Hey, why not make “Ridiculous Spam Friday” a running gag? Here’s the best junk email from the past couple weeks. There are URLs displayed within the text of some of these—do not, under any circumstances, attempt to visit these websites.
Bachelor #1:
From: Blueprint Profits Fast Cash
Date: Monday, March 01, 2010 6:44 AM
To: [email address]
Subject: Learn Blueprint Profits and….Make MoneyBlueprint for Profits
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Online Marketing Resources Care of Customer Service Center
Unit 0480 PO Box 6945
London W1A 6US United Kingdom
If you’d prefer not to receive future emails from us
click here http://secreteconomy1.com/u/R7BHTH8t7bMuv6L2GVcOrw.html
or write to:
PO Box 85073 # 75575
Richmond, VA 23285-5073
I believe we can file this one under “B” for “Blatant Scam.” Yeah, I’ll bet it’s a “secret economy.” Secret as in “a criminal organization is behind this.” This is a great example of “unsubscribe” links to not click on. You do not want to tell these people they’ve hit a valid email address. Bachelor #2:
From: order-update@amazon.com
Date: Friday, March 05, 2010 8:28 AM
To: [email address]
Subject: Amazon.com – Your Cancellation (476-381899-389120)Dear Customer,
Your order has been successfully canceled. For your reference, here`s a summary of your order:
You just canceled order #303-094123-63755
Status: CANCELED
_____________________________________________________________________
ORDER INFORMATION
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC_____________________________________________________________________
Because you only pay for items when we ship them to you, you won`t be charged for any items that you cancel.
Thank you for visiting Amazon.com!
——————————————————–
Amazon.com
Earth`s Biggest Selection
http://www.amazon.com
——————————————————–
What was interesting here is that the second link to Amazon was a valid link. However, the words “ORDER INFORMATION” linked to a website hosted in the Philippines. I guess the idea here is to trick you into thinking a real Amazon order has been cancelled. Are they assuming that everyone always has an Amazon order pending at all times? It’s hard to tell.
This last one may be an all-time classic. Bachelor #3:
From: Dr rachel joel <michael_steven00668288383733664@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010 3:09 AM
To: [email address]
Subject: I am presently at JFK International Airport新しいメールアドレスをお知らせします
新しいメールアドレス： michael_steven00668288383733664@yahoo.co.jp
Attention:Beneficiary
I am a Diplomat named Dr Rachel Joel sent to deliver your contract/inheritance fund of$8.3M to you. I’m presently in JFK international airport. You have to reconfirm your details, name,address,phone,occupation,identification. Call me on 718-690-9783
Dr Rachel Joel.
– Dr rachel joel
Wow. Dude is just sitting in an airport, hoping this email gets to the right person? What’s doubly weird is that, if you Google a few phrases from this message, there appears to be a whole hoard of these guys wandering around JFK, waiting to give millions of dollars away to strangers. And why would Dr. Rachel Joel’s email address be “Michael Steven?” Actually, just look at all the numbers in that address; must take Dude forever to log in (which can’t be all that easy when you’ve been living in an airport for months).
Today’s examples are all pretty obvious scams. In order, I’m guessing they are:
- Fake money-making “system” that just charges you $70 per month for nothing (think “Google Works,” etc.)
- Malware site that installs keyloggers or gains control of your PC
- Nigerian 419 scam that will end with the victim wiring thousands of dollars overseas.
If you’ve received one of these messages or something similar (and you don’t run a blog about scams and fraud), the only way to respond to them is to delete them.