Can Spam Kill You?
General February 11th, 2008When I read this, it made my day.
“E-mail scammers and spammers have long offered lavish rewards to those naive enough to post cash to spirit money out of a foreign country or to collect on a lottery ticket. Now cyber-thieves are turning to a sharper edge: death threats and outright extortion.” (Source)
It is hilarious to see what some of these spammers would send. What would you do if you received a death threat from a spammer who demanded money to cancel the “assassination?”
Marcin Kleczynski
February 12th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I would forward to 1. FBI 2. Hoax~Slayer 3. Publish the sending IP on my own site so spam bots could harvest it.
I might have to reply also and express my views on extortion and spam in general, most likely in terminology inappropriate for this post.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
What would I do? I’m a scambaiter (see 419eater.com for info on scambaiting) and one of my favorites is the hitman scam. I replied as an elderly lady terrified of the hitman then later start acting like his grandmother asking if he’s been eating enough and if he would like me to send him some homemade cookies to not kill me etc. Some of the responses are hilarious and great to put in my signature at the Eater Forums.
All in all the threat is empty. The scammer is thousands of miles away in an internet cafe in some W Africa country and has no means of carrying out the threat. It’s all about getting you to send him money.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Matt, that is hilarious =).
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I’d tell them good luck. Many people would consider my premature death to be a favor.