Category: Spam

Google taking ads for Spam? See for yourself

I had to look twice when I saw this in the Spam folder of my Google Mail account:

Gmail_spam

A Web site called Recipe Source has taken out text ads on Gmail pitching recipes whose main ingredient is Spam. The original processed meat product from Hormel. No kidding. There’s even a pair of arrows at the right side of the window that lets me scroll through the whole collection of recipes.

Here’s their recipe for Spam Skillet Casserole. I’ll pass, thanks.

(This is apparently an experimental feature. I checked another Gmail account and it’s not visible. Meanwhile, in my Gmail Inbox I’m getting similarly formatted ads from Engadget.)

Spammer, heal thyself!

I just got an e-mail from an organization that calls itself SPAMIS (Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spam). The message consisted of an article that was apparently written by Graham Lea of The Register, complaining that Microsoft is abusing some of its mailing lists and sending out unwelcome, unsolicited e-mail.

Ironically, the mailing from SPAMIS …

  1. was unsolicited;
  2. was addressed to an e-mail alias that I have never used at any Web site and that never receives any e-mail except from my domain registrar;
  3. didn’t include any identifying information about the sender;
  4. didn’t include any mechanism for removal from the list.

In short, this group sent me spam complaining about someone else’s spam.

Even more ironically, the domain from which the mailing was sent has apparently been suspended by its hosting company.

Funny, isn’t it?

Spam of the day

Some anonymous stock tipster using a phony e-mail account wants me to invest in a company whose shares only cost 11¢ each. Such a deal! Oh, wait, there is this disclaimer buried at the end of the e-mail, which ironically entitled “Stellar Stock Report”:

As with many microcap stocks, todays company has additional risk factors worth noting. The company has a going concern opinion from its auditor, a large accumulated deficit, a large negative net worth, nominal revenue in its most recent quarter, has a bank overdraft, has relied on loans from officers, directors and related parties to pay expenses, shares outstanding has been increasing and is dilutive to you, is a defendant in litigation, has two judgements against it, and has had numerous business transactions fail because of a financing that did not occur is and the need to raise capital.

A failure to raise capital could cause the company to go out of business.

The company has pledged all its assets to an officer of the company for funds advanced to the company. Failure to repay the loan could cause the company to lose all its assets and go out of business.

Other than that, though, this is really a great investment!

The .info domain is a vast wasteland

If you own a domain name in the .info space, you have associated yourself with a lot of sleaze merchants.

As a test, I set my server-side spam filters to divert all mail from any domain that ends in .info to a special folder. I’ve been keeping an eye on it, and after two weeks I can report that 100% of the mail in that folder (average of more than 10 messages a day) is worthless spam.

Does anyone know of any reputable domains in the .info space?

Stupid spammers

Earlier today I was sorting through the Junk Mail folder for a Hotmail alias I rarely use and ran across yet another variation on the Nigerian scam e-mail. This one was pretty sleazy — the sender claimed to be a Christian preacher in Sri Lanka who knew a wealthy man who was killed in the tsunami but had left $8 million in the bank and … well, you know how the rest of it goes.

My favorite part, though, was the free Webmail service that this scammer had chosen. Do you really think a preacher would have an account at gayfetishpool.de?