The email scam I’m covering today led off with a killer summary. “Your energy bill might be cancelled in July.” The line caught my eye right away. It was obvious. This energy bill email scam was going to be something special…at least from the standpoint of entertainment value.
The energy bill email scam
The email subject line was, “Shocking Electrical Gadget is Changing Everything.” Nice pun, guys. Couldn’t have done better myself.
So what could be better than getting a device that guarantees a zero power bill? How about a Groupon deal? No way. I love Groupon deals. And the email had the familiar link to “View all deals.” Better yet, 100% of 18,716 customers had given the device a thumbs up! OMG. To top it off, the price of the device with the deal was zero. Zip. Nada.
How could you possibly lose with a zero power bill, a zero-cost Groupon deal, 100% customer satisfaction, and that super sexy logo?
A little visual trickery
I’m a sucker for technology. I’ll spend days, weeks, months researching my next technology purchase. For me, the research is like Christmas every day until I buy my e-toy, and then Christmas really hits. So when I saw the sexy logo in the email, I had to know. Where. Did. They. Get. It?
Ahem—he says while sitting straighter. I know. I copied the image to my desktop, went to images.google.com, and searched. The results were few, which surprised me. The even bigger surprise? All the results were in Russian and Vietnamese. Google translated the pages for me. Voila! The secret behind this energy bill email scam was revealed. Our high-tech, energy-saving, super device was really a Panasonic wireless speaker system.
However, we’re not talking about just any wireless speaker system, we’re talking about one with an integrated Subwoofer and Surround Sound playback, Wireless Music Streaming, and a Universal Tablet Stand. According to Panasonic, the stand is perfect for watching movies on your tablet. I’d advise against clicking the link in any unsolicited email, but maybe you’re in the market for a wireless speaker system. If so, here’s a link to the one from Panasonic.
Oh, and did I mention you get free shipping? From Panasonic, not the scammers. I don’t think they really have a product to ship.
