November 6, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Creative SPAM
November 7, 2008 at 12:55 am
ESTEEMED SIR,
I AM THE EXECUTOR OF THE FORMER HEAD OF THE SECRET SERVICE IN THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF ELBONIA. THIS FINE PERSON HAS NO TRACEABLE BENEFICIARIES. I AM HONOURED TO CONTACT A GENTLEMAN SUCH AS YOUR GOOD SELF. I AM WRITING TO YOU JUST TO GLOAT OVER THE FACT THAT I HAVE ALREADY TRANSFERRED A SUM OF ONE AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS INTO A SWISS BANK ACCOUNT. WHY SHOULD YOU THINK THAT I MIGHT REQUIRE YOUR HELP TO TRANSFER THE MONEY? FORGET IT PUNK.
THANKING YOU IN ANTICIPATION OF YOUR FRUSTRATED GREED. IT GIVES ME A WARM GLOW.
MGOTEM MONI
Best wishes,
Phil Factor
November 7, 2008 at 2:18 am
Using a well-known 3rd party mail scanning service as our first line of defence, we actually receive remarkably little spam. However, it amuses me just how many workflows we have (just as with plenty of other companies) that produce so many notifications that we're effectively creating our own spam. And we don't even have creative content to soften the blow....
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
November 7, 2008 at 2:28 am
Gettng paid to pontificate on beer...that's a really nasty trick.
I'd like to say I'd never have fallen for it...
Tony.
November 7, 2008 at 2:50 am
Unfortunately, the vast majority of SPAM is just plain boring or stupid or both. I wish I did receive creative SPAM, but I can't recall a single one. Some phishing emails are quite clever, but hardly creative. Relating the content to well known female tennis players was a smart move, but the content itself was very dull (so I've heard, obviously I never succumbed personally).
All my current SPAM just wants to trick me into believing my order for an IPod, TV, Amazon book, etc needs verification. Boring, boring, boring.
Being paid to sample beer, even though I knew it was a complete scam, would still perk my interest though.
Andy
November 7, 2008 at 3:15 am
I have to admit to being briefly intrigued by "Lovely Camel Racing Romanian Lesbians and their pet Sheeps" , needless to say it ended in disappointment.
I do wonder whether spam exists because some people actually fall for it or it is just a big pyramid selling scheme. I used to think spam only existed because a small percentage of desperate people replied to it, but I'm moving towards thinking there's a never ending supply of people who think spending a few hundred quid on sending C i A li S spams out is a worthwhile investment and depressingly it doesn't matter whether they get a return or not.
Not that I care, by this time next week I'll have a lush head of hair and every woman will desire me, and not just for the $50,000,000 fortune which is soon to be sent to me from a Russian ogliarch desperate to avoid inheritance tax.
November 7, 2008 at 3:31 am
Much of my spam invites me to do the physically impossible and enlarge an organ I don't have:D
I use Mailwasher to preview and delete which catches almost everything but some phishing mail is quite scary with its realism and, although I know and have taught my son, so many people who have less computer awareness will be taken in by the banking or paypal emails currently circulating.
One tip is to keep a separate email address for your very private stuff and never give it out on the web. Have another address for such things as online insurance quotes (which recently generated me some spam) and other such things you want mail from and possibly a third or more for public consumption in forums, web pages etc.
This then instanly identifies financial phishing mail as it comes to an email address not registered with the bank!
November 7, 2008 at 5:55 am
I guard my address some, but it's not the end of the world if I get spammed. I set the junk filter to high and then review what it catches once a day. A few good emails get caught by it, enough to make checking worthwhile. I find that to be a lot faster than me trying to parse my inbox for what I think is spam.
It is interesting to watch different reactions to spam; personally I find it mildly annoying, but not something I let intrude on my day any more than junk flyers in the mailbox. I see others that seem to be mortally wounded if they get a single piece of what appears to unsolicited email/mail.
November 7, 2008 at 6:07 am
One of my friends once got one with the following subject line: "Celebrate the new year with a bigger p3n1s" or something to that effect. Since it was around new year's day (ie not busy) and we were all at work, we had a great time discussing how one would do that.
I rarely get any spam since opened a GMail account for myself a couple of years ago. Paper spam I put through the shredder and use as rabbit litter, along with regular mail that has personal information. I'd like to see an identity thief piece THAT together.
November 7, 2008 at 6:13 am
You can stop ALL Spam, and as well, all Phone Marketing calls... How? Easy...
Years ago a brilliant guy named Richard Chapparal filed a court case in California stating that telephone marketers were in fact, utilizing his telephone for a business purpose and therefore, this was in invoice-able practice. The California courts agreed with Chapparal - he won the case. Thereafter, he invoiced any company that telemarketed him and they were required to pay for business use of his phone. Chapparal then went on to form Private Citizen Inc. (Do a Google on Private Citizen and you'll find his site).
Sound silly? Well, I started years ago following Chapparals lead and believe it or not, I have stopped ALL telemarketers calling me - Have not had even ONE in years. Trust me, it works! Once these guys realized I would invoice them for any calls, I have not recieved calls in the last 3 or 4 years. (There must be some list I am now on...)
So what about email? Well, a few years ago I looked into some long term insurance and long story short, the guy who marketed me put me on a list from a company in Chicago called "Ad Marketing". After that, my God!!! I was getting spam day after day after day - so I started printing each email and each week I have collected those, charging $1.25 for each email they send me and I sent them a "statement". At first, obviously, they thought I was crazy, but the bill is now above $100 and I have turned it over to a friend of mine who runs a collection agency. I guess Ad Marketing must have contacted their legal guy because a few weeks ago I got a very formal letter from them stating they would pay the bill, and are doing everything they can to cut off any marketing from their 'clients'. They also asked if I would please be patient as "our system takes time to update". Yeah? Well (I told them in response) [they] will continue to be billed until their spam stops.
TRUST ME FOLKS, THIS WORKS! If you are bothered by telemarketers, or spammers - Just invoice them - that is your LEGAL right because their use of your phone or computer has already been constituted as a "business use" for which you can invoice.
November 7, 2008 at 7:02 am
I have to agree with AndyD that most of the spam I get is boring stuff, like hot stock tips or Canadian pharmacy drugs. Of course I have a separate e-mail address with my ISP (they allowed me up to 5 in their basic plan) that I use whenever there is some website that wants my e-mail but that I don't think really should have my real address. That strategy seems to work rather well, and I only have to clean out the bogus e-mail address like once a month, or when I am expecting a real confirmation reply e-mail from a retailer or something.
November 7, 2008 at 7:20 am
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson
Steven J. Ackerman
Consultant
ACS, Sarasota, FL
http://www.acscontrol.com
http://spaces.msn.com/sjackerman
November 7, 2008 at 7:20 am
I'm not sure about clever, but insidious pops up a lot.
My favorite for that list are the subject lines starting with "RE: Your request" or something else indicating that I initiated the contact and the email is a response. I haven't gotten caught by one yet, but it makes me stop and spend extra time and mental energy trying to remember if it's legit or not.
very annoying...
___________________________________________________
“Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”
November 7, 2008 at 7:24 am
Once in awhile, I enter online contests of the more legitimate type, but as I have no idea what even they would do with my email, I keep just one email for contests. In total so far, my email addresses break down as:
One email for family
One email for business
One email for friends
One email for contests
One email for subscriptions
One email for my torrid affair with that exotic Brazilian who did these tricks with...well...I digress...the important thing is she promised to write back and I have a totally empty mailbox waiting (come to think of it, it has been over seven months)
😀
Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein
November 7, 2008 at 7:27 am
The most creative one I've seen was "Urinary Tract Infection Cured by Listening to Cranberries CD" I almost opened it based on the creativity of the subject alone.
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