Fanbox and Misleading Email

I received a rather misleading email, supposedly from my friend's Fanbox address.

Here's what the email looked like:

I have a new email address on the FanBox spam-free email system.

My new email address is: xxxxxxxxxx@FanBox.com. Please contact me at this email address.

By the way, feel free to check out my new profile at www.FanBox.com/xxxxxxxxxx

Why is this rather misleading? In the Philippines, we sms text each other a lot on our cell phones. And when we do change our SIM cards or phone numbers, we text: "My new phone number is 09xx-xxx-xxxx. Please contact me at this number."

So, what does that tell us? It gives the impression that we should change our phonebook entries to reflect the NEW number, right?

Anyway, I found it strange that my friend would suddenly get a Fanbox email address, a NEW one at that, and then ask me to contact him at that address. So I sent him a text...

"Are you no longer using your Yahoo address? Have you shifted to Fanbox?"

His answer: "Huh? I'm just experimenting with Fanbox. I didn't send you that message, ah."

Well... looks like some kind of automated message then. Anyway, if you do receive any Fanbox messages from people you know, get in touch with them first. Most likely, they'll still use their good old email address. ;-)

Here's wishing you higher levels of email security, folks.

[ First posted on 04/15/2008 by Manuel Viloria ]