BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!

Subject: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 11:34 PM

A friend of mine received the following email. I've stripped out her name and personal data, suffice to say that she's a lawyer.

----------
>Date: 5-Dec-2003 18:56:20 -0600
>>From:
>>To:
>>Subject: We are going to bill your credit card
>>
>>Good afternoon,
>>We are going to bill your credit card for amount of $22.95 on a weekly basis.

>>Free pack of child porn CDs is already on the way to your billing address.
>>If you want to cancel membership and your CD pack please email order and credit card details to [e-mail]
>>
>>Are you ready for all types of underage porn?
>>We have the best selection for every taste!
>>Just click the secret link below and have fun:
>>http://www.spamhaus.org
>>http://www.spews.org
>>http://www.register.com
>>http://www.cardcops.com
>>http://www.carderplanet.net
>>http://www.spamcop.net
>>http://disney.go.com
>>http://www.authorizenet.com/
>>Nude boys under 16!
>>Nude girls under 16!
>>Incest, a daddy & a daughter!
>>We have everything you have ever dreamed for!
---------
If this isn't a joke, well, it's a heckuva sick scam.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: LadyJean
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 11:45 PM

I think this could create some serious problems.

I did have a minor problem last year, when somebody got my former housemate's ATM card number, and used it to buy pornography on the internet. He didn't change his address when he moved in with his girlfriend, so all mail and phone calls came here.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Mickey191
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 11:48 PM

Guess the point is some people will be so irate they will want to notify the creatures to cease & desist. Then they'll realize it's just a scam. But, unfortunately, some may mistakenly give out the info.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 11:57 PM

Sounds like a scam. It looks like they don't really have her credit card data. They're hoping she'll try to "cancel" and, in so doing, reveal the card number. God only knows what the lowlife scumbags may do with it if they get hold of it.

She can, of course, report the e-mail to the authorities if she thinks it'll do any good. But I wouldn't try to contact the sender under any circumstances. To do so would just open a door for more of the same.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: kendall
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:46 AM

These bastards count on people who don't think.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 09:08 AM

And so does most of the commercial advertising industry. Not thinking can be hazardous to your health.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 09:18 AM

They just get worser and worser. I won't even tell you about the disgusting spam e-mail I got yesterday. I wish I knew just how they got my e-mail address, since I never use it on the Web at all. Eventually they all find you though.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 10:21 AM

I received similar emails a while back. I ignored them, and haven't had one in a while. I assume they gave up on me. They word the message to make it sound like you ordered the child porn, probably to keep you from reporting the scam to the proper authorities.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 10:31 AM

Similar to the "You've Won!" spam or the "Your order is ready" or the "You're e-mail has been returned" ones, posing as a Sys-Op message.

More and more vile versions of the old bait-and-switch scam coming out all the time.

I also hate those pop-up ads that are made to resemble a regular alert from the Windows OS. The unwary click on them and end up installing some unwanted spyware application on their computer. Must be special region of Hell reserved for the pricks designing those.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 11:02 AM

Quick thinkin', Rapaire..... Buddy of mine got caught by his wife lookin' at dirty piccures and he did the same thing.

"Hey, __________, now if this ain't somethin'? Someone has put some dirty piccures on my pudder'! I'll go over and ask my cyber buddies how this could have happened, like right now, Honey!!!..."

Ahhhhh, it's only good once, Rapaire, so be more carefull next time, pal...

Awww, Iz jus' messin' wid ya...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: artbrooks
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 11:11 AM

The porn ones don't worry me that much...I don't have kids at home and they are easy enough to delete. There is a new twist on the identity theft attempts, at least for me. I got two about 10 days ago, one allegedly from PayPay and the other supposedly from Earthlink. The second looked very official, with an authentic-looking bright orange header and all. In different ways, both claimed to be asking for information updates because my credit card was about to expire (and it was). The PayPal one was easy to disregard, but I didn't realize that the Earthlink one was fake until I got to the part where they asked for my Social Security number and my ATM access code...then I got out of there fast!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Peg
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 12:49 PM

Your ATM code??
wow; that's illegal! Isn't there a way to stop these people?

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: artbrooks
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 01:01 PM

HA! Have you heard about the escrow scam?

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 01:05 PM

"There's one born every minute......"

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 01:26 PM

Yep. It's illegal. Lots of things that happen in cyberspace are illegal, but if the offenders are in a foreign country there's not much that can be done. The "major developed" countries all have reciprocal enforcement agreements, but FTC and FCC regulations don't mean squat in many parts of the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 01:32 PM

My friend isn't about to respond. She's a LOT smarter than that, and learned long ago that you don't encourage these sorts. In fact, I think that she forwarded the email to the FBI and her local cops.

As the director of a law schoool library, the local cops and the FBI drop by once in a while a do some research, ask reference questions, and so on. I sort of suspect they'll be interested.

(Yeah, Bobert, yer right, but I gotta make it look good ya know.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 02:48 PM

I'm normally all for things being free of charge - but I'd be quite happy if they could come up with some system by which there was a nominal charge for sending emails, say a penny or a couple of pence. These scams work on the basis the if you send an enormous number out some naive is going to respond, and doing that is dependant on a system in which sending out that enormous number doesn't involve any cost.

The other day I had my computer in for repairs for half a week. When I opened up my email I found there were about 750 emails there, and only two of them were real ones. Mailwasher means I can dump them without reading them without too much trouble, but it's a nuisance - and there's always the risk I'll dump and blacklist something from a real person whose name I didn't recognise.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta, just GOTTA, be a joke!
From: Helen
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 05:09 AM

McGrath,

I've been using Mailwasher for about a year now, and although it is a bit slow looking at each email and deciding what to do with it, it is pretty nifty. I can make it look like my email address bounced, which is great because after a few goes they give up, believing that the email is invalid. The only trick now is to check the email senders address because the latest scam is to insert my email address instead of their own and then it slightly screws up my system - but only slightly. I just go back and delete my email address from the blacklist set.

Not bad for a shareware programme, and I'll probably send for the professional version soon.

Helen