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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

MAIL CALL

It's been a busy week for my In-box.
A brief summary;

I won 5 European Lotteries for a grand total of 11,000,000 Euros (whatever a Euro is).

I have 1 relative and 3 old friends who need money wired to them in South Africa because they got stranded at The FIFA World Cup (whatever the FIFA is).

Then there must be something bad happening in Nigeria! Because I got mail from 3 people there who need me to assist them in moving vast amounts of US Dollars into an American Bank (I know what US Dollars is, are...).

Then there's the usual amount of non-sense about Male Enhancement, and weight loss miracles and tooth whiteners.

And the "STUPID With A Capital 'F'" award goes out to the Dood who keeps asking for Ophilia's Email Address. The first time I told him to ask her for it in a comment on her blog.
Then Mr Dill, complained to me, that she deleted his comments. And asked me again for assistance.
Mr Dill. That's just plain creepy. One more such request will result in me posting your email address for the world to use at will. Get it? Got it? Good!!!
======================================================================

Now all of this brings me to the topic of WHY?
Why am I, a supposed Security Expert, getting these kinds of emails?

The answer is easy. I'm asking for it. I do it on purpose, to keep tabs on the latest and greatest being offered by the bad guys. I'm your wing man. But I'm a trained professional. And I don't recommend you try this at home.

Don't put your email address out in public. And your blog is public. Hackers and spammers have tools they call "HARVESTERS" that parse web pages and entire sites looking for things that look like an E-Mail Address. Things like:
aname@acompany.com

Will get found and harvested. Then some Russian will pay a "Script-kiddy" a few cents per name, for a list of thousands, and then the real fun begins. So if you must leave your email address and you don't want an automated process (A BOT) to find and use it. Put it in a format that only a human can use. One that resembles:

aname[at]acompany(.)com

So that:
krippledwarrior@gmail.com

Becomes:
krippledwarrior[at]gmail(.)com

Score: Good Guys 1
           Bad Guys   0

And A Get well soon Shout out to My ADHD me!
Catch y'all later,
Kurt

24 comments:

Heff said...

Keep Dill out of your inbox !

Hey, that sounded dirty....

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

Thanks Kurt! I'm doing that now.

Just telling it like it is said...

I know and all you have to do is send them 100,00o $ so that they can transfer the money to you right? Man what is this world coming to?

Marnie said...

I'm going to do that now. I have an email address related to my blog if someone wants to contact me...but I don't want contact from someone who is stranded in Nigeria ;0)

As for the guy who is asking about Ophilia...he is a major red-flag.

TRUTH SHARER said...

I fell for one of those $$ e-mails last year for the first time - as I had never gotten one until then - but as I prayed it through God exposed it for what it really was - a fraud. I still get them in my Spam folder and just delete then now. It freaks me out how they will take other e-mails with addresses so similar to people I know - that's just freaky! Like they are looking inside my computer. Thanks for more of the alerts here.

And glad you and your house FOLLOW the LORD!!! Thanks for stopping by today!

Choosing JOY, Stephanie

Anonymous said...

We must be related...I have the same relatives needing my help...LOL!I had no idea I had relatives in South Africa! That is creepy the dude who keeps asking for ophilias Email...No wonder she deletes his messages...

Ms. A said...

You had me fooled, for a minute, that the computer security expert was having issues. I should have known it was so you could teach me something. Thank you, teacher!

Dutch Sugar Babe said...

Send those Euros my way, please.

Alice in Wonderland said...

On my other computer I'm always getting mails from Africa saying that all of my family have been killed in a air plane crash (NOT FUNNY) and if I send my bank details, name, (of all things...don't they know who they are writing to?) and I'll receive $12 million.
Hey, I'm English, I don't know anyone in either Africa or Russia, my family died in this country, and as for sex....yes please!
That's why I keep changing my personal address, but they still keep coming in my business mail.
As for Orphelia, I would have this guy barred from my site, but this sort of thing is going around a lot lately.

Spiky Zora Jones said...

hey warrior: No one like that ever emails me...if they do the FBI usually responds to them before I do...

Have you ever wondered what happens to them once they are contacted? ...I know. :0)

later sweetie and thanks for the tips. xxx

Renee said...

Yep...same emails here!!Isn't it crazy? I make a point NEVER to open an email from anyone that I don't know - or that I'm not expecting. I also use one email address for those times when I have to put an email address or give one out - this becomes my junk email. I have a personal email that I NEVER give out..I use it for family and very close friends.

Thanks for the heads-up!

mac said...

Are you trying to tell me I won't get that $10 million from my dear departed uncle in Nigeria?

Dangit ! I had plans, man !

samurai said...

Thank you for sharing this sir.

PTSD, A Caregiver's Perspective said...

Huh, what? My British lottery winnings which were wired to Nigeria, by the FBI who were concerned about my identity so they asked for all my personal information so the Viagra coming to me from Canada for my husband would end up at my house is not real?

I'm going to commit harry carey and fall on my ceremonial sword!

Senorita said...

My poor 90 year old grandma gets e-mails for pills that enlarge her boobs and penis. She doesn't really know what to make of it.

Charlene said...

I don't get interesting e.mail like you do since I got Norton's 360. The only stuff I've gotten similar to this was when someone hacked YellowDog's address book. I know now not to open anything from her that doesn't look personal.

Jo said...

Very interesting tips! Thank you. :-)

Anonymous said...

MY HERO!!!

Betty Manousos said...

I've got various mails saying that they'd like to get linked with my blog or ads rq. I'm not sure if they are spam or what. I don't know what to do. How can I figure out that they are not spams. I'm really confused.
~B ;)

red.neck chic said...

I love spam filters... and duct tape!!!

I'm going to go look for my email address.... see where it is out there and how it looks! LOL

Thank You!!!
;-) robelyn

Red Shoes said...

I arrived at work one morning with a LONG list of things to do... I immediately started processing my emails... one from supposedly from OIT on campus here, wanting me to confirm my user name and password..

All I had to do was type it in and they would confirm it...

I know that 999 times out of 1,000, I never EVER would do this...

But... I did that day... and immediately... as soon as I sent it, I knew I had fukked up... so I went back and changed my password...

God, for someone who is supposedly educated, I sure can be quite the dumbass from time to time!!!

~shoes~

Kelly said...

I got an email from a friend of mine the other day, with just a link. Nothing else. So I emailed her back, "Did you really send this to me?" NO! She didn't know how but her email had been hacked. So even if the email is from someone you know, you can't always trust it. Never click links.

Another funny, my best friend and very devote Christian sent me an email "Want to know how to have better sex?" I immediately texted her that she'd been hacked. We laughed and laughed over that one, but embarrasingly enough it had gone out to everyone in her address book. She was horrified.

Edie said...

It's a good thing you won all that money so you could share it with your relatives in Nigeria.

When I first started reading this post I really was wondering why you were getting all that spam. So glad you clarified that for me. :)

Just stopping in to say hi. Have a great weekend!

MsDarkstar said...

I've learned that if I send a link to someone, I put a good explanation as to what it is because I've had people tell me "well, yeah, I saw the link but..." (which I completely understand)

Just the other day I got an email from an address that I know that was a Cialis ad. I have no use for Cialis.

I have a guy friend with very thick, long hair who gets daily emails regarding curing male baldness. Oh how we laugh at that!