Today in Spam

by: Kathy

Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 09:22:25 AM CDT

(Not politics, but perhaps a little levity will be welcome.)

Am I the only one who has seen a sharp uptick lately in the number of emails wanting to give me millions from the estates of total strangers? Or the ones asking me to confirm account information for a bank I've never heard of? They're pretty predictable; either appeals to my Christianity or threats to shut down access to my (nonexistent) bank accounts.

However, today's entry gets major points for originality:

Subject: Notice!

We recorded a payment request from "Live Strip Chat Camera Sexy Girls -www.video-chat.co.uk - Girls Show" to enable the charge of $127.83 on your PayPal account. Because the order was made from an european internet address, we put an Exception Payment on transaction id #POS 03 4573 motivated by our Geographical Tracking System.

THE PAYMENT IS PENDING FOR THE MOMENT .

If you made this transaction or if you just authorize this payment, please ignore or remove this email message.

The transaction will be shown on your monthly statement as "Live Strip Chat Camera Sexy Girls".

If you didn't make this payment and would like to decline the $127.34 billing to your card,

please follow the link below to cancel the payment : Cancel this payment ( transaction id #POS 03 4573) [Link disabled - thanks, countrycat!]

Thank you for using PayPal!

The PayPal Team

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response.

For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

Yep, that's one that will get you to sit up and take notice. Who would want their spouse -- or, God forbid, their parents -- to see "Live Strip Chat Camera Sexy Girls" on the bank statement or credit card bill? And who would want to give up $127.34 (or is it $127.83?) when they didn't even get to chat with the Live Stripping Sexy Girls?

This one is pretty well done. It even tells me to login to my PayPal account for help. But the "Cancel this payment" link? The scammers couldn't be bothered to (or just flat couldn't) use a URL that looks anything like PayPal. Not to worry -- I didn't click it; I just hovered my mouse over it long enough to see it was gobbledegook. And if that hadn't done it, the fact that it was sent to "undisclosed recipients" would have tipped me off. Really? A whole bunch of people had suspicious charges of exactly the same amount on their PayPal accounts?

Anyway, I logged into my PayPal account through the website on the off chance that some credit card-deprived teenager actually had hacked it in order to score some porn, and -- you guessed it -- there was no such charge. So, if you too should receive such an email, don't fret.

Unless you really were in Europe strip chatting with Live Sexy Girls.

Kathy :: Today in Spam

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Today in Spam | 20 comments

I'm not surprised.. (4.00 / 2)

I'm having a bit of identify fraud myself right now. Our theory is that someone local found something from our trash can. My home business phone number, my home fax number were given out in an accident report here in Huntsville and my amex with $2300 in charges from a fancy online rim outlet....

by: melmel @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 09:40:05 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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How awful! (4.00 / 1)

We try to shred everything with any personal information on it, but some stuff is bound to slip through. A few years ago a friend was having new credit accounts opened in her name, unbeknownst to her, and stuff charged to them. The perp. turned out to be a postal worker. Even after they figured out the scheme, it took months to get all the accounts cleared up.

Work harder and work smarter!

by: mooncat @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 09:47:51 AM CDT

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Horrible! (4.00 / 2)

I hope it doesn't take too long to get that cleared up...I've heard horror stories from people trying to get their credit cleared up.

I worry much more about what comes through my mailbox than what I do online (although I try to be as safe as possible both places). I work with a few people who refuse to pay bills online because of privacy and information protection. But I asked them if they ever gave a credit card to a server in a restaurant who takes payment at the table - that's (in my mind, at least) FAR more dangerous. And who knows how many people touch my mail before it gets to me?

by: lildebbie77 @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 11:17:13 AM CDT

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I totally agree lildebbie. (4.00 / 2)

I even had a debit card stolen at an ATM machine in Paris. At banks and post office employees. The people you see face to face or who walk by are much riskier than cybertheft.

by: melmel @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 12:57:32 PM CDT

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Oh no! I'm so sorry (4.00 / 2)

I didn't believe the "strip chat" email when I read it, but I'd heard too many stories of PayPal accounts being hacked not to check it out.

I hope you get this cleared up soon!

by: Kathy @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 13:14:00 PM CDT

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New and different Spam (4.00 / 1)

I'll bet that scam has better than average results, especially with holier than thou folks who click on the link in a panic to get that "sex" charge off their record.

The spam innovation in my mailbox seems to be use of foreign languages. First it was Spanish and French, then possibly Chinese (some character set I didn't recognize) and yesterday there was one that appeared to be Greek. I don't read any of those languages so their efforts are totally wasted but it kind of makes me feel special that the spammers have decided I'm a cosmopolitan type.

Work harder and work smarter!

by: mooncat @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 09:44:19 AM CDT

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I enjoyed that the Transaction ID (4.00 / 1)

starts is "POS."

If I'm not mistaken, that matches an acronym that perfectly describes all pieces of spam... wow... yet another meaning for "POS!"

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

by: countrycat @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 10:21:32 AM CDT

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I noticed that too (4.00 / 2)

Funny!

by: Kathy @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 13:14:24 PM CDT

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I don't know (4.00 / 2)

if my spam's getting better or worse. It seems the grammar is going downhill fast, but at least it's getting mroe creative!

I noticed that the link for "cancel this payment" is still active in your post - did you change the url? I almost always click on links in LIA posts, but that one looks like (possibly dangerous) garbage, so I didn't.

by: lildebbie77 @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 11:14:16 AM CDT

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Yikes! Good catch. (4.00 / 1)

I edited the post to delete the link. Now, was was the link text is in bold, but not clickable.

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

by: countrycat @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 12:32:10 PM CDT

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Thank you! (4.00 / 2)

I should have done that.

by: Kathy @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 13:15:12 PM CDT

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See, Prosecutor, I told you!!! (4.00 / 2)

Always pay cash for those shows.

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

by: piggieheart @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 13:54:56 PM CDT

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I bet people would fork over the cash for this vixen... (0.00 / 0)

anybody know how to get in touch with her?

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

by: countrycat @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 14:31:58 PM CDT

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That's an old picture. (4.00 / 1)

Wanna see what he/she/it looks like now?

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

by: piggieheart @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 15:11:50 PM CDT

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Does a cat want tuna? (0.00 / 0)

DISH!

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

by: countrycat @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 15:17:25 PM CDT

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Here you go. Enjoy (0.00 / 0)

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

by: piggieheart @ Sat Jul 11, 2009 at 13:34:37 PM CDT

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It might be worth (4.00 / 1)

some identity theft to get that charge off your card.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

by: Old Prosecutor @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 19:43:37 PM CDT

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I will rely upon your expertise PH (4.00 / 1)

and only use cash.

Thats the problem with this newfangled technolgy - in old fashioned strip joints (I mean Gentlemens Clubs) the only accepted plastic was not a credit card

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

by: Old Prosecutor @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 19:42:18 PM CDT

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I think if you look at the recent posting about the history of Drag Queens... (4.00 / 1)

by: melmel @ Thu Jul 09, 2009 at 14:53:30 PM CDT

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Not content to (try to) scam me once, the (4.00 / 1)