This Old Blog

Not sure why, but a few a-hole sites out of Russia decided to ping my original post about referrer spam. So I removed the original post from back in late November 2013, right before I stopped posting to this blog for a good long year in 2014. I've waited about a week to see if the numbers would drop, and sure enough they did. A lot. Now that they're gone I decided to put it back up, more or less, with updates. And while I'm at it I decided to freshen up the content a bit, with a Youtube clip from where the lead photo came from. Referrer Spam What Is It? Referrer spam (also known as log spam or referrer bombing) is a kind of spamdexing (spamming aimed at search engines). The technique involves making repeated web site requests using a fake referer URL to the site the spammer wishes to advertise. Sites that publish their access logs, including referer statistics, will then inadvertently link back to the spammer's site. These links will be indexed by search engi...

I haven't written one of these in a very long time. First, the little missive that landed in my spam folder this morning. Dear Associate, How are you doing my friend, great I guess! Now I know this mail will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but please kindly take your time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will probably go a long way to determine my future and continued existence. First, let me introduce myself. I am Capt. David Michael, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force in Syria. I am desperately in need of assistance and I have summoned up courage to contact you. I am presently in Syria and I found your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of $10,570,000 (Ten million Five Hundred and Seventy Thousand USD) to the States or any safe country; as far as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until I complete my service her...

It's been a while since I've got any spam email is crazy and stupid as this one. This particular missive landed (correctly) in my gmail spam folder just the other day. I am quoting it as-is. Federal bureau of investigation Field Intelligence Unit J. Edgar Hoover building 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC. I am special agent John Edward from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Field Intelligence Unit, we have just intercepted and confiscated two (2) trunk boxes at John F Kennedy airport in New York, and are on the verge of moving it to our bureau headquarter. We crosschecked the content of the boxes and found it to contains millions of dallars and also backup documents which bears your name as the receiver of the money contained in the boxes, investigations carried out on the diplomat which accompanied the boxes into the united states has it that he was to deliver this funds to your residence as payment which was due you from unpaid contract, inheritance,...

This came across my Google spam folder this morning. Normally I flush crap like this without bothering to read it, but it was a slow morning and the email's announcing it was allegedly from the U.S. Secretary of State piqued my interest. Office Of The U.S. Secretary Of State Committee On Foreign Payment Resolution Panel On Payment Washington Dc Attention: Beneficiary I wish to use this medium and my office to inform you that your CONTRACT/INHERITANCE Payment of USD10,500,000.00 only from CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA has been RELEASED and APPROVED for onward transfer to you via ATM CARD which you will use in withdrawing your funds in any ATM SERVICE MACHINE in any part of the world, but the maximum you can withdraw in a day is USD$10,000 Only. The United States government has mandated the CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA , to send you the ATM CARD and PIN NUMBER. Therefore You are advised to contact the Head of ATM CARD Department of the CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA for further instructions on ...

Here's one from the FBI (not). Quoted in all its colorful glory for your reading enjoyment. ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONITORY CRIMES DIVISION FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, D.C. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING 935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001 4/8/2011 Attention: This is an official letter from the FBI. it has come to our notice that bank of Nigeria has released 10,500,000.00 U.S dollars. To bank of America in your name as the beneficiary, By Inheritance means. The bank of Nigeria knowing fully well that they do not have the ability to effect this Payment through the United Kingdom directly to your account, used what we know as a “secret diplomatic transit payment” (S.D.T.P) method to pay this fund by Wire transfer. They have used this means to complete the payment and they are waiting for confirmation from you on your transferred funds; Secret diplomatic payments are not made unless the funds are related to terrorist activities. ...

It's 4am and I'm in a real sour mood. Getting an email like this from a supposed victim of the Japanese earthquake/tsunami this early enhances the mood. Normally I'd leave this in my spam folder and just delete it; I've seen too many like it before. But not this one, and not this morning. How are you my dear? Thank you for the message and your email address you send to me on the site, My prayer is for God to grant me my pursuance, please l want you to help me out in this my darkest moment, please i do hope you will not betray the trust i have in you, I confidently know you will not betray the trust, Presently i am residing here in Tokyo-Jasen where i am seeking my political asylum as refugee due to the 8.9 magnitude Earthquake, Tsunami crises in my country Japan, My name is Miss. Miyazawa Kikuchi from Japan based in Tokyo-Japan the only daughter of my parents and my parent's were killed by 8.9 magnitude Earthquake, Tsunami crises in my country Japan, i managed...

By now, just about everybody has heard about the Epsilon data breach . And if you're a customer of one of the many companies that have used Epsilon and had their "limited" information pilfered, then you've no doubt received one or more apology emails. So far, my count stands at three: To our valued guests, Target ’s email service provider, Epsilon, recently informed us that their data system was exposed to unauthorized entry. As a result, your email address may have been accessed by an unauthorized party. Epsilon took immediate action to close the vulnerability and notified law enforcement. While no personally identifiable information, such as names and credit card information, was involved, we felt it was important to let you know that your email may have been compromised. Target would never ask for personal or financial information through email. Consider these tips to help protect your personal information online: Don’t provide sensitive information through...

Bugger off. I don't know when I picked up your sorry self, but I wish you'd just fall back off. You've been persistently attempting to add comment spam to my blog for over a month now, and every time you add a comment, it gets deleted before it ever shows up in the comments. Don't you get it? Or are you that stupid? Yes, I think you're that stupid. In the mean time I've got simple filters set up to kick your sorry trash to the digital curb of the information super highway (now there's a cringe-worthy phrase I bet you haven't heard in quite a while). Edit 8 July Hit a nerve, did I?

From my Google account spam filter. This must be part of the $790 Billion or so "bi-partisan" Congressional bailout package. I guess I'll be getting my share of it after all. CBN/ UNITED NATIONS 08/09 SCAM VICTIMS COMPENSATIONS PAYMENTS DIRECTOR. ATTENTION: VICTIM, SCAMMED VICTIM/USD$825,000 BENEFICIARIES. REF/PAYMENTS CODE:06654. AMOUNT USD$825,000 This is to inform you that through our Global Security Network, and investigations, which reveals that, you have not yet received your long overdue payment yet you have been a scam victim. Please be informed that the authorities in conjunction with the law enforcement agents, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have put in place machinery to checkmate this urgly incident. I wish to inform you that there is a directive from the Federal Government to pay all outstanding debts owed to beneficiaries. This was resolved in a meeting held between Nigerian Government Authorities and Officials of United States Government...

This hit my Yahoo! inbox today (but it wasn't taken out by their so-called spam filter, unfortunately). This is so unbelievably funny that any description I would attempt could never do it justice, so I'm just going to copy it here in its entirety for your great amusement. Notification of Bequest On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the Estate of late Luciano Pavarotti, I hereby attempt to reach you again. I wish to notify you that Late Luciano Pavarotti made you a beneficiary to His will. He left the sum of Thirty one Million five Hundred Thousand Dollars.($31,500,000.00) to you in the codicil land last testament to his will. This may sound strange and Unbelievable to you, but it is real and true. Luciano Pavarotti was known for his humanitarian work. He was the founder and the host of the 'Pavarotti & Friends' annual charity concerts and related activities in Morena, Italy. There he sang with international stars of all styles to raise funds for several worth...

I had to go into Blogger settings (Settings | Comments) and disable (Hide) back links. I got up this morning and went to check certain articles in my blog, and as I scrolled down to the bottom I noticed odd back links to stories that had no contextual link to the posts. Turned out that all of them pointed to a 'blog' somewhere in China that looked to be built from ripped-off content from other blogs. I started to remove them, one by one, until I hit one of my posts that had over a dozen of them. That's when I went into Settings and just disabled the feature. It's a real shame, too, because there are actually some good back links worth preserving. But the overwhelming majority seemed to be spam links to other bogus sites, so I just disabled the entire feature. And as usual, Google shows I'm not the only one: Another Layer of Blog Spam: Backlinks . There are others, you can find them all yourself. But this guys comment at the end of his post gets to the point: retain ...

In spite of the story where 77 "419" email scammers were arrested and 2.1 billion in fraudulent checks were recovered, I still continue to get such emails on a nearly daily basis. For example: Dear Friend, Good day to you. I write to seek your cooperation as my foreign partner and your assistance to enable us to own properties and invest in the stable economy of your country. I apologize if this mail does not suit your personal or business ethics. My name is Dr. Terry Mambo, my colleagues and I am making this venture proposal to you in strict confidence. As senior civil servants in the South Africa Government, the South African civil service laws (Code of Conduct bureau) forbid us to own foreign accounts. The money we have in our possession is an overdue payment bill totaling Twenty Six Million, Four Hundred and Twenty Six Thousand US Dollars ($26,426,000.00) which we want to transfer abroad with the assistance and co-operation of a company / or an individual to receive the ...

This one is a keeper for its comedic potential. The widow of Yassar Arafat wants my help in getting to her husband's "secret bank account and [c]ompanies." I reproduce the entire document, complete with original mis-spellings. Dearly beloved, This mail may not be surprising to you if you have been following current events in the international media with reference to the Middle East and Palestine in particular. I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian leader who died in Paris.Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism,confusion,humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the...

I've been getting a lot of Fifth Third Bank "urgent notifications" lately about "security issues" addressed to my Google mail account.. Most of them I just toss into my phishing examples folder for later analysis, but this one I just had to pass along. Dear Fifth Third bank business or commercial customer, Customer Service Department of the Fifth Third bank [sic] is in a position to let you know that it is necessary to pass the procedure of acknowledgement of your client data. In order to pick up all the necessary instructions and to start the procedure, you should click the link in the end of the letter. This procedure is obligatory for performance for all the business and commercial clients of the Fifth Third bank [sic] . This instruction has been sent to all business and commercial clients of the Fifth Third bank and is obligatory to be followed up. To start the procedure of acknowledgement of your personal client data please use this link: [link to bogus s...

I just checked my Yahoo email account. Over the last 48 hours I've picked up 230 spam emails. I don't know why, but the amount of spam I pick up on all my email accounts spikes up over the weekend, especially Yahoo. I'll still continue to get spam during the week, but nothing like the weekend. And the Yahoo account contains more spam than all my other accounts combined by a wide margin. And the amount of incoming spam is increasing. Since early March, when I'd get just a few dozen at most over the same period, my Yahoo accounts weekend spam has been increasing each succeeding weekend. If they're supposed to be cracking down on spammers, then where is all this other spam coming from, and why is it going up instead of down? I'm glad Yahoo has a spam filter. Else I'd never see anything important arrive.

I'm beginning to get Nigerian-style scam letters in my junk folder again. Some of them are getting to be quite creative. Here's a list of the latest, starting with the most recent. Ayisha Haja from Brunei - A 23-year-old young Mongolian woman who was "married out" to a prince of Brunei 30 years her senior. As revenge she managed to "divert $16.5.000.000.00 (Sixteen million five hundrend thousand dollars) as bonds into a private finance house without his knowledgement." She wants your help getting it out of the country, and will pay you "$1.5.000.000.00 (One million five hundred thousand dollars) of the total fund" for your help. CAPTAIN WILSON EZE from the Congo - A former captain in the Congolese army, of unknown age. A procurement officer, he managed to get away with $15 million in funds he was supposed to use to purchase arms from a company in Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently living in asylum in South Africa, he seeks your assistance to i...

The PayPal phishers are getting bolder, if not dumber, by the day. Consider this little missive that landed in my Gmail spam folder today: Security Center Advisory! (grabs your attention, doesn't it?) We recently noticed one or more attempts to log in to your PayPal account from a foreign IP address and we have reasons (sp) to belive (sp) that your account was hijacked by a third party without your authorization (well duh! i guess it's ok if i give my authorization?) . If you recently accessed your account while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have been initiated by you. If you are the rightful holder of the account you must click the link below and then complete all steps from the following page as we try to verify your identity. Click here to verify your account (a bogus link was here) If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choise (sp) but to temporaly (sp) suspend your account. Thank you for using PayPal! So, let's recap for a moment. I get...