and acccess \_your Citbiank account, clic on \_the link beloww. HtxcM2 This is why I think the people who fall for this crap deserve what they get. Who would believe this is a real Citibank e-mail? ESPECIALLY SINCE I DON’T HAVE A CITIBANK CARD. Aargh. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/2 "2004-02-04T19:31:25Z")
I knew [JeffK](http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/) was a smarty man and 1337 h4X0r, but I never thought he’d stoop to this. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/3 "2004-02-04T19:34:28Z")
Is this website for real? Do people really butcher the English language so badly? I admit I make grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes but this just makes me want to cry. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/4 "2004-02-04T19:52:21Z")
> [@Elenia25](#): > > Is this website for real? Do people really butcher the English language so badly? I admit I make grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes but this just makes me want to cry. Makes the baby Jesus cry too! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/5 "2004-02-04T20:27:58Z")
So did you cmleopte the prscoes? It’s for your poertction, you know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/6 "2004-02-04T20:35:52Z")
> [@Elenia25](#): > > Is this website for real? Do people really butcher the English language so badly? I admit I make grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes but this just makes me want to cry. The misspellings are likely purposely there to get past Spam filters. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/7 "2004-02-04T20:45:41Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > The misspellings are likely purposely there to get past Spam filters. \*All \* of them?!? Must be, since it got past mine and mine is so aggressive sometimes it filters out regular e-mails to be sure. Anyway, what I meant was, if you see an e-mail like this in your inbox how could you possibly think it was from Citibank? And yet people do anyway. Non-native English speakers don’t write that bad. (Hey English wasn’t my first language!) _"So did you cmleopte the prscoes? It’s for your poertction, you know. "_ Afraid not, sorry. I was tempted to follow the link, but instead I reported it to Citibank. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/8 "2004-02-04T21:50:33Z")
See, the errors are all there so that it’s _obvious_ that it’s a fraud. That way, if the senders are ever brought to justice (Justice IA, population 453) they can point at it and say “now how could anybody think that was for real? It was obviously a joke and if they didn’t get it that’s their problem not ours. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.” Maybe? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/9 "2004-02-04T23:07:44Z")
I hope citibank lose some custom over this though. Citibank is the worst offender for giving out customer details to other companies that I have been subjected to (\>50% of my non solicited phone calls were from companies that got my details from Citibank). I bet they sold their online customer email address list to some entity that is now spoofing them. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/10 "2004-02-05T02:04:06Z")
> [@Elenia25](#): > > Is this website for real? Do people really butcher the English language so badly? I admit I make grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes but this just makes me want to cry. The website is a satire. It’s based on the stereotype of the ignorant, l337speaking, high school script kiddie with no web design skills or ability to spell who thinks he’s an elite hacker. That doesn’t change the fact that there are pages exactly like this all over the web that are not satires, but actual sincere webpages; hence the humor value. But no, it’s not real. ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/_citi_bank-e-mail-veerification/227522/11 "2004-02-05T04:01:40Z")
That’s pretty funny. The redirect you entered has a popup that’s redirected to a hotmail account. I just entered a bunch of numbers and it told me my email was verified?! Heheh