Email is a great tool for communicating with other people quickly and effectively. However, it opened up the floodgates for scams, pranks, and hoaxes to circulate the ‘net faster than they could before. Most of the time, these pranks and scams relied on people actually believing what the email said. Here are the 5 dumbest scams, pranks and hoaxes to ever arrive in our email inboxes.

1.) Forward this email and Bill Gates will give you money

The email went something like this:

Hello,
My name is Bill Gates. Thank you for testing my new Beta Email Tracking Application (BETA). I have applied an email tracking program to this email and will track who and how many people you forward this email to. It’s a bit technical, but just realize that you are participating in an experimental software. For every person you forward this email to, you will receive $20. Thank you for your time in helping Microsoft.

Your friend,
Bill Gates

Who out there received their check from forwarding my email?

Who out there received their check from forwarding my email?

I can’t believe people fell for this. Bill Gates does want to give his money away, but not to you. That’s what the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is for. These emails are still circulating even today, when email is commonplace, updating itself from time to time to involve a free release of the newest operating system and to thank people for forwarding the last email from Gates. For the last time, Bill Gates will not send you any money for forwarding a stupid email. It’s a waste of space, energy, and time. Undoubtedly, there are people who are still waiting by their mailboxes waiting for their $2000 check from Microsoft to arrive because they forward that email to 100 people.

2.) The King of a faraway country has died, and left you his fortune!

This one goes like this:

Urgent Message: I am a close friend of the recently deceased king of Nigeria. As the executor of his vast estate, I am contacting you because in his will, he declared that you would be the sole inheritor of his fortune. In order for this transaction to occur, you must reply to this email immediately with your name, address and bank account number so we can wire the money over to your account. Please respond.

Yours Kindly,
The Office of the Nigerian King

This scam has a few variants and is known as the Nigerian 419 scam. Who would believe in such a dumb and obvious scam? Well, one woman lost over $400,000 sending money over to con artists that would help her receive her fortune. This scam just goes to show you one thing – that the life expectancy of Nigerian Kings is low.

3.) Rickroll

A sample of Rickrolling:

Hey! Leaked preview and screenshots of New Moon here.

One of the newest email pranks to make the rounds, this one involves someone sharing a link, saying that the link is very important or involves something that was leaked. The link subsequently goes to the YouTube video of Rick Astley and his famous 80s song. Embarrassed you’ve been Rickrolled? Don’t worry, you have company. Over 18 million people have admitted to being Rickrolled.

4.) Forward this email and your wishes will come true, otherwise someone you know will die

You better forward that email quickly otherwise your best friend might die suddenly! Or if you forward that email, all your wishes will come true. Really? I am sure many girls who forwarded that email are still waiting on their ponies.

5.) You’ve won the a lottery! Please collect your winnings

Congratulations! You’ve won a lottery. The only problem is, we need your information to send you your winnings. This scam is similar to the Nigerian 419 scams. How can you win a lottery you did not even enter? And even if it was true, then wouldn’t everyone in the world want to enter for a chance to win millions for doing nothing?

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