Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

I have a number of customers who use Rogers Canada. Today one of them contacted me and asked if this is legitimate:

Dear (@Rogers.com)Webmail Account User

This message is to the Rogers.com account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center. We are deleting all unused webmail account to create more space for new accounts.We are currently performing maintenance and upgrading our Digital webmail services for your convenience. To prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below to know it’s status as a currently used account.

Confirm Your Rogers.com WebMail
Details;User Name:
Password:
Date of Birth:

You will be sent a new confirmation alphanumerical password so that it will only be valid during this period and can be changed after the
process.
Warning!!! Any account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven working days of this update notification will loose his or her account permanently.
Warning Code :ID67565434
Confirm Your Rogers.com Account
Contact email:upgradingservice@mail2webmaster.com
Copyright ?2009
Information Technology Services Centre All Rights Reserved.

While this is specifically aimed at Rogers users, it also applies to all internet users. This is a trolling expedition. The sender is hoping to panic you into sending all the info they need to access you email account so they can send out their spam, or use your identity to con someone else. Do not respond. Yes it looks legit on one hand but any decent internet provider would NEVER, NEVER send out such a mass email. Here are a couple of tip-offs that it is a scam:

1. According to Rogers’ own website they do “not solicit personal information via e-mail, unless the account holder has initiated contact”. This applies to virtually every Internet provider (and bank, and anyone else that has personal info).
2. If you are a paying customer, and have paid your bill, they cannot arbitrarily cut off your service like this.
3. The sender mispells Webmail. Rogers always spells it with a capital W.
4. Type in Warning Code: ID67565434 and you will get a boat load of sites that discuss this as a part of a phishing expedition.
5. Contact email is a generic address. Rogers (and any Internet provider) would never use mail2webmaster.com. Seriously, why would they use an  outside email account when they can have as many as they want for free.
6. The message is not gramatically correct. While I concede this does seem to be a dieing skill, I would expect a modicum of accuracy in a corporate mail out.
7. The time constraint is unrealistic. 7 days is not enough time for all customers to respond. What if you were away? Opps… sorry, you didn’t respond so we cut you off.

So there you are. Be wary of any email you recieve that wants you to hand over information to them. If in doubt, pick up the phone and call the company. They will be able to tell you very quickly.

Stumble it!