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Spam: Who Writes It?

I just got this interesting spam message. What a load of :bs: You’d just email so random person to marry. If so it would be more helpful emailing a guy. Do you really think people will fall for that?
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That particular 419er's actually at least two years old - so she's only got another couple to go. If I was her I'd just wait it out - not like it's going to go off or anything.
 
The phone calls left and came back too. I had one that was actually a person the other day claiming to be with my health care plan. (Not the company--just the plan). From a number that used to belong to an elderly couple. Very creepy targeting.
I would just not pick up, but local numbers could be work-related.
 
Junopsis said:
The phone calls left and came back too. I had one that was actually a person the other day claiming to be with my health care plan. (Not the company--just the plan). From a number that used to belong to an elderly couple. Very creepy targeting.
I would just not pick up, but local numbers could be work-related.
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We have an answering machine and say if your a human speak after the beep. And we pick up if it’s something not selling. The only problem is withheld numbers like for the hospital where dad works.
 
Aah. I have a cell phone, and I don't pay for expensive add-ons, so what it displays is what I get.
 
Junopsis said:
Aah. I have a cell phone, and I don't pay for expensive add-ons, so what it displays is what I get.
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Oh I don’t answer any number that doesn’t look familiar. Funny I kept getting spam calls after I had a car accident. I want to know which insurer sold my phone number.
 
I just got this email at work. It sometimes amazes me how someone can have essentially a good phishing message, but no way of making it make sense in the recipient's language. The phone numbers and email domains are redacted to protect the innocent and likely the guilty as well.

Beoderickg Hutvhinsom <beoderickghutvhinsom@XXXX.XXX>
Fri 4/8/2022 10:44 AM
To: brpderickbauonpjrtd@XXXX.XXX

Dear User,

We are fulfilled to incite the auto recuperation concerning your Amazon-Complete is sensible.
It could require two or three minutes for this trade to appear in your record.

Invoice Number AMA4289621141
Renewal Date 08th Apr -2022
Product Description =HP 15.6" Full HD Laptop Computer, Intel 11th Gen Core i3-1115G4(Up to 4.1GHz), 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel UHD Graphics, Fingerprint Webcam, HDMI, WiFi, with ES 32GB Accessories
Amount Paid $726.49
Payment Mode Auto-Debit (CARD)

* If you wish to Cancel this selection, tolerating no one personalities, feel free to contact our BILLING division when Possible*

You can Reach us on +1 - (XXX) (XXX) (XXXX)

Thanks
Billing Team
Amazon
Click to expand...

By the way, I never had an email address that started with brpderickbauonpjrtd, and the domain of both email addresses the same relatively common one, and not even an attempt to look like an Amazon address.
 
I had a Facebook friend request from a man. Now I never normally accept these, but this one said he was in Geelong (in Australia), which is where my daughter is currently working, so I assumed he may have picked up my details from her. We had several other friends in common, so I accepted his request. A day later I got 'hi', which I ignored. Then I got 'good morning' (it was morning here in England). So I replied 'why are you messaging me, and it isn't morning in Geelong.' I got an apologetic message explaining how he was just messaging because he likes talking to people in other countries and just likes making contact. I start smelling a rat at this point, so I asked him how Geelong was because I know it really well and my daughter is there (she is, but I have never been there). He then gave me the 'oh, I was born in Geelong, but I don't live there now, I'm in the middle east, working'. To which I replied 'and I bet you're widowed with one child, aren't you?'

He then messaged me with a message that made me feel slightly guilty, saying that he wasn't a scammer, just an Ozzie who liked to communicate with people all over the world. So I apologised for being cynical, and wondered if I'd just made a mistake. But, thinks I, doesn't matter, I was busy with writing, I'll just keep him on my Friends list. Whereupon he started messaging me saying 'are you there?' 'Where did you go?' and the like, so I gave him a short sharp, look, I'm busy, I don't chat on Messenger, I don't chat full stop, if you want to contact me about my books then I've got an author page for that, so he moved to my author page and started on Messenger via that, asking when it would be a convenient time to call me!!!!

Blocked. But I really did wonder if he was someone my daughter knew for a while, although by the end I doubt if he could even point to Geelong on the map, and I wondered because I'd been on Messenger to my daughter earlier in the week, when she was telling me that she would be working out of Geelong for the foreseeable future. Can Messenger 'farm' your information? We were on a video call...
 
ChasFink said:
I just got this email at work. It sometimes amazes me how someone can have essentially a good phishing message, but no way of making it make sense in the recipient's language. The phone numbers and email domains are redacted to protect the innocent and likely the guilty as well.



By the way, I never had an email address that started with brpderickbauonpjrtd, and the domain of both email addresses the same relatively common one, and not even an attempt to look like an Amazon address.
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Blimey. Even Google Translate usually does a better job than that.
 
catseye said:
Blimey. Even Google Translate usually does a better job than that.
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I was thinking the same thing. Either they translated it through twenty different languages, or they're time travelers using Babel Fish circa 1998.
 
In the early days of internet spam, I used to collate it into a poem which ended up rambling on like some mad commercial Rime of the Ancient Mariner.*

*If that Mariner was interested in savings on his guttering.
 
Just got this from the "Wold Bank"

WOLD BANK DEPARTMENT FUND FOR 2022

Good day

We are sorry that we made this contact via Email we are unable to
reach your WhatsApp number


My name is Mr David Robert malpass

Managing director of world bank

I received an email from an unknown person trying to claim your fund
of 10.5millon dollars telling me you are dead

But i am

doing this by the instruction given to me for the last time that if i

don't hear from you at this time i should go ahead to award and

dispatched the Fund and Document ownership to the new beneficiary

after he had provided all the information needed to effect the

transaction. I bet you immediately you are very capable of completing

this transaction, I shall hand him over to the police and he will be

punished for all his misdeeds and actions. I want you to kindly

Reconfirm.


Your Full Name...........


Current Home Address...……………


Nearest Airport.........………


Your Direct Cell Phone/WhatsApp…….…


Occupation/Gender…………………


Your valid ID card copy………………


Next of kins….………………




If your still alive please kindly contact us with this

office Email ([email protected]


So that preparation can be made for the delivery of your Cash to your

home address to avoid wrong delivery, I wait to hear from you.


Regards

Mr. David Robert malpass

Wold bank Int”
Click to expand...
 
catseye said:
I had a Facebook friend request from a man. Now I never normally accept these, but this one said he was in Geelong (in Australia), which is where my daughter is currently working, so I assumed he may have picked up my details from her. We had several other friends in common, so I accepted his request. A day later I got 'hi', which I ignored. Then I got 'good morning' (it was morning here in England). So I replied 'why are you messaging me, and it isn't morning in Geelong.' I got an apologetic message explaining how he was just messaging because he likes talking to people in other countries and just likes making contact. I start smelling a rat at this point, so I asked him how Geelong was because I know it really well and my daughter is there (she is, but I have never been there). He then gave me the 'oh, I was born in Geelong, but I don't live there now, I'm in the middle east, working'. To which I replied 'and I bet you're widowed with one child, aren't you?'

He then messaged me with a message that made me feel slightly guilty, saying that he wasn't a scammer, just an Ozzie who liked to communicate with people all over the world. So I apologised for being cynical, and wondered if I'd just made a mistake. But, thinks I, doesn't matter, I was busy with writing, I'll just keep him on my Friends list. Whereupon he started messaging me saying 'are you there?' 'Where did you go?' and the like, so I gave him a short sharp, look, I'm busy, I don't chat on Messenger, I don't chat full stop, if you want to contact me about my books then I've got an author page for that, so he moved to my author page and started on Messenger via that, asking when it would be a convenient time to call me!!!!

Blocked. But I really did wonder if he was someone my daughter knew for a while, although by the end I doubt if he could even point to Geelong on the map, and I wondered because I'd been on Messenger to my daughter earlier in the week, when she was telling me that she would be working out of Geelong for the foreseeable future. Can Messenger 'farm' your information? We were on a video call...
Click to expand...

Wouldn't he just see "Geelong" as her location and work from there?
 
Ogdred Weary said:
OK, are all the friends in common people your daughter knows in Geelong?
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None of the friends I have in common with this person are known to my daughter. My daughter doesn't live in Geelong, she lives in Torquay, she is just seconded to work in Geelong. None of these other people are in Australia, they are people I know through writing, mostly.
 
Even easier. Someone contacts you with a a minor good reason possibly your daughter sent them you check it out. After ten words you realize this is not someone you have time for and is not about to place a bulk order of any book and you block them. End of process.
 
ChasFink said:
I just got this email at work. It sometimes amazes me how someone can have essentially a good phishing message, but no way of making it make sense in the recipient's language. The phone numbers and email domains are redacted to protect the innocent and likely the guilty as well.



By the way, I never had an email address that started with brpderickbauonpjrtd, and the domain of both email addresses the same relatively common one, and not even an attempt to look like an Amazon address.
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I guess I believe because I'm told it that these people spend time sending this crap because they make a living at it but the response rate on messages with this terrible spelling, grammar, truly stupid mistakes has to be zero. Even if English were not my first language there would be obvious red flags. It would be fascinating to read something by someone who had actually researched these idiots and could explain their business plan.
 
Lb8535 said:
I guess I believe because I'm told it that these people spend time sending this crap because they make a living at it but the response rate on messages with this terrible spelling, grammar, truly stupid mistakes has to be zero. Even if English were not my first language there would be obvious red flags. It would be fascinating to read something by someone who had actually researched these idiots and could explain their business plan.
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There are some people on YouTube who contact these people to play along for fun. Some even go so far as to use various means to actually figure out where the scammers are, get pictures of the buildings they're in, etc. and feed it back to them. One I've seen actually pays the (admittedly financially desperate) contact person if they show they're using the money for good purposes and are quitting the scamming business. Of course, some people have commented that the scammers are on to him and are pulling a metascam to get the money.
 
Here's a novel about email scams:

"A deeply moving debut novel set amid the perilous world of Nigerian email scams, I Do Not Come to You by Chance tells the story of one young man and the family who loves him."

https://www.amazon.com/Do-Not-Come-You-Chance/dp/1401323111


There are a number of books where the author exposes them.

This one looks unusual:

"419 Exorcist: Spelunking: One scammer's enthralling splash in a toilet"​

by Onija Jegudujera (Author) Format: Kindle Edition


https://www.amazon.com/419-Exorcist-Spelunking-scammers-enthralling-ebook/dp/B08K1KJ5NM/ref=sr_1_15?crid=3PR7MB36BQ8C&keywords=419+scams&qid=1649722541&s=books&sprefix=419+scams,stripbooks-intl-ship,127&sr=1-15
 
ChasFink said:
There are some people on YouTube who contact these people to play along for fun. Some even go so far as to use various means to actually figure out where the scammers are, get pictures of the buildings they're in, etc. and feed it back to them.
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I was a member here for a brief time (I got too angry at the spammers and decided to call it quits): https://www.419eater.com/

Edit: For clarity, I was a member of 419eater. It was the spammers that we dealt with and their audacity that drove me nuts, so I left. The mods and custom filters do a great job of preventing spam on this board.
 
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Lb8535 said:
Even easier. Someone contacts you with a a minor good reason possibly your daughter sent them you check it out. After ten words you realize this is not someone you have time for and is not about to place a bulk order of any book and you block them. End of process.
Click to expand...
I don't sell my own books, they are available through my publisher/Amazon etc. But one of the problems with being an author is that you have to have at least one totally 'open' profile. It's amazing how many people who've read a book want to contact the author, to say how much they enjoyed it or with questions, or how many struggling new writers want to get in touch to ask about the writing process. Sadly, once you are published, it's almost part of the 'publicity' to be contactable by anyone. And it can take a little while to sort out the 'Nigerian Princes' from the 'struggling wannabe writers who don't, unfortunately, have as much of a grasp of the English language as you may think concomittant with writing an actual book'.
 
catseye said:
I don't sell my own books, they are available through my publisher/Amazon etc. But one of the problems with being an author is that you have to have at least one totally 'open' profile. It's amazing how many people who've read a book want to contact the author, to say how much they enjoyed it or with questions, or how many struggling new writers want to get in touch to ask about the writing process. Sadly, once you are published, it's almost part of the 'publicity' to be contactable by anyone. And it can take a little while to sort out the 'Nigerian Princes' from the 'struggling wannabe writers who don't, unfortunately, have as much of a grasp of the English language as you may think concomittant with writing an actual book'.
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I understand and I think that it's overly nice of you to do more than check that they have a bona fide question or comment or to send a standard thank you.
 
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