E-Mail Scam - Bogus Coca-Cola Sweepstakes Promises Car and Cash

It may look like an e-mail from Coca-Cola but it's definitely not "The Real Thing." There's an e-mail in circulation, allegedly from a Hong Kong-based Coca-Cola sales and marketing manager, that promotes a sweepstakes to win a Mercedes-Benz ML Jeep convertible and $800,000 cash. The problem? There is no such sweepstakes and there is no such car as a Mercedes-Benz ML Jeep convertible. It's a phishing expedition, using the trusted Coca-Cola brand as bait, designed to obtain personal and financial information from victims.

It used to be that such hoaxes only hijacked the names of banking institutions or services like PayPal and eBay. But now non-financial consumer brands, such as the soft drink giant, are being used without permission by online scammers. On their website, the Coca-Cola Company states they are "... in no way associated with these e-mails or programs. We are not a sponsor and our name and trademarks are used here without permission."

If you receive an e-mail like the one described above, you have a couple of options. You can do nothing and simply delete the message. (Do not reply to it or unsubscribe.) Or you can report the suspicious e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at http://www.ftc.gov.

As always, you need to be aware of the telltale signs of phishing. According to PhishTank.com, a collaborative clearinghouse for data and information about phishing on the Internet, look for the following signs:

• Generic greeting that doesn't use your name
• Link to a website that doesn't start with "https" (The "s" stands for secure.)
• Request for personal information like account numbers
• Sense of urgency that pressures you to act quickly

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Use 3 Rivers E-Bill - And Don't Miss A Thing!

Are you ready to go paperless with 3 Rivers' E-Bill service? We know, we know...you'd like to "kick the habit" of receiving a statement each month in the mail, but you want to continue to get 3 Rivers' informative Montana Homefront Newsletter and you don't want miss out on the great promotions that 3 Rivers offers via bill inserts throughout the year. 3 Rivers has solved that dilemma, giving you one less reason to stick with a mailed statement.

3 Rivers now posts digital versions of all relevant material that is normally mailed out to traditional paper bill customers. We provide you with a link in your e-bill email notification that you can click on to access the materials, or you can go to www.3rivers.net and click on "E-bill Customer Info." This link is updated monthly.

E-Bill service provides access to a protected, secure server to view, review, and even pay your 3 Rivers telephone and Internet bills. The system is 100% customer-controlled from sign-up to password choice all the way through to where the email notification is sent. And, even better, it's FREE! You can pay your bill on-line using a Visa, MasterCard or on-line check.

3 Rivers E-Bill also allows you to view your unbilled long distance online. Log in and click on the UNBILL TOLL link found on the first page of your statement. You don't have to wait for your monthly statement and you can avoid surprises— another great E-Bill feature!

And if you just can't let yourself go entirely paperless, you can always print from the E-Bill site. Click the link below to see how easy and convenient our on-line bill pay can be.

https://ebill.3rivers.net/

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Ask The Help Desk - Why Do I Receive Red X's Within Empty Boxes In Some E-mail Messages?

Question: Why do I sometimes receive e-mail messages that contain an empty box with a red "X" within the message pane rather than a picture? My friends are having the same problem.

Answer: Graphics and photos contained within an e-mail message are often not "stored" within the e-mail message itself but rather on a remote Web server (computer). If the message you receive is in an HTML format (supposed to have graphics or photos as part of the message) and a little box with a red "X" shows up instead of the image, there may be a broken connection somewhere between the image link within the e-mail message and the remote Web server where the image is actually stored.

What causes a broken connection? There could be a number of reasons including:

• A typo by the person who keyed in the Web address of the image's server. When this occurs, the request for the image goes to a server location where no image exists. It is similar to looking for a home at 1500 Peach Street when the correct address is 1500 Peach Avenue.
• Something on the Web server changed before you downloaded the e-mail. The graphic was eliminated, its name changed, or it was stored in a different folder, which changed its path.
• A power outage occurred somewhere between your computer and the location of the image's Web server.
• You've downloaded your e-mail and then closed your Internet connection to review your messages. If images within any of your incoming e-mail messages are stored at a remote server location, your computer will not be able to access them since you are no longer connected to the Internet.
• Newer versions of Microsoft e-mail client software (i.e. Outlook Express, Outlook, and Entourage) block graphics from appearing automatically in HTML e-mail messages and, of course, the red boxes show up in their place. (Click on "Download Pictures" at the top of the e-mail and the pictures will appear.) Note: Different e-mail clients and Web browsers use different symbols for a broken graphic link. For instance, Apple's Safari Web browser uses a blue box with a question mark symbol.

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Great Sites To Check Out This Month

What's Your Health Risk?
http://www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu -  One way to take better care of your health in 2007 is to educate yourself about your disease risks. This site, developed over the past ten years by the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, can help you discover your risk of developing five important diseases — cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and stroke. Simply answer questions about your health, background, and lifestyle with easy-to-use interactive tools and get personalized tips for preventing disease. Knowledge is power and Your Disease Risk gives you the knowledge you need to make smarter, healthier choices.

Track The Travels Of $10s And $20s
http://WheresGeorge.com -  Ever wondered where your paper money goes after it leaves your wallet at the checkout counter? Well a guy by the name of Hank Eskin was so curious that he started a website in 1998 called WheresGeorge.com so he and others could track the travels of U.S. currency. All you need to do is enter the denomination, series, and serial number of any U.S. dollar bill, as well as your current zip code. The site will then follow the movement of that bill, giving you the average speed in miles per day and the actual travel time between exchanges of the currency.

Stargazing
http://seeing-stars.com/Awards/ -  Hollywood's numerous awards ceremonies are in full swing with the Grammy Awards and Academy Awards in February and the excitement continuing until the Emmy's in June. If you've always dreamed of seeing your favorite stars in person, seeing-stars.com is your insider's guide to making it happen. Here you can find out how to catch a glimpse of the stars as they arrive in their limos, sit in the audience of the American Music Awards, or even watch an actor get his star on the Walk of Fame. If you're really starstruck, check out this site's pages on where the stars live, shop, play, and dine — and even where they're buried.

Give It A Try
http://justgive.org -  If one of your New Year's resolutions is to expand your charitable giving, give this unique site a try. JustGive is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect people with the charities and causes they care about and to increase overall giving. They'll help you find the charities most meaningful to you from more than 1,000,000 nonprofits. You can also buy a charity gift certificate, start a charity wedding registry, track your donations, and get a tax summary at the end of the year.

Resolutions Resource
http://firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml -  Let's face it — most of us make similar New Year's resolutions year after year, from the ever-popular health goals of losing weight or quitting smoking to the financially motivated ones like paying off debt or getting a better job. This Web portal provides handy information to help you succeed this year with 13 of the most common resolutions. All the information and ideas you need to develop your self-improvement plans are right here. (The hard part is simply following through on the work.) Good luck!

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Short Tutorial - Attaching Files (Attachments) To E-mail Messages

Not sure how to attach files to e-mail messages? Follow the steps below and you'll be a pro in no time!

Adding Attachments Using Outlook Express 6 On Windows XP SP2

1. With Outlook Express open, create a new e-mail message. Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's address, the subject, and the body of your message.
2. Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) The "Insert Attachment" dialog box will appear. (Alternately, you can click on "Insert" in the menu bar and select "File Attachment" from the drop-down menu to open the "Insert Attachment" dialog box.)
3. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the "Look-in" field and select the directory where the file you want to attach is located.
4. Once the file you want to attach shows up in the main part of the window, click on it to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to highlight multiple files.) Then click the "Attach" button.
5. The file you selected to attach should now show up in an "Attach" field below the "Subject" line field. If you want to attach additional files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1 again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message with the attachment(s).

Adding Attachments Using Thunderbird 1.5 On Windows XP SP2 And Mac OS X 10.4

1. With Thunderbird open, create a new e-mail message. Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's address, the subject, and the body of your message.
2. Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) The "Attach File(s)" dialog box will appear.
3. Browse to the file you would like to attach by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the "Look-in" field. Select the directory where the file you want to attach is located.
4. Once you find the file you want to attach, click on it to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to highlight multiple files.) Then click the "Open" button.
5. The file you selected to attach should now show up in the "Attachments" field to the right of your message's address info and subject line. If you want to attach additional files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1 again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message with the attachment(s).

Adding Attachments Using Netscape 7.2 Mail On Windows XP SP2 And Mac OS X 10.4

1. With Netscape Mail open, create a new e-mail message. Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's address, the subject, and the body of your message.
2. Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) The "Attach File(s)" dialog box will appear.
3. Browse to the file you would like to attach by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the "Look-in" field. Select the directory where the file you want to attach is located. Note: On the Macintosh, you get what looks like a standard Macintosh "Open" dialog box. There is no "Look-in" field.
4. Once you find the file you want to attach, click on it to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to highlight multiple files.) Then click the "Open" button.
5. The file you selected to attach should now show up in the "Attachments" field to the right of your message's address info and subject line. If you want to attach additional files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1 again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message with the attachment(s).

Adding Attachments Using Mail 2.1.1 On Mac OS X 10.4

1. With Mail open, create a new e-mail message. Prepare it for sending by filling in the recipient's address, the subject, and the body of your message.
2. Click your cursor arrow on the "Attach" button in the toolbar. (It looks like a paper clip.) A standard "Open" dialog box will appear.
3. Browse to the file you would like to attach.
4. Once you find the file you want to attach, click on it to highlight it. (Hold the shift key down while clicking to highlight multiple files.) If you are sending the file to a Windows user, click in the check box next to "Send Windows Friendly Attachments." Then click the "Choose File" button.
5. The file you selected to attach should now show up in the body of your message. If you want to attach additional files to the same e-mail, begin with Step 1 again. Click on the "Send" button to mail the message with the attachment(s).

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We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It's our way of keeping you posted on the happenings here. If, however, you'd prefer not to receive these bulletins on a monthly basis, click HERE.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

The Homefront Reporter Team
3 Rivers Communications
Offering advanced technology with a personal touch



3 Rivers Communications
202 5th St S
PO Box 429
Fairfield, MT 59436

1-800-796-4567 406-467-2535

(We have used our best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.)

©2007 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc.

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