The Spam Report

Here is some more very typical “work from home” garbage. Take a look at the link to the site (you’ll have to copy/paste into your browser) since an active (clickable) link, will help this jackass.

The site looks like all the sites like this that offer you a “membership” that will provide you with opportunities to work from him doing “data entry” for $200 - $500 a day which is a total load of crap.

I’ve personally looked into legitimate “data entry” work-at-home jobs and you’ll never make anywhere near $200 a day, much less $500.

Just more deceptive crap cluttering up the internet.

It should also be noted that sending this to me is illegal since it is a violation of the CAN-SPAM law. I never signed up to receive crap like this, so their offer to “gladly remove” me from their list is probably just a way for them to get some kind of response to this e-mail so they know it is an active address and they will know it is a good target for more spam.

Special note to spammers who send this crap out: If you send it to me (I suppose you’ll just have to guess my e-mail address), you can expect to see it posted here with your name (probably not your real name anyway) and your e-mail address (probably fake as well) so others can be warned to stay clear of this kind of garbage.

This particular idiot, calling himself “Anti__Hacker” posted some comment spam on one of my blogs.

Here’s what was posted:

As you can see, spelling is not this moron’s specialty and he turned his automated spam program loose with spelling and grammar errors. The spammer may simply be someone whose native language is not English.

I have removed the actual link to his “Anti-Hackers Programm Site” to avoid aiding its promotion and to keep people here from visiting that site.

With regard to the purpose of his site, I suspect two scenarios:

First, he’s attempting to promote an actual anti-virus program that he is affiliated with and will earn a commission from.

Secondly, it may simply be a ruse to lure people to a site that will attempt to infect a visitor’s computer with a virus or some other kind of nasty program that could be used to take control of the visitor’s computer without their knowledge for the purposes of sending spam or attacking other computers.

There are other possibilities as well, such as spy-type programs that record keystrokes on a victims computer and send them back to the low-life who planted the program with the hope that they will be able to glean usernames and passwords to bank accounts and things like that.

Anyway, being as familiar with e-mail and blog spam as I am, I got a chuckle out of the simple stupidity of the spammer’s message. He really should learn English better or hire someone to write his spam messages if he wants to appear the least bit legitimate. What a moron.

I’ve just created a new category for use here called “Blog Spam.” For those that don’t know what that is, a quick overview may be in order.

Blog spam consists of comments that are made on blogs for the sole purpose of commercial promotion.

Pharmaceuticals and pornography seem to be the most prevalent varsities of blog spam, and have been for a long time. This is likely due to the high profit potential in those markets.

The benefit that blog spammers get from spamming blog comments is the links they insert that lead to their websites where they are trying to sell whatever it is they are selling.

Search engines like Google consider the number of links pointing to a website very important when they calculate where that site appears in their search results. The more links that point to a site, the more likely it is to show up on the first pages of the search results when someone searches for a particular topic, and as a results, those search results get clicked more often than results on page 2 or page 3 or page 52.

A lot of the blog spam I see on my blogs has to do with popular prescription drugs like Viagra, so I see a lot of links that use phrases like “buy Viagra” or “cheap Viagra” in the blog spam that shows up on my blogs, and believe me, I see a lot of blog spam.

Don’t think for a minute that there are armies of people out there tapping away on keyboards for hours in order to post comment spam on blogs. Although I am sure some blog spamming is done manually, the vast majority is automated.

Programs such as XRumer are available to spammers to turn loose on the internet and these programs have the capability of locating blogs and forums and posting comments on them, complete with links that benefit their sites.

Fortunately for us bloggers, at least for those of us using WordPress (I can’t speak for other blogging platforms) there is a very nice tool that we are able to use called Askimet.

Askimet is a program that is generously offered for free by its author and it does a fantastic job of stopping blog spam in its tracks. The program shuffles all the spam comments it detects off into a special folder that is not accessible to the internet - hence the spammers do not get any benefit from the links they post.

Once in a while, I go in and check the “spam area” that Askimet uses to store all suspected spam and delete it. Before long it is filled with more blog spam.

Without Askimet, maintaining a blog would be a much bigger pain in the rear end than it is.

So, with that introduction, I will present next some blog spam that I thought was somewhat amusing. I will post more blog spam in the future if I consider it worthy. Most of it is just collections of links, but some are actually quite stupid and can be entertaining.

From:    FROM:Fred Jude [gee_2yk84@hotmail.co.uk]
Sent:    Tuesday, August 12, 2008 5:10 AM
Subject:    FROM FRED JUDE

FROM:Fred Jude
NO, 5 DEGLAIN ST.JOHANNESBURG,
SOUTH AFRICA.  Tele.+27 -731 -988 -726

ATTEN:PRESIDENT/MANAGING DIRECTOR.

With due respect, trust and humanity. I write this proposal, which I
believe would be great interest to you. I got your contact through
the South African Chamber of Commerce. I am Fred Jude, The Principal
Auditor Of Department Of Mineral And Energy support of South African
Kwazulu-Natal Branch.

I have in my possession the sum of $36.5 million dollars for transfer
into a reliable and dependable foreign account. The above sum is an
over estimated / surplus amount of recent contract awarded to a
foreign firm.

Meanwhile, the original contractor has been paid. I now seek for your
assistance for easy transfer of this excess fund the beneficiary to
enable put claim on the above sum.

Furthermore, I will give you 25% of the total sum of the amount for
your assistance and 5% will be mapped out for any local and
international expenses incurred during the transaction and the
remaining70 % will be for my investment in your country.

Finally, you are expected to call me back immediately so that I will
fax you the supplementary agreement on payment where you are expected to fill in your bank information where you want this fund to go to and then fax it back to me. I will meet you in person before the fund arrives your account and if you have any question, kindly send to me an email on the email address above for clarification of issue.

Thanks and God bless you.
Best regard
Fred Jude

From:    GREG MAURICE [mrstevejohnson@yahoo.com]
Sent:    Tuesday, August 12, 2008 6:25 AM
Subject:    TREAT AS URGENT/CONFIDENTIAL

FROM THE DESK OF MR Steve Johnson.
HSBC BANK PLC,8 CANADA SQUARE
LONDON E145HQ UNITED KINGDOM UK.
DIRECT LINE:0044-702-408-7719.
TREAT AS URGENT/CONFIDENTIAL

Dearest Friend,

In our search for a trustworthy individual to work with us on a very
important and confidential project, we came across your profile in
The British Chambers of Commerce and Industries, here in THE UNITED
KINGDOM.

My name is MR Steve Johnson, Principal Executive Officer, and Audit
Department in HSBC BANK here in The United Kingdom. During the yearly preliminary in-house auditing of accounts, I discovered an account opened in 2000 and since 2004 has remained dormant and has not been operated till date. The total amount in this account is
GBP?12.5Million,(Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand Great British
Pounds Sterling) Pound Sterling less accrued interest.

Working In-collaboration with the Audit Manager, we decided to
investigatethis account for more information. We discovered that the
owner of this account,a foreigner has died intestate leaving no heirs
or next of kin who could make a claim.

Presently, we are the only two people in our organization with access
to this information and we have decided to keep it that way and claim
the money for ourselves using a third party who will take the place
of the deceased (next of kin). We will supply the necessary
information on the deceased and ensure that the claim application is
giving immediate approval.

Documents like the Death and Deposit certificate will be arranged and
forwarded to the bank.We have earmarked a commission of 30% of the total amount for you. The remainin, 60%you will help us invest in
profitable Stocks and Shares in your country.We would like to get
your decision to this proposal as soon as possible.

On receipt of your decision, we will fax or email you explicit
details of the already completed groundwork on this project,Pls;email
me on this private box(mrstevejohnson03@hotmail.com)
I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
MR Steve Johnson.

Here’s some more of that work-at-home/MLM/Pyramid Scheme crap I received. As of this writing, the link in the e-mail still works, so maybe you can check out their lame website. You know, the usual nonsense with the photos of the private jets, big houses and fancy cars.

Good Lord, do people still fall for this crap?

Don’t you just love the apology at the end? Gee, that really touches my heart, and makes me feel so much better about receiving unsolicited crap in my e-mail that’s more-than-likely intended to grab hold of some of my money for nothing but crap in return.

Well, “Cathyrine,” I think you know what you can do with your “Moneyline Pool” garbage.

From:    PETER JOHN [fedex_courier_compy310@live.com]
Sent:    Saturday, August 02, 2008 1:59 AM
Subject:    I HAVE REGISTER YOUR CONSIGMENT WITH FEDEX COURIER COMPANY.

Dear Friend,
You might find it so difficult to remember me. Though,it is indeed, a
very long time. On my singular, I am much delighted and privileged to
contact you again,after couple of years now. It takes fate, courage
and God’s fearing to remember old friends and at the same time, to
show gratification,despite circumstances that made things,not worked
out as we projected then.
I take this liberty to inform you that, the transaction we were
pursing together, finally worked out by God’s infinite mercy and I
decided to contact you, just to let you know.I understand that your
hands were tied. Not to worry. I have succeeded in getting the money
transferred into the account provided by a newly found friend of mine
in Finland.
I am presently in Europe with my family . To compensate you for your
past assistance and commitments to me, I have made available 10% of
the total money which is $1.8M (ONE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED UNITED
STATE DOLLARS) cash for you. I made it cash because my account
officer advice me to do so, he said that since I will not be around,
it will be safer to keep cash than to keep check, because of the
validity period of check which might expire before you get the check
and i will not be there to validate it.
I have, through the help of my account officer packaged the money in
a security proof box. The box was sealed with synthetic nylon seal
and padded with machine.It was deposited with FEDEX EXPRESS  COURIER
COMPANY for safe keeping, as (Sensitive Photographic Film Material),
The Company does not know the original contents of the box. What l
declared to them as the content is Sensitive Photographic Film
Material, I did not declare money to them please.
Also, note that I have paid the registration fee and shipment fee in
advance pending the time you will contact them, so you don’t have any
problem. the only fee they will ask you is their official keeping
fee. I would have paid the Official keeping fee when I was paying for
the registration but they told me that if I pay it then, the
consignment will start accumulating demurrage for you so I left it in
order for you not to pay extra money on it.
Below is the Deposit details
Deposit Number: PLCC-101-PL45
Sort/Clearance Code: PLC/101-45/P50
Deposit Certificate N0.: 405576
Consignment Description: 1 Box Sensitive Photographic Film Material
Depositor: Barrister:Peter John.
Make sure you quote the deposit details well to avoid misinformation.
Write an application and quote the deposit details to the given
address below.
Company:FEDEX EXPRESS  COURIER COMPANY BENIN REPUBLIC Contact Person:
Mr.Ugo Marcel(Director) contact phone number +2299 8787025 Contact
Email:(fedex_courier_compy310@live.com)

Forward your FULL NAME, HOME ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER, and register
with them for immediate delivery of your package to your door step.
Take good care of your self.

Regards,
Barrister: Peter John.   

I HAVE REGISTER YOUR CONSIGMENT WITH FEDEX COURIER COMPANY.

Apparently, some jackass calling himself Michael Houston was foolish enough to think I would fall for this ridiculous scam.

As you might imagine, the link he included in the e-mail (which I removed) led to one of those long sales pages that’s purpose was to sell a book for $39 that would allow you to make lots of money by setting up your own home business processing rebates.

Just how many idiots there are out there trying to rip people off with this crap, I cannot imagine, but there certainly does not seem to be any shortage of them.

By the way, when I tried to visit the link to the sales page again today, it was gone. Perhaps someone recognized it for what it was and it was taken down.

From:    MRS BRIDGET MOYO [bgtmqdan@hotmail.com]
Sent:    Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:06 PM
To:    undisclosed-recipients:
Subject:    Family Investment Assistance!!!

FROM: MRS BRIDGET MOYO
ADDRESS: 149 8TH AVENUE NORTHRIDING,
JOHANNESBURG - SOUTH AFRICA.
Tell: +27-734-399-200
Email: bridgetrdanielmoyo@hotmail.com

My Dear,

I know how surprise this letter will be to you, But I would advice
that you consider it as a request from a family in dare need of
assistance. I am MRS BRIDGET MOYO the wife of MR.KHUMALO MOYO of
Gwanda town in Zimbabwe. Your contact information came to me from
your country’s trade journal during my search for a reliable and God
fearing person that can assist me and my only son, and I quite
believe on my own that you can be of great help in this regard even
if i am not acquainted to you before.

My husband was killed during the current war/crises against farmers
in Zimbabwe from the support of our President Robert Mugabe to claim
all the white owned farms to his party members and his follower’s .He
ordered all white farmers to surrender all their farms to his party
members and followers. My husband was one of best farmers in our
country although he is a black man but he didn’t support Mugabe’s
political ideas, Mugabe’s supporters invaded my husbands farm and
burnt everything in the farm, killed my husband and made away with
lots of items in my husband’s farm.

Before my husband’s death, he had deposited with one of the security
and finance company here in Johannesburg, South Africa the sum of
US$18.5 MILLION (EIGHTEEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE
DOLLARS). After the death of my husband we decided to move to the
republic of South Africa where we live as asylum seekers,where he had
deposited the money in the security and finance company. 

In his “WILL” he specifically pointed and I Quote, Darling, I wish to
draw your attention to the sum of 18.5m USD which I Deposited with a
Security and finance house in South Africa with all the documents
filed by our lawyer. In case of my absence on earth caused by death
only, you should solicit for a foreign partner that can assist you to
transfer the money out of (South Africa) for investment purposes.

I have saved this money to make the future of my only son Daniel
Moyo” .You will understand that my future especially the future of my
son depends on this money and as such I will be grateful if you can
assist us in transferring this fund to your account overseas for our
investments. You can contact my son “Daniel Moyo” on his private
telephone number (+27 73 439 9200), as he will direct you with our
lawyer to arrange the modalities of transferring this fund without
any hitch. For your assistance we have agreed to offer you 25% of the
whole fund, 5% for any expenses that may be incurred while the
remaining 70% will be kept for us under your care till our arrival in
your country.

Please I want to tell you that my family living here in South Africa
is not comfortable with us Especially my only son Daniel.

Note that this transaction is 100% risk free and absolutely
confidential.

God bless you for your anticipated understanding and co-operation.

I await your urgent and positive response

Best regards
MRS BRIDGET MOYO