Tech: Max, did you send this?

19 May 14 - 03:59 PM (#3627178)
Subject: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

I'm writing this on the forum in case anyone else has received one - it is impersonal in tone and invites me to click a link (which I didn't do). Judging from the email address it was sent to - which is different from the one on file at Mudcat - it came through either a LinkedIn or a Facebook connection, and the gist of it sounds more like Linked In. BUT:

I've never had anything like this from LinkedIn or Facebook before, and I get lots of (genuine) messages of this sort.

I have no objection to the email itself, just I'm not certain that Max really sent it, and I never click on URLs in communications I'm unsure of. It says (copied from plain text, link omitted):

Hi Bonnie - It's Max Spiegel,

Hope all is well. I'd like to recommend clients to [one of your enterprises] so I've added you to my referral network.

Simply click the link below and we can start exchanging referrals. Thanks!

Best,
Max Spiegel
St. Joseph Institute


Anybody else get one of these?

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19 May 14 - 04:32 PM (#3627181)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Leadfingers

I have one - It looks like one of those Sales Reference sites - IF you have anything to sell or trade it MIGHT be worth while !

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19 May 14 - 04:36 PM (#3627182)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Jack Campin

I got repeated invites recently, apparently initiated by Jim Carroll, for some network I'd never heard of which seemed to operate like LinkedIn. As with LinkedIn I got three in succession, and as I always do with LinkedIn invites, I trashed them without responding or clicking on any links.

Perhaps Jim could confirm whether or not he tried to get me signed up to that thing.

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19 May 14 - 04:40 PM (#3627184)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: GUEST,#

http://thesurlywriter.blogspot.ca/

Bonnie, a similar thing was making the rounds in April. It's spam.

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19 May 14 - 05:16 PM (#3627197)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

Thought so! Thanks everyone - I assume the man himself will see this in due course.

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19 May 14 - 05:20 PM (#3627198)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

PS: It could be worse than spam, with that active link it asks you to click. Phishing or malware, maybe?

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19 May 14 - 05:29 PM (#3627201)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: GUEST,#

That's true, Bonnie. And I should know better than to call all of it spam. Anyway, don't click any links :-)

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19 May 14 - 05:30 PM (#3627202)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

PPS: I had something similar come to the same email account this was sent to, purporting to be from "Jim" but I didn't believe it was really him, and I don't belong to whatever site it was directing me to. So I think those are bogus too.

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19 May 14 - 05:51 PM (#3627209)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: GUEST,#

http://www.rizzotees.com/blog/referral-key-clogging-the-arteries-of-my-inbox-with-spam

Have a look at that, Bonnie.

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19 May 14 - 08:42 PM (#3627250)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bat Goddess

I got one, too. Ignored it. I don't even need a LinkedIn connection at this point as I'm not really even doing freelance.

I have a LinkedIn profile but I usually ignore requests to connect, etc. The site is most useful to me for a couple of their editing forums which I check in on when there's a topic that interests me.

Linn

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19 May 14 - 09:30 PM (#3627256)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: GUEST

Much the same. Interesting to note even an anonymous user with a LinkedIn profile got asked.

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20 May 14 - 02:40 AM (#3627277)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: MartinRyan

Been seeing repeated LInkedin requests from Jim Carroll - which I ignore...

Regards

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20 May 14 - 03:38 AM (#3627288)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

Also, the "exchanging referrals" bit gave me pause: Once you've "referred" (i.e. endorsed?) the other guy and they've referred you, what's left to exchange? Not sure exactly what it means but the implications are mildly creepy.

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20 May 14 - 05:39 AM (#3627323)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Richard Mellish

A propos clicking links in emails: if you use an email client that displays HTML emails as plain text, or in a browser you view the page source, you can then see whether the link actually points to where it purports to point to or to somewhere entirely different.

A propos LinkedIn: just Google linkedin + spam.

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20 May 14 - 05:52 AM (#3627325)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: GUEST

It's becoming an increasingly dangerous world in cyberland. CUIDADO!
Just yesterday I got a phone call and picked it up, which I rarely do without reading the source first, and I was invited to receive $350 back in refund for something I never bought ... all I had to do was click on a certain sequence of keys of my puter keyboard and the "application" would arrive. bob(deckman)nelson

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20 May 14 - 05:59 AM (#3627329)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Jim Carroll

"Been seeing repeated LInkedin requests from Jim Carroll - which I ignore..."
Please continue to do so Martin - I have been getting similar from you and others
Jim Carroll

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20 May 14 - 06:21 AM (#3627336)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

Ahh, "cuidado" as in Spanish for "watch out". I was bending my tiny brain trying to work out what cool internet slang that acronym stood for. Came up with some pretty interesting results... nothing awfully helpful, though . . .

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21 May 14 - 05:14 PM (#3627551)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Stilly River Sage

I read "cuidado" as an idiomatic way of saying "danger." Either way, stay safe! There is some nasty stuff out there, sent around by obnoxious people.

SRS

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21 May 14 - 07:19 PM (#3627566)
Subject: RE: Tech: Max, did you send this?
From: Max

Referral Key Spammy Spam.

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