Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Dear xxxxxx,

Out of all Empire Poker players, you were chosen to join our new, exclusive
and rewarding plan.
How about extra $1000 real cash from Empire? Wouldn't that be something?
We developed a very simple and highly rewarding scheme, designed personally
for your needs.

Up to $1000 extra cash directly into your account according to the following
simple steps (no bonus restrictions):

Play 15-19 raked days a month and get $50.
Play 20-24 raked days a month and get $100.
Play 25 or more raked days a month and get $200.

*One offer is valid per month, according to the number of days played each
month.

Offer valid for duration of 6 month starting August 1st, 2005.

To join this special program, all you need to do is register at
www.empirepoker.com/1000offer and start collecting your funds!

However, when I click on http://www.empirepoker.com/1000offer

I actually get taken to

http://www.epvip.com/1000offer/

I don't know if epvip.com is legit or not.

Can't be too careful

Thanks

Edit: the website it goes to just asks me to enter the email address and username of my account - as if the phishers were trying to confirm they have my details. Also, there is no epvip.com homepage.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

This looks VERY fishy. DO NOT ENTER INFO.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

You should call Empire and find out.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

epvip is the address for empire's vip club. However, instead of clicking on links you should type in the URL, as the name (epvip) could be spoofed.

It looks legit, but I would email Empire's support to make sure.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

What information are they asking for? This looks too good to be true.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Uhh hwo can it be fake?

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Looks legit. I'd call support.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Did a whois lookup on both sites, and both www.ep.com and www.epvip.com have the same information, FWIW.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

I tried it and it said I wasn't eligible, thereby proving it's genuine Empire. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

It is legit. If the official site redirects you there then it is legit.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Tease!

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

If it is genuine, then it works out as $8 per raked hand for 150 hands. Would they let you get away with playing 1 raked hand a day or would they stop the offer after a month?

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

How do they come up with up to 1k$?
Isn't 200$ times 6 1200$?

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

The offer is legitimate, I received it and signed up. My only question is if single and multi table tourneys count towards the "raked day". Anyone know? I emailed support about it, but no response as of yet.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Just out of curiosity what is a "raked day"?

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just out of curiosity what is a "raked day"?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm guessing it is a day where you play a raked hand. I can't find T & C anywhere which added to my suspicions.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

I got this e-mail today, put in my email and account name after reading the T&C which were provided on the link. Seems interesting. I just got a very nice rakeback deal at euro so I haven't been playing at empire anymore. Any reason that playing about 2 orbits a day for a total of 3 minutes wouldn't work? That comes out to a nice 90 minutes of work for 200$, which is the first worthwhile bonus I've seen in a while.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

You get a T&C page AFTER you sign-in and before you click a box to enroll in the program. Still doesn't define raked day beyond "day in which you contribute to rake".

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

emailing support now.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

sounds like a pretty sweet offer.
Too bad I don't play there enough (or i'm assuming at high enough limits) to get the offer.

heh.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

On a raked day you have to play 300 hands. This is according to Party (unless they have changed it)

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Empire is great, this is on top of the Royal Flush free $100/month too. As long as they keep it up, I'll happily contribute my $7000/month in rake. Not sure why other sites don't engage in similar marketing to attract high volume players.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Well that sucks:

Thank you for contacting customer support.

There is no rake taken in tournament hands, hence you cannot obtain raked hands through Single and Multi Table tournaments.

If you have any more concerns or suggestions please feel free to contact us.

Best regards,

Louise
Empire Poker
Customer Support Team
www.ep.com

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Anyone have any idea how they were selected for this? Maybe we could figure it out if people were willing to put what levels they play and approx. how many hands/month they play on Empire.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

maybe they've been following the "high rollers" threads on here and decided to contact the "high rollers' who play through them and give them some goodies to keep them there instead of letting them stray elsewhere.

That would be friggin weird.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

I received an email at 12:06am Aug 1st that says "$500 real cash into your account" in the subject line. It's from promotions@empire.poker-marketing-team.com with nothing but the Empire logo that is linked to http://www.empirepoker.com/index.htm which APPEARS to be the home page. I opened a new browser and typed in the URL and then signed in. I don't see anything. I'm not sure what to do from here. Any ideas? Is this legit? I emailed support almost 20 hours ago and have no response...

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I received an email at 12:06am Aug 1st that says "$500 real cash into your account" in the subject line. It's from promotions@empire.poker-marketing-team.com with nothing but the Empire logo that is linked to http://www.empirepoker.com/index.htm which APPEARS to be the home page. I opened a new browser and typed in the URL and then signed in. I don't see anything. I'm not sure what to do from here. Any ideas? Is this legit? I emailed support almost 20 hours ago and have no response...

[/ QUOTE ]

This one looks fake... log into your real empire account now, make sure all your moeny is there and change your password.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Uhh hwo can it be fake?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's very easy to make a link look like it goes to one site, while it actually points somewhere else. This is a very common scam; it's called "phishing".

For example: http://www.twoplustwo.com/ Many people would just assume this link goes to 2+2 and click on it, when it actually points to Google. The scammer then makes a page that looks just like the target site, but sends the user's data to the scammer.

Definitely something everyone should be aware of.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
It is legit. If the official site redirects you there then it is legit.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm 90% sure OP is saying that the link text was "http://www.empirepoker.com/1000offer", while the target was actually "http://www.epvip.com/1000offer/". If that's the case, Empire unwittingly made their legitimate e-mail look like a phishing attempt.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Although I didn't receive a $1K offer I did get this email today that said:

You have been awarded a bonus amount of 10.00 and the money has been added into your account. You are free to use this bonus amount to play at Empire Poker. However, if you wish to cashout the 10.00, you will need to play 300 raked hands before 11-AUG-2005 EST.

I haven't played on Empire in months and only had a couple of dollars left in my account. I just checked it tonite and sure enough there is an extra $10 in my account. It not a large sum but it's still free money.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

I know that, but the link PartyGirl posted is clearly pointing to empirepoker.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I know that, but the link PartyGirl posted is clearly pointing to empirepoker.

[/ QUOTE ]
He clearly just copied the text of the e-mail. UBB automatically links anything it thinks is a URL.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

I realize that. Did you click on the link, which links to EMPIRE POKER's website? OK then. NH sir.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

I'm an idiot.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is legit. If the official site redirects you there then it is legit.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm 90% sure OP is saying that the link text was "http://www.empirepoker.com/1000offer", while the target was actually "http://www.epvip.com/1000offer/". If that's the case, Empire unwittingly made their legitimate e-mail look like a phishing attempt.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not correct. If you manually type in http://www.empirepoker.com/1000offer into the address bar of your web browser, you will see that it does indeed redirect you to www.epvip.com/1000offer

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

Terms and conditions:

1. Raked day defined as a day you contributed rake.

[ QUOTE ]
Just out of curiosity what is a "raked day"?

[/ QUOTE ]

Has anyone's member area refreshed showing August 1st and 2nd as "raked days?"

Thanks

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Terms and conditions:

1. Raked day defined as a day you contributed rake.

[ QUOTE ]
Just out of curiosity what is a "raked day"?

[/ QUOTE ]

Has anyone's member area refreshed showing August 1st and 2nd as "raked days?"

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

I played some raked hands yesterday but my account area shows 0 raked days.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

If it takes 300 hands to be a "raked day" you are better off with your normal rake rebate.

Re: Is this $1K bonus email from empire genuine or phishing?
 

There's also a more sinister way of spoofing an address where a cyrillic or other non-native character is used, re-directing the user to a different site -- all while looking correct in the taskbar, on screen, and on mouseover.

-d