Silly Spammers

[Post-Crisis D]

Today's spam was . . .

"Order ASAP for Price Month!"

[LilyBLily]

This week I got a request from somebody in Estonia (I think that's the "es" ending) through PayPal for some big dollar amount. Then another email saying it had been canceled--although the body of the email said I had paid them.

I went to the real PayPal and changed my password. PayPal said there had been "unusual activity" and wanted a little more verification than usual, which I gave. No money was paid out.

I did not know one could request money from someone via PayPal. I assume I have to okay a payment request after it is made. It does seem like a dangerous possibility if the hackers figure out a way to bypass my manually okaying the payment.

[Post-Crisis D]

You can request money or send an invoice to someone via PayPal.  I don't know what happens if you decline to pay.  Maybe there's an option to decline or report it as an error or fake?  I think I might have gotten one once, but I'm not sure.  The ones I do remember getting are all fake.  They get sent by eMail and they hope you click their links because if you go to PayPal directly and login, you will find no invoice there.

[Anarchist]

Today's spam was . . .

"Order ASAP for Price Month!"

[Post-Crisis D]

Bots be stupid.

Had a spam comment on my blog today.  On an older post.  This spam message said how useful they found the post on gaming to be and so on.

Except the post had nothing to do with gaming.

Neither does the blog.

[LilyBLily]

I guess I shouldn't laugh, but those blackmail emails saying the extremely talented hacker has taken control of my computer's camera and microphone always make me chortle. That computer doesn't have a camera or a microphone.

But I know there are some confused people out there whose computers also don't have cameras who imagine that this "extremely talented hacker" can install a camera, anyway. Angled at their--ahem--private parts.

It would indeed take extreme talent to get a nonexistent camera to do that.

[Post-Crisis D]

I guess I shouldn't laugh, but those blackmail emails saying the extremely talented hacker has taken control of my computer's camera and microphone always make me chortle. That computer doesn't have a camera or a microphone.

But I know there are some confused people out there whose computers also don't have cameras who imagine that this "extremely talented hacker" can install a camera, anyway. Angled at their--ahem--private parts.

It would indeed take extreme talent to get a nonexistent camera to do that.

It's always tempting to reply back and offer double what they are asking if they send proof they have the video.   

I did do that with a customer once who had returned an order unopened and demanded a full refund to their credit card immediately.  I responded and told them I'd pay them double if they would send a copy of their credit card statement or other proof of the charge.  I wonder if they frantically went searching through their credit card statements?  The item was free so they were never charged anything.

[Post-Crisis D]

Gotta love dumb spammers/scammers.

Got one today from "American Express" warning of a suspicious charge on my "Capital One" card.

Or, maybe it's nice that the credit card companies are looking out for each other. 

[LilyBLily]

Honestly, my favorite is the "I have taken control of your computer camera" extortion, since this computer has no camera.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Love this one 

[Jeff Tanyard]

Honestly, my favorite is the "I have taken control of your computer camera" extortion, since this computer has no camera.

Same here.  I try to be like Kaiser Soze in that regard: "One cannot be betrayed if one has no people."   

[Post-Crisis D]

Silly spammers . . . promising me new "clients" for my blog.

[She-la-te-da]

I've been getting the one for the toll road fees. Apparently I am in severe violation and about to be arrested, or worse.

Also, I have been removed from the group. Wow. That's so sad.

In my state, we get something in the mail if we get on a toll road, with the fine to be paid. The state doesn't have my email, nor my cell phone number, so there's no way for them to contact me that way. I've reported it as spam, but it keeps coming.

I used to get texts about some property near me, if I still wanted to sell it. Always using some random name for me, and for them. I've driven by that property, and if it's actually listed to someone, they'll never sell it. It's full of rock, goes straight up about sixty feet, and in no way, shape or form would ever be sold. I'm actually pretty sure the state owns it.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

I send my book orders via a courier service (our postal service is just about non existent  ) I now get regular emails letting me know there is a parcel waiting for me to collect. I get them almost daily. I keep blocking them but they pop up from another bogus address. 

[Post-Crisis D]

I've been getting the one for the toll road fees. Apparently I am in severe violation and about to be arrested, or worse.

No eMails on that, but I did receive two different text messages claiming I owed tolls.  Seems unlikely since I've never driven on a toll road and I don't even know of any close.  There certainly aren't any where I regularly drive.

I just hit the button to report both as junk and haven't received any new ones since.

Plus, I'm at the local police department fairly regularly and also interact with the county sheriff's office with some frequency, so if there was a warrant out for my arrest, I think they would have gotten me by now.

[Hopscotch]

You "interact with the county sheriff's office with some frequency?" Pardon but I couldn't resist the

[LilyBLily]

I just was reading the latest edition of the AARP Bulletin with its roundup of scam after scam that people STILL fall for. I do understand that people of a certain age tend to isolate themselves from new information, so maybe that's their excuse for thinking that they have to pay some angry government agency in gift cards or bitcoin (!). But there's no excuse for buying into a Ponzi scheme that promises to return 20% interest on your investments. Or for giving $800,000 to some fake love you've never even met.

I know people simply want to believe, but spammers mostly aren't silly at all. Their dupes are. 

The AI impersonations of close family members is a tougher one. Verify, verify, verify.

[Jeff Tanyard]

You "interact with the county sheriff's office with some frequency?" Pardon but I couldn't resist the

He doesn't mean any harm.  He's just making his way the only way he knows how and fighting the system like a true modern-day Robin Hood.