# AOL/Microsoft Scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 1999, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406 "1999-11-02T01:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cc9497/32.png) [@Ken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/1 "1999-11-02T01:59:00Z")
I just recieved a forward of something that I believe to be some sort of ridiculous chain letter. Below is the body of the message: (The only part I edited was the name address and telephone number at the end.) > [@](#): > > Subject: Lets see if this works > I am forwarding this because the person who sent it to me is a good friend and does not send me junk. > > Micorsoft and AOL are now the largest internet company and in an effort to make sure that internt explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. > > When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $5.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $3.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $1.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check. I thought this was a scam myself, but two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on,Microsoft contacted me for my e-mail and within days, I received a check for $800.00. > > Pamela D. xxxxx > Senior Distribution Instructor > xxxxxx Training Center > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > 555-555-2751 I very much doubt that this is real. Why would someone create a chain letter like this? In hopes of millions of people calling AOL/MS wanting their money? ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/2 "1999-11-02T03:20:00Z")
Well it’s loses on accuracy counts several times over. > [@](#): > > Micorsoft and AOL are now the largest internet company Wrong! Microsoft and AOL are two separate companies. > [@](#): > > in an effort to make sure that internt explorer AOL now owns Netscape Navigator. I’m not too sure they want to keep IE the most popular browser > [@](#): > > forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it AH HA! At the point they mention e-mail tracking, just trow the message away. It’s chain mail, pure and simple. I remember the “Disney-MS” varient. > [@](#): > > Microsoft will pay you $5.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $3.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $1.00. Not bloody likely. Why someone would do this? I don’t know. It could be seen as a possible game. Maybe they wont their message to appear on CNET or SD under the listing “Hoax” so they can say, “See that man, I created it!” ---
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/3 "1999-11-02T05:05:00Z")
Once again, from [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/billgate.htm): > [@](#): > > No, you’re not going to be receiving money, merchandise, or free trips from Bill Gates (or anyone else), no matter how many people you forward this message to. Tracing all recipients of an e-mail message is not yet technically possible, and even if it were, Bill Gates certainly wouldn’t be testing software that performed such tracking by blindly sending messages out to the Internet with a promise of financial reward to the recipients. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. * * * Cessandra Why sex is better than God: People don’t force sex on minors who can’t think for themselves (or, at least, if they do they go to jail.) ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/4 "1999-11-02T06:23:00Z")
Hey! Check out the e-mail I just got! {quote}Mayor Guiliani, in keeping with his mantra or privatization, is selling shares to several of New York City’s previously publicly maintained landmarks! The idea is that for a small payment of $25, you will actually own a piece of history! These “shares” will include portions of Central Park, the Lincoln Tunnell and the Brooklyn & Manhattan Bridges! Get in touch with the city planning office for details on how to own a piece of history!{/quote] * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/5 "1999-11-02T12:56:00Z")
Satan, can you post a link to the NYC planning office? I’d like about a half an acre in Central Park. Jesus, are people really this gullible. * * * **Dopeler effect:** The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/6 "1999-11-02T15:46:00Z")
Actually, Unc, I never got a forward like that. I made it up, playing on the old"I’ve got a bridge to sell you." The fact that it’s believable as a “forward” speaksvolumes on the subject. The fact that YOU thought it was a “forward” doesn’t make YOU gullibl at all… 🙂 * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/7 "1999-11-02T15:56:00Z")
Satire, my evil friend. Poor satire, but satire nonetheless. * * * **Dopeler effect:** The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/8 "1999-11-02T16:24:00Z")
Warning! If you are reading this message with Internet Explorer or NetScape, you must forward a copy to three more people within ten minutes or your hard drive will be erased! (Y’know, with a bit of effort, I probably could make that sound convincing enough to work. Scary, isn’t it?) ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/9 "1999-11-02T17:00:00Z")
Ya know Tim, your e-mail address is availble here. How 'bout if I just send you the page three times? * * * **Dopeler effect:** The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![\_Df](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/7ba0ec/32.png) [@\_Df](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Df)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-microsoft-scam/4406/10 "1999-11-02T20:15:00Z")
Ken, I received that email on 5/11/99, but for some reason my friend Scott was angered by its “obvious” stupidity and forwarded it as a rant. I did some calculations and replied: \*Thank you, dear friend Scott! I appreciate your sharing the wealth with me, giving me a chance to become RICH RICH RICH beyond even my wildest megalomaniacal dreams.  (Actually, since keeping it secret for yourself would defeat the purpose, I guess I should only thank you for having kept me in your email address book.  Thank you.) As I calculate it “Tom Q. Watson”\* [or in your case Pamela D.] _is a loser, at only $800.  I am immediately sending this to 165 of my closest friends.  Even assuming that they and theirs have only an average of 80 friends each, I FULLY expect to see a Microsoft check for $1,096,425 (165_5 + 165_80_3 + 165_80_80) in my mailbox a month from now.  And I expect my wife to get a similar check, plus two more checks for our AOL accounts.  (Okay, maybe they’ll catch on to that last dodge, but still, $2 mil ain’t bad.) In fact, unless my arithmetic has abandoned me, by the time one of these gets back to me from the East Coast, at approx. 7 linkages, we will already have raided Microsoft’s coffers of approximately $43 trillion dollars, a mere 120 times its market capitalization, 2200 times its cash on hand, or slightly more than the total yearly economic production of the planet. So pass it on! David Forster, Esquire. P.S.  Why EXACTLY did you call this unrivalled and eminently fair opportunity “a bunch of crap?”\* Just today I received the [substantially] same email , except the amounts are now $245, $243, and $241, and the witness received $24,800! Man, I like that math even more! Go for it!