Microsoft will pay you to forward this email

Dear Friends;
Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. Should you ignore this, you will repent later.
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program.

Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user)?
For a two weeks time period. Every individual person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every one of the individuals that you sent it to and forwards it on.
Microsoft will pay you $243.00!
Now for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00 within two weeks.
Microsoft will reach out to you requesting your contact information (your address) and then send you a check.
My thoughts were this a scam however; two weeks after receiving this same e-mail. I forwarded it to family, Colleagues and freinds. Microsoft reached out via email asking for my address and within days, I receive a check for $24,800.00.
You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this, Bill gates is the man that can.
How can he afford to do this? It’s all marketing expense to him.
Please forward this to as many people as possible.
Kind Regards,
Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations phone numbers: (800) 842-2332 Ext. 1085 (800) 904-1085 (RNX) 292-1085 Source: urbanlegendsonline.com