Email pranks can scare the living daylights out of someone depending on how mean you want to be, or how far you want to push it. Here are some email prank ideas that aren’t cruel but quite hilarious.
Did You Know?
Pranks are also known as practical jokes or gags, and are traditionally played on people on 1st April, or April Fool’s Day!
Emails might be a great tool for online communication for many, but for evil pranksters, it is just another tool to target their victims by playing annoying pranks! Well, if you have a lot of spare time on your hand and access to the Internet, then the best way to kill that time is to make use of some totally evil and annoying email prank ideas.
There are various levels of pranks that you can play via email. Some are very elaborate, and can totally fool the person it is played on, while others are just believable, and can be discovered quite easily. Depending on the prank you want to play, the time and effort you need to put in will differ. Some of these pranks can be played easily, with minimal effort, while for others you will need planning and a fair bit of effort to succeed.
You should also keep in mind that while playing a prank can be fun, you should not overdo it, nor let it go on indefinitely. Once you have achieved your goal, which should be embarrassment, fear, worry, or confusion, you should confess up to the prank, lest things get out of hand. Also, try never to play pranks that can get you or anyone else in serious trouble, or that are illegal.
Here are some of the best email pranks you can play on your friends, colleagues, or family members.
7 Awesome Email Pranks to Play on Pals
The Blind Date Prank
This prank is simply outrageous and annoying―for the victims that is. For the pranksters it is simply a delight. Well, this prank would be great for victims who are into online dating sites or even social networking portals. All you need to do is create a fake profile that would seem like a perfect match for your victim. Then send out an email from that fake profile address to your victim. Keep in touch regularly until you are sure the victim is falling for the bait! Once you know it is the right time―send an email saying you want to meet up. Ask your victim to carry a rose, heart-shaped balloon, or wear a red and white striped shirt (or any other ridiculous request) to the venue. Once the date is fixed, be sure you arrive at the venue with your camera to capture the expression on your victim’s face.
The False Prize Prank
Well, everyone loves to win prizes! Offering your victim a lucrative reward is perhaps the best bait for an email prank victim. All you need to do is create a false competition or contest. Now, the key to making this prank successful lies in making the competition seem real, and avoid sounding like spam. Try and pick a contest which you think would interest the victim. In case you think the victim is too lazy to work for a contest, tell him that a recent survey that he filled has entitled him to some reward or gift. Ask him to collect the prize, which is waiting for him at the reception. You can play this prank on an office colleague and wait and watch the action live!
The Job Offer Prank
This is another good prank you can play on a friend or a colleague. In this prank, you play the part of a recruitment agency, that sends the victim an email informing him about a job. The easiest way to make this prank successful is playing it on someone you know is looking for a job. Send an email saying that he has been chosen for a job with a ridiculous amount of money as remuneration. However, make sure you don’t carry on the prank for too long, as the victim might really believe it and resign from his old job.
The Email Signature Prank
This is a prank that can only be successful if you have access to a colleague’s computer. If you notice that a colleague has left his workstation without locking his computer, quickly open the email program on the computer, and change the signature from their name and designation to something embarrassing. This could be something simple like, ‘Lots of love and hugs, [Their Name]’, or more elaborate like, Love, hugs, and kisses’. As with the other pranks, make sure you confess before actual damage is done, like the victim sending an email with the new signature to their boss.
The Enrollment Prank
In this prank, you play the part of an agency that the victim hates, and send a confirmation mail saying that the victim has been successfully registered to that agency. Ingenious ideas include admission to a fan club they hate, or enrollment in a dating scheme. In both cases, you can mention that they will receive daily updates about the same. If you want to take this prank a little further, you can also mention that as per the successful registration, a certain amount will be billed to their credit card every month.
The Auto Correct Prank
To carry out this prank, you will need access to a colleague’s computer. Once you get access, open the MS Word application, go to tools, and replace a few of the auto correct options. If you want the victim to easily find out that he has been pranked, then you can replace many of the suggestions with outrageous content, like ‘Dear Sir’ with ‘Yo Man!’. If you want your subterfuge to last a little longer, then change hard-to-notice words, like ‘the’ to ‘eth’, etc. For this to be successful, you need to make sure that the victim uses Word to type out emails.
The Confession Prank
This is another prank where you will require access to the victims email account. What you have to do is send an email from the victim’s account confessing something. This can be something embarrassing, like suggestions to deal with an embarrassing medical problem, or a place to find the cheapest adult diapers, etc. This prank works the best at the workplace, where the victim can confess to a nasty smell in the restrooms, or something equally embarrassing. Make sure you send the email to only those you think will understand it being a prank later on; avoid contacts like ‘mom’, ‘dad’, etc.
Besides these, there are a few other pranks you can try out, like pretending to be a co-worker’s boss and advising him to stop sending personal emails from work. You could also send your friend an email that seems to come from a car showroom, saying his new car will be delivered in a few days, and to keep the payment ready. The main thing you have to remember for all these email pranks to work is that it should be believable. The email address that you send these mails from is very important. In most cases, you can create a new email ID to send these mails, but make very sure that you don’t fall foul of the law while doing this. Also not everyone might take kindly to being a victim of your pranks, so choose a target with a sense of humor, who will appreciate the prank.