Thread: Would you respond to this email?

I received the following email and was wondering if anyone else received it and it is a trick? Or maybe it is just a legit person with a lot of typos? Here it verbatim -

"hello my name is edith and i really like seeing belly dancing and i wanted to try it but i dnt know were theres klasses until i found a website nd i wanted to know how do i do it to join.."

The email address said it was from
Kathy Martinez <kmartinez7949@yahoo.com>

Is there any way to get a virus by just replying to an email?

Thx for the help!

Originally Posted by Vahana

I received the following email and was wondering if anyone else received it and it is a trick? Or maybe it is just a legit person with a lot of typos? Here it verbatim -

"hello my name is edith and i really like seeing belly dancing and i wanted to try it but i dnt know were theres klasses until i found a website nd i wanted to know how do i do it to join.."

The email address said it was from
Kathy Martinez <kmartinez7949@yahoo.com>

Is there any way to get a virus by just replying to an email?

Thx for the help!

I think the worst you can do my responding is let someone know it is an active account- up to you of course, but I would forward my information about class schedules & registration requirements. I have had some weird emails turn out to be legit clients & it's not like this one seems creepy. I might ask what area they are in, tho, since they don't mention it & way they just found a website- I once received a very sincere email from someone moving to Alaska who really didn't realize Anchorage was over 300 miles away from Fairbanks... I know, some of these are loonies, but I haven't ever had a problem from just sending out my registration info.

Wow they are getting clever...an improvement on my dorter,Richard from Boodapest who is coming to Ingland and wants to lern belly dance and if you.....

i'm getting spams at the moment from 'we are a group of professional dancers who want to come to belgium to train with you', and they devised their own summerschool program and want me to book their hotel etc too

yes they are getting cleverer... they forget to look up what dance form the person they are emailing does though, so there's always some give away

damn, if one of these huuuge ones were real someday :-)

the beligum email has been going on for a while, but the email to Vahana, I think it's fine. I get a lot of emails like that from teens and many become students. :O)

yes, i agree, when it's a signed individual, and clearly asking specificually for bellydancing, i always answer with my class info

I would be wary, as the name she gives in the email (Edith) is not what she signs the email with (Kathy).

I would answer it, I don't see how that could hurt anything. I had a recent email message that had a different name on the email address as the person that signed it and then when this girl came to take a private lesson I learned that she used her Mom's email address to write the email. You never know. This person may not speak English well either, so maybe uses someone else's email, or has a nickname, I have had those too. But really, what do you have to lose by answering her question?

Okay, well since it doesn't sound like I can get an virus just from answering the email, I will do so. I'll send info on class schedule and specifically ask what area she is in.

Thank you for all the help, Ladies!

Originally Posted by bellydancewear

I would answer it, I don't see how that could hurt anything. I had a recent email message that had a different name on the email address as the person that signed it and then when this girl came to take a private lesson I learned that she used her Mom's email address to write the email. You never know. This person may not speak English well either, so maybe uses someone else's email, or has a nickname, I have had those too. But really, what do you have to lose by answering her question?

My thoughts exactly.

No, you can never get a virus from answering an e-mail. A virus comes from opening an e-mail attachment.

It looks fishy but I've had some people turn out to be legit who either are lazy with typing or English isn't their first language. It can't hurt to send a mail back. After a mail or two you'll know what they are.

Curious..was it legit?
Liesa

I emailed back with my class times and tuition and said that if she was interested in coming, she could email me back and I'll send her the address of the studio. For some reason I thought this would keep me safe, even though anyone can find it on my website - silly me.

Anyway, I never heard anything back. It was comforting to learn that you can't get a pc virus just by returning an email. I won't worry as much in the future about answering something like this now.