Attention -- Hello, This is [name removed by Times Editor] and I am a member of City Council, NOT THE WHYVILLE STAFF. I have been a respected member of the Whyville community for a couple of years. And I have great News for you.... Even though you've been in trouble before, we feel you would make a great candidate for City Council. If you are interested please mail me back all the required information stated below which is required to fill this position. This is to verify that you are a valid member of Whyville. Please type the correct answers to following questions below (if you do not type the correct answers below your application wil be discarded),

***Do not send application as y-mail therefore it will be discarded to...

1.Username...
2.Password...
3.Re-Enter password...
4.Birth Date...
5.Hometown...
6.E-mail Address...
7.Age...
8.First Name...
9.Last Name...
10.Siblings belonging to Whyville...
11.Last 2 password...(verification purpose to prove that its really you)
12.What makes you think that you are qualified for the position?
13.If you had a chance to serve for the week, what would you do to try and change Whyville?
14.What is one of the most important qualities to you of a Whyvillian
15.Any other additional comments

**Just remember that I am apart of city council, not a Whyville staff memeber so some if this information we do not have an some is just for indentification purposes.....

****Send applications via email to apply- citycouncil_Whyville at hotmail.com*****

Beware if you are qualified and willing to fill this position you must not take advantage of Whyville citizens. A few advantages come along with this position you will be granted to power to punish mis-behaving citizens by muting,vaporizing or banishing. Another advantage is the bonus 20 clams a day to pay for any needs of yours. If you meet our expectations within a week you will be granted a free Why-Pass courtesy of City Council. We want Whyville to be a better place and possibly with your help it could be. We would like your reply as soon as possible.

I thought it was rather strange that a Whyvillian would send me an application that asked if I wanted to join city council. I also found it rather odd that someone would ask me personal questions, like what my last name is or what my e-mail address is.

A week later, I was sent the very same letter on my second Whyville account. I was getting very suspicious and decided I was willing to test them out.

I created a new email adress with the same password as my second account, use my second Whyville account, and make up a first and last name for my safety. So I sent all the information that was needed to "become a Whyville council member" to the email address they gave me.

A little while later, I tried to get back on that Whyville account, and I couldn't get on! The password had been changed, as I suspected would happen. I tried to log on to my "false" email account, but surely enough, the password was changed there, too.

My personal information is still a secret, but yours may not be if you fall for this horrible trick! If you get this same message, 911 report it immediately!

Editor's Note: The most obvious part of this scam is that they're asking for your password, which is SO against the rules in Whyville and anywhere else... but to add to it, they're asking you to send email to an address that doesn't end in @whyville.net. You should never believe anyone who doesn't email you from a whyville.net address -- and even then, City Hall basically never contacts citizens outside of Whyville, and would certainly never ask you to fill out any kind of form outside of Whyville.

Oh, and let us not forget, there is NO SUCH THING as the "City Council"!!

Always 911 report people who send you Y-mails about this. If you get an email message like this, you can forward it to city-management@whyville.net and ask them to "Please contact the site administrators to shut down the person's email account for impersonating employees of the Numedeon company." On that note, City Hall will be politely contacting Hotmail about "citycouncil_Whyville@hotmail.com" very very soon.

Thank you for helping us stay informed!!