Epic Oprah Show Fail! No Million Dollars For You

The FBI is warning anyone who receives an email from the Oprah Winfrey Show regarding an “Oprah Millionaire Content Show” that it is a scam.  According to the email, the e-mail recipient is nominated to attend the Oprah Winfrey Show, and one person will walk away with $1 million USD.

The fake email requests personal information and asks the recipient to purchase a plane ticket in advance as confirmation for coming to the show.

So what’s the big deal?  SPAM e-mail makes up approximately 54% of all e-mails sent daily, and continues to be a problem on the internet.  While many free e-mail services have built-in filtering, some may always inevitably pass through.

SPAM e-mail can also appear to come from any e-mail address.  Just because the address is someone@department.gov doesn’t mean that they necessarily sent it.  Sending an e-mail with someone else’s e-mail address is known as “spoofing”.  Unfortunately, spoofing can affect anyone and everyone, even large organizations like Oprah’s show.

The lesson?  If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.  Always double check the credibility of the e-mail or website before submitting any kind of personal information.  You may also want to check the official website for further information or instructions.  In this case, Oprah’s website posted about the issue saying it had no involvement in the email solicitation and her show will continue to be free.

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