Spam

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
Today I received this (see below). Attached were a number of jpegs showing manufacturing drawings and photographs of the finished item (a box to contain four bottles of something - presumably the wine).

I assume it is some kind of scam, but I can't see the angle (unless it's the web page at the end, modified to prevent it linking).

Inquiry
Dear Gentlemen,
Our company is an import and export company in Guizhou , China . We mainly engaged in import and export of wine, requiring bulk buying wooden wine box every year. We learn that your company is a professional manufacturer in producing the wooden wine box from the databases .So we would like to order 120,000pcs wooden wine box from you. The specific technical data please check in the attachment.
1.Size:372mm*340mm*120mm
2.Material: pine wood
3.The quality: 120,000pcs
4.Delivery time: 12 months
5.DeliveryThe first shipment 10,000pcs will be down in 45 working days after signing the contract and receiving the first payment
6.Terms of payment: the first 40% (by TT) of the total value after signing the contract and the balance of 60% the value will be delivered by partial shipment. Pay the 60% of the value of each partial by L/C until the contract accomplish.
7.As the exchange rate of U.S dollars unstable and fluctuate, please quote us a price in EUR on FOB in order to make the contract in good running
8.Tip: The inquiry valid is 35 days
Business manager: Li chao Mobile phone: +86-15185105761/13410451317
Tel: 0086-0851-8536436
Website: w w w . c h i n a g y t e e r j i a . c o m
 
The only way to consume spam (if you must) is fried in egg with hot pepper sauce.
Instead of egg I'm thinking of substituting a gram flour batter, made with chilli powder, turmeric, asafoetida and a little sodium bacarb. Do you think that would be OK?
 
How about this, arrived in my inbox yesterday from (would you believe) "Apple" <service@paypal.co.uk> (so is it Apple or PayPal - or most likely neither!):

Urgent : Confirm your account information.

Dear Customer,

This is an automatic message sent by our system of security to let you know that you have 24 hours to confirm your account information.

Apple account freeze because we can not validate your account information. Once you have updated your account records, we will try again to validate your information and your account will be suspended up. This will help us protect your account in the future. This process takes no more than 3 minutes.

To confirm your account information, please download the form and follow the instructions which will ncessaires.

Thank you,
The assistance Apple Customer



TM and copyright © 2014 Apple Inc. 1 Infinite Loop, MS 96-DM, Cupertino, CA 95014.
 
Deffo neither.
What I can't understand is why these phishers don't get someone who can actually speak English like wot she are meant to be spoke to draft the message for them. But there again, the appalling English makes them a lot easier to spot. I wonser how many people fall for them. It must be worth their while doing it, mustn't it?
 
If one in 100,000 click the link, it pays off. Zero risk and free :(

Thank God their language skills are so bad.

Thinks: it might be a lucrative sideline, advertising to proof-read spam emails!
 
I wonser how many people fall for them. It must be worth their while doing it, mustn't it?

You are not yet into the age group that these are aimed at. It's like the supposed official who turns up on an old person's doorstep and demands attention. Or the phonecall supposedly from a bank asking the old person to confirm details.

I once kept a caller from India on the phone for 45 minutes. He wanted to remove the system log entries, saying they were viruses. In the end I could not keep up the charade any longer, of the computer illiterate oldie who was having trouble following instructions. Even when I said I had accidentally right clicked on a log and deleted all the entries, he still carried on. I at least protected others for 45 minutes!
 
I would say that usually service-AT-paypal.co.uk is a correct Email address, though not in this case, so the spammers have managed to conceal their true address. I have had a few suspect Emails from variants of this Email address i.e. paypal-AT-service.co.uk, -AT-service.com and -AT-e.paypal.co.uk, but not from service-AT-paypal.co.uk, so the baddies are 'upping their game' it seems. I never follow any link from Paypal, I always close the Email and separately navigate to Paypal's site. When they stop using words like 'ncessaires' they will manage to catch even more people out :)
NOTE -AT- inserted in place of @
 
Just had a nice call from a bloke in India offering to help me sort out a virus on my computer. As I had some time to waste, I pretended to be particularly thick (not a difficult task for me) and kept him and his 'second line' bloke on the line for about 20 mins. before HE tumbled that I was having HIM on and the line went dead.:disagree:
 
So how do you bar calls without barring the number withheld calls from the likes of the doctor's surgery?
 
Use my mobile as my main PoC. Unrecognised callers to the landline get a chance to leave a message.
 
The trueCall is slightly more expensive but far better. I've tried both. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002GP7HQM

Yes, both work. I block all international and internet calls and unobtainable numbers. For the £50 I paid, the CPR seemed a bargain. I wasn't sure how the TrueCall was going to filter internet calls by asking the caller to identify themselves. Or let through calls from friends who block their number. If someone wants to block their number they can expect their calls to be treated as spam, IMHO. Why do it? Does it achieve anything?
 
#19 Yes - it reduces the number of salesmen who ring me.

If I want someone to have my number I'm perfectly capable of reading it out like in the old days. Don't need the phone giving it away.

I don't want everybody I ring to ring me back.
 
Back
Top