SPAM SPAM SPAM

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

A contributor to a weblist I’m on brought up the following new spam making the rounds:

We have just charged your credit card for money laundry service in amount

>of $234.65 (because you are either child pornography webmaster or deal

>with dirty money, which require us to laundry them and then send to your

>checking account). If you feel this transaction was made by our mistake,

>please press “No”. If you confirm this transaction, please press “Yes”

>and fill in the form below.

>

>

>

> ENTER YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER HERE:

>

>

> ENTER YOUR CREDIT CARD EXPIRATION

It was opined that anyone who falls for this one deserves what they get. I tend to agree.

PAD

34 comments on “SPAM SPAM SPAM”

  1. I had something similar to my work email address, (as did some other people here) I haven’t got the whole email, as it was deleted rather hurriedly, but the gist of it was this :

    “my Name is [ can’t remember ] and until recently my husband was the president of a small group of islands in the Phillipines. In the past few months, rebels have forced my family into hiding and we have had to flee the country. Before our escape, we managed to transfter over $100 million dollars into several bank account and we need your help. Please send us you bank details so we can transfer it away from the touches of these rebels and we will give you a very generous reward.”

    Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase.

    You got to admit … its original, totally wacko, but origianl. !!

  3. It was opined that anyone who falls for this one deserves what they get. I tend to agree.

    Now you tell me it’s fake…

  4. For what it’s worth, the Urban Legends Reference Page at http://www.snopes.com/ does a pretty good job of cataloging, noting, debunking, and warning about such scams.

    The site also discusses, confirms and/or refutes all sorts of other interesting urban legend tales, so it’s a fun place to visit and read through when you have a chance…

    ATK

  5. I’m pretty sure I’ve had what has to be some of the most interesting spam I’ve seen. There are three I can point to — I’ve got the full text of them on my weblog, but this is what they come down to:

    • The first is an invitation to invest in a process that will undo all the evil done to you (thus, according to the sender, saving “both your life as well as mine” for the insignificant amount of $100,000.
    • The second, and more interesting, is a message from a time traveller asking for someone to drop off some random, esoteric piece of technology at a specific place at a specific time.
    • The third, apparently a follow-up to the above, is from the same time traveller, who was unable to get the requested part above, and has sent out one last entreaty.

    Now, I can understand the first one as a typical (if weird) money making scam, but the second one…is it a scam, an attempt at a flash mob, what? It’s left me utterly confused…

  6. I know a guy who gets the time traveller email all the time. He found an article on the web that allegedly interviews the time traveller and apparently, he’s serious.

    And I got the Nigerian scam email again today.

    I wish my computer had a key that would 1.21 gigawatts of eletricity to computer of every spammer who sent me an email offering to make me rich, show me a lesbian webcam or give me free samples of viagra.

  7. What’s really wierd is that these days all I get is scam spam offering to enlarge certain anatomy parts that us females simply do NOT have. Oh and the latest “patch” from “Mircosoft.” Thank goodness I am super careful about not openening up unsolicited attachments.

    It’s times like this when I almost miss the days before email.

    Sabrina

  8. I’ve gotten the “we’ve charged your credit card” one — apparently web pornographers and people who deal with money laundering are gullible. I’ve gotten the Nigeria 419 scam, and the time-traveller spam (for the life of me, I don’t understand what that one wants, unless it’s to play CHRONONAUTS).

    The scariest one is a spam “from” eBay saying there’s a problem with your account and to click on a link to enter your personal info (account password, credit card, etc.) And the link leads to a page that LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE EBAY! Fortunately, I know that eBay will *never* ask for your password, but it’s scary how realistic the fake page looks. (If you ever get this one, forward the emai to spam@ebay.com and they’ll do what they can to shut this down.)

  9. My favorite spam, one we’ve gotten at work more than once, states that the sender is a time traveller stuck in the year 2003 who needs assistance to build a device to get him back home, and requests that you send an email to the address given if you have any equipment or schematics that could help him.

    We all found it hilarious, obviously. It’s just so ridiculous, and really, he’s the time traveller and he needs ME to send him any schematics of time travel devices that I just happen to have lying around the office somewhere?

    I’m not quite sure what the point of that particular spam is, but it’s quite entertaining if nothing else.

  11. Just curious: Has anyone ever sent these Spammers a fake credit card number to see what happens? You know, send back “2” and see if they try to process it?

    Then again, I guess that would get you on more Spam lists…

  13. I got the phony Microsoft patch and the “problem with your account” virus spam emails, too.

    You have to admite, some of these virus senders are getting clever with their fake emails. Those emails looked really good.

  16. I think the purpose behind the “money laundry” e-mail is more to play on people’s fear of identity theft, and/or guilt about pørņ-surfing online. I’m afraid the number of folks who panic over this particular spam might actually be significant.

    I know a few folks who have received hoax virus warnings, and quickly complied with the instructions to delete a particular “virus” file from their hard drive. They’re quite sheepish when it’s pointed out that it’s a valid file and wind up scrambling to put it back.

    The “time traveler” spam has been around awhile by now. I’ve processed it as normal spam every time.

  17. You know, I have sat patiently through this whole chit chat about aliens and Nigerians who trust only you to bring their fortune to America and John Byrne’s mind-reading hat and the Teen Titans singing “Secret Agent Man”…

    But now I have to ask:

    What does any of this have to do with what PAD thought of the season premiere of “Alias”?!?!?!?!!?!?

    I mean, priorities people. Please.

  18. Heh,

    I got one for ya:

    Just last week I got an email on one of my secondary AOL accounts.

    Said email claimed to be from AOL, and was notifying me that they had just charged my account for some flowers. If I thought this was in error, I was supposed to use the included link to get things fixed up.

    Since it wasn’t sent to my main account, I knew it was a fake. I didn’t use the link, but I’m guessing it would have asked for credit card info.

    Dale

  19. Hello, your name came to me as someone who could help. I am the legally elected government of Latveria, removed from office in a coup by US adventurer, imperialist, and industrialist Reed Richards. If you could send me a half a million dollars, with which I will fly to one of my secret labs hidden around the world, bribe officials to keep my location secret, and hire a mercenary army, you will be repaid tenfold and given the “Star of Latveria” when I reclaim my throne from those insects who would keep me from my home and destiny.

    Thank you.

    Count Victor Von Doom,

    Lord of Latveria, in absentia

  22. Try reading the discussion boards on eBay some time.

    There are tons of these spoof emails out there, from eBay, to Earthlink, to AOL, to Citibank, to Best Buy, and more.

    People fall for these scams EVERY DAY, and by the dozens, if not hundreds.

    They give up their account info, credit card info, SSN, pin #’s, everything.

    And just as many wire tranfer thousands of dollars via Western Union for nonexistant plasma tv’s and computers.

  23. >Sadly the Phillipine scam is not original; it’s yet another variation on the venerable e-mail Nigerian Scam, which is itself a variation on the Spanish Prisoner con game — and that’s at least a century old.<

    Being from (and still living in)the Philippines, I can tell you that, like the Nigerian version, the spam relies on the recipient’s ignorance of geography and current events:

    1) The Phillipines only has 1 Prez for the entire archipelago. Anyone who claims to be a Prez for a “small group of islands” is either insane or a drug lord straight out of an action film.

    2) The spam said the letter writer is Loi Ejercito Estrada, who did NOT flee the country, and neither did her husband, ex-president Joseph Estrada, currently incarcerated facing plunder and tax evasion charges. The former First Lady is now a senator.

    3)The last president to flee the country was Ferdinand Marcos, who’s dead. Wife Imelda is in the Philippines, currently a congresswoman.

    4)Filipinos have this habit of engaging in bizzare “sympathy votes,” w/c is why Imelda and Loi (and their children) are currently in public office.

    -WoS

  24. Did anyone see the Colin Quinn show where he had these people come out and apologize for spam? He had this black guy come out and apologize for his spam about the Nigerian thing….and a girl comes out in a schoolgirl outfit and apologizes for spamming and that there is no actual college dorm where her and her girlfriends get “freaky”(she finger quoted) and how its her bosses fault…said boss then comes out and apologizes, he’s a fat, slovenly looking geek….several more came out…great bit.

    Michael Norton

  25. I would like to ask everyone reading this to take the following pledge…along with me.

    I hereby swear that, should I ever become wealthy enough to afford the cost without jeopardizing my future or my freedom, I will hire detectives to find at least one creator of spam messages and/or viruses, and then hire several thugs to destroy the person’s computer and beat him with crowbars until he is dead, and leave his corpse out on the lawn with his mouse stuffed in his mouth as a warning to anyone else who may be tempted to follow in his footsteps.

  26. Item in this morning’s paper to the effect that one of the big communications companies predicted that e-mail would be 60% spam by 2004.

    Initial reaction: The level’s going DOWN? That’s good news.

  27. Wired recently did an article on the time traveller spam.

    Thanks for the link. It’s nice to know what exactly the story behind that one was, since it didn’t fit the normal profile for spam.

    Of course, now it’s not wacky and funny so much as wacky and tragic.

  29. I got the eBay spam again (there’s a problemw ith your account, we need you to re-enter all your important personal info, etc.) so this time I liked on and entered some info. Of course I didn’t use *my* social security number, or credit card number, or user name, and my eBay password isn’t “Ireallyhatespam” with the alternate “Ireallyreallyhatespam”.

    I hope that’s not a problem for them…

  30. SNOPES.COM!!!!

    they started as an urban legend website but they also post current scam emails

    a fun website

  31. I got the eBay spam again (there’s a problemw ith your account, we need you to re-enter all your important personal info, etc.) so this time I liked on and entered some info.

    *snip*

    I hope that’s not a problem for them…

    Oh, no, no problem at all. They’re probably quite thrilled that you voluntarily confirmed, via their web-bugs in that link, that your e-mail address is “a live one.” It only means they’ll mark you off on their list, keep on spamming you, and probably sell your addy off to others.

    There’re reasons why most people advise that you never reply to spam or click on their links. 😉

  32. “Oh, no, no problem at all. They’re probably quite thrilled that you voluntarily confirmed, via their web-bugs in that link, that your e-mail address is “a live one.” It only means they’ll mark you off on their list, keep on spamming you, and probably sell your addy off to others.”

    I’d hope not, as 1) Norton Anti-Virus scanned the email when it came, 2) I gave a false email when filling out the form, so I’d imagine they’d contact that “gullible eBay user” instead of the original, and 3) I scanned my whole system with Norton Anti-Virus afterwards (since the email left me feeling dirty).

    Still, as I tend to get 30-40 spams a day, I doubt I’d notice the change. And when the new job starts, I may change my email entirely, to obviate this problem…

  34. I find a distinct bit of irony in someone posting spam on the anti-spam thread.
    (And We agree. So I have delated the female nude pics spam just to save your eyeballs)

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