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Non-Road Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: SignGeek101 on June 14, 2015, 05:33:49 PM

Title: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: SignGeek101 on June 14, 2015, 05:33:49 PM
We've all gotten spam in our inbox or in our email somewhere. Gmail is pretty good about telling me about spam. Some of the spam messages though...

Click at your own risk (there is no nudity etc, but has some potentially offensive language).

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b551/slik_sh00ter/Disgusting_zpsobhv0e95.jpg

What is the most outrageous, gross, weird spam messages you've gotten?
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: cpzilliacus on June 15, 2015, 01:33:35 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 14, 2015, 05:33:49 PM
What is the most outrageous, gross, weird spam messages you've gotten?

Hands-down, Nigerian "advance fee fraud" messages.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: bandit957 on June 15, 2015, 01:44:11 PM
I remember getting some where the content was typical advertising spam, but the title of the message was simply "oscar!"
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: 1995hoo on June 15, 2015, 02:03:44 PM
I still remember the annoying GOOD TIMES VIRUS spam from 20 years ago.

A former colleague once noted how the spammers like to cover all bases because he would receive both "Enlarge your penis" and "Get bigger breasts now" within five minutes of each other. Most people who want one don't want the other.....
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: kkt on June 15, 2015, 06:29:18 PM
The "Get your Green Card!" spam, that came out while most of the internet was still non-commercial NFS supported.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: wxfree on June 15, 2015, 06:37:27 PM
I enjoy reading spam subject lines.  There's an article with 100 of them here
http://www.cracked.com/article_17270_100-unintentionally-hilarious-spam-subject-lines.html (http://www.cracked.com/article_17270_100-unintentionally-hilarious-spam-subject-lines.html)

The worst I ever got: "rabid animalesque reproductive instincts."
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: SignGeek101 on June 15, 2015, 07:08:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 15, 2015, 02:03:44 PM
I still remember the annoying GOOD TIMES VIRUS spam from 20 years ago.

"Enlarge your penis"

You mean like this?

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b551/slik_sh00ter/SPAM_zpsob4s46r8.jpg

Quote from: wxfree on June 15, 2015, 06:37:27 PM
I enjoy reading spam subject lines.  There's an article with 100 of them here
http://www.cracked.com/article_17270_100-unintentionally-hilarious-spam-subject-lines.html (http://www.cracked.com/article_17270_100-unintentionally-hilarious-spam-subject-lines.html)

The worst I ever got: "rabid animalesque reproductive instincts."

I don't know what to make of that.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: wxfree on June 15, 2015, 07:40:13 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 15, 2015, 07:08:17 PM
Quote from: wxfree on June 15, 2015, 06:37:27 PM
I enjoy reading spam subject lines.  There's an article with 100 of them here
http://www.cracked.com/article_17270_100-unintentionally-hilarious-spam-subject-lines.html (http://www.cracked.com/article_17270_100-unintentionally-hilarious-spam-subject-lines.html)

The worst I ever got: "rabid animalesque reproductive instincts."

I don't know what to make of that.

I haven't seen a lot of spam subject lines in a long time, because of the improved filters and increased use of closed systems (like Facebook).  But 10+ years back, the subject lines were often really outrageous and you certainly didn't want to open the message.  The penis enlargement stuff and fake Viagra went around, but the worst of it was really offensive pornographic subject lines.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: SignGeek101 on June 15, 2015, 07:50:59 PM
Quote from: wxfree on June 15, 2015, 07:40:13 PM
the worst of it was really offensive pornographic subject lines.

I've seen a few of those. I won't say exactly, but it had the words "pleasure" "she" and "tonight" in the same sentence. It's disgusting.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: roadman on June 16, 2015, 11:57:18 AM
I keep getting e-mails that proclaim "The story that will force Obama to resign."  Sometimes they come multiple times in one day.  And my ISP's "spam detector" is a joke.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: SignGeek101 on June 16, 2015, 11:59:56 AM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on June 15, 2015, 01:33:35 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 14, 2015, 05:33:49 PM
What is the most outrageous, gross, weird spam messages you've gotten?

Hands-down, Nigerian "advance fee fraud" messages.

I've heard about these. Are they still as common as they were a few years back?
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: Scott5114 on June 16, 2015, 02:59:50 PM
This reminds me of a site called Spamusement (http://"http://www.spamusement.com/"), where a guy took all of the spam subject lines and drew doodles illustrating them. Some of them are pretty funny.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: Brandon on June 16, 2015, 04:51:21 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 16, 2015, 11:59:56 AM
Quote from: cpzilliacus on June 15, 2015, 01:33:35 PM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 14, 2015, 05:33:49 PM
What is the most outrageous, gross, weird spam messages you've gotten?

Hands-down, Nigerian "advance fee fraud" messages.

I've heard about these. Are they still as common as they were a few years back?

Sadly yes.  Someone must fall for them to keep spamming the same shit over and over.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: SidS1045 on June 17, 2015, 04:00:57 PM
This is one my company's spam filtering didn't catch, and it's a good thing.  I will swear on a stack of Bibles that it's for real (quoted exactly, with errors uncorrected):

DEAR RECEIVER,

  You have just received a Taliban virus. Since we are not so technologicaly advanced in Afghanistan, this is a MANUAL virus. Please delete all the files on your hard disk yourself and send this mail to everyone you know.

Thank you very much for helping us.


Thanks & Regard's
Ken
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: iBallasticwolf2 on June 17, 2015, 04:08:30 PM
WTF. You may think to yourself "It doesn't seem like there is any consequence if I don't delete all my files.  :banghead: :pan: :ded: :confused:
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: kkt on June 17, 2015, 04:18:25 PM
Quote from: SidS1045 on June 17, 2015, 04:00:57 PM
This is one my company's spam filtering didn't catch, and it's a good thing.  I will swear on a stack of Bibles that it's for real (quoted exactly, with errors uncorrected):

DEAR RECEIVER,

  You have just received a Taliban virus. Since we are not so technologicaly advanced in Afghanistan, this is a MANUAL virus. Please delete all the files on your hard disk yourself and send this mail to everyone you know.

Thank you very much for helping us.


Thanks & Regard's
Ken

:-D

You definitely win the thread.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: Brandon on June 17, 2015, 04:39:18 PM
Quote from: SidS1045 on June 17, 2015, 04:00:57 PM
This is one my company's spam filtering didn't catch, and it's a good thing.  I will swear on a stack of Bibles that it's for real (quoted exactly, with errors uncorrected):

DEAR RECEIVER,

  You have just received a Taliban virus. Since we are not so technologicaly advanced in Afghanistan, this is a MANUAL virus. Please delete all the files on your hard disk yourself and send this mail to everyone you know.

Thank you very much for helping us.


Thanks & Regard's
Ken

I want to know who the fuck would fall for this!?!  Dilbert's pointy-haired boss?
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: cpzilliacus on June 19, 2015, 11:52:33 AM
Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 16, 2015, 11:59:56 AM
I've heard about these. Are they still as common as they were a few years back?

I have not gotten one for quite a while. 
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: 1995hoo on June 20, 2015, 12:51:16 PM
There's a version of the Nigerian Prince thing going around right now that's targeted at attorneys and has apparently ensnared enough victims that the Virginia State Bar even sent out a warning about it. It's the same sort of "advance fee" thing. A "potential client," usually using the name of a Japanese or Korean woman, e-mails the attorney ("Dear Counsel" instead of your name should be a tip-off it's a scam) saying she and her ex-husband have a divorce settlement to be finalized and they need an attorney to facilitate the funds transfer. The ex-husband will send a check to you, you deposit it in your trust account and send a check to the client, and you can keep 10% as your fee.

Obvious scam, right? (This comment may sound un-PC, but as a practical matter it is utterly unlikely for Japanese or Korean potential clients to contact someone they've never met, outside their own area of residence, who is not a member of their own ethnic group for legal services unless someone else refers them. It just doesn't happen.) The check to you will, of course, bounce. The result is your trust account gets cleaned out, and that's the sort of thing that can get you disbarred because your trust account contains money held on clients' behalf–none of it is your own money.

I actually know someone who almost fell for this. I told him from the beginning it was a scam and he wouldn't listen. He went so far as to let them send him the check. Luckily, I happened to be at his office the day the check came and I refused to let him take it to the bank. Tip-off #1: The check purportedly came from someone in Philadelphia, and the envelope bore a return address in that city, but the envelope was a Canada Post XpressPost envelope and I went online and tracked it to an address in Mississauga. That's not dispositive, of course, but tip-off #2 was the check looking like a normal personal check but with the bank's name (and no address) where the accountholder's address normally goes and the words "Official Check" printed below that. I've never, ever, seen a cashier's check or the like that says "Official Check." So I made my friend call the bank whose name was on the check and, sure enough, they said it was a forgery. I'm just glad I was there that day so he wasn't financially ruined. (Same guy almost fell for another scam this past winter, which is causing me to avoid any further professional dealings with him.)

What astonishes me is that the whole thing seems so damn obvious, yet evidently a good number of attorneys (who are supposedly well-educated people taught to use a healthy dose of skepticism on almost everything) are apparently falling for it. I guess people are just reluctant to turn away a potential fee!
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: roadman on July 22, 2015, 06:02:57 PM
Just got an e-mail that started off with "You were recently chosen as a potential candidate to represent your state and profession in the upcoming edition of "Women of Distinction" in 2015.

However, I'm not a woman, which anyone should be able to immediately surmise by reading my e-mail address.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: Scott5114 on July 23, 2015, 06:07:10 AM
Women named Steve are extremely distinguished.
Title: Re: Most ridiculous spam messages
Post by: Brandon on July 23, 2015, 06:53:20 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 23, 2015, 06:07:10 AM
Women named Steve are extremely distinguished.

Yes, they are: