SpamSieve is the best spam filter I’ve ever used in my life, and it’s made my e-mail reading much more efficient and pleasant than it once was.
A few bits of junk sneak through, but it’s probably one every two or three days, instead of several daily offers for luxury Rolex watches at 80% off, or various ways to take advantage of the ATTRACTIVE PRICE on Cializ and Viagre, so she won’t laugh at my noodle every day.
Recently, however, this managed to evade the filters:
mort You computer was infected by our software!
If you will not buy our software – you will bee lost all data on your PC!
It closes with a URL to purchase the software, presumably so the e-mail’s recipient can respond to the comical extortion attempt.
I laughed when I read it. I mean, it’s obviously a load, so I junked it and went on with my day. I kept thinking about it, though: an intelligent person will see right through this and junk it. I’ve already updated my corpus to catch future attempts to convince me I “will bee lost all data” on my PC. But the spammer isn’t looking to ensnare an intelligent person; the spammer is looking to ensnare exactly the kind of person who reads the e-mail, and sees it as a serious threat.
“This was clearly written by an idiot,” the victim would think. Then, after a moment’s consideration: “But what if he’s serious?! I don’t want to bee lost all data on my PC! I’d better do what he says!” Click. Boom.
There are a lot of us who have been online since the Internet was a series of networked BBSes. Some of us remember closed systems like Compuserve and GEnie. We remember what it was like to wait twenty minutes to download a GIF at 28.8, and how magnificent it was to see a weather satellite image on a university’s T1-connected computer.
We see through these scams because we pre-date the scammers, but there are lots of people — and I’m not just talking about our parents and grandparents — who just don’t know any better. They run unpatched machines, leave their routers set to their default passwords, and are prime phishing targets, simply because this technology is, to them, indistinguishable from magic.
As the Internet becomes a more integral part of everyone’s lives, we’re going to encounter more and more people who don’t understand its inner workings any more than I understand how to take apart my car’s diesel engine for fun and profit. I believe that we have a responsibility to these people, to help educate and enlighten them, so they understand how to protect themselves online.
Think of this another way: if we don’t help people understand how to protect themselves from spammers and phishers, how can we expect them to understand the importance of network neutrality?
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In a way, this reminds me of Little Brother (which I picked up on your and Scalzi’s recommendations) and the argument about our freedoms. The ignorant don’t understand, and therefore leave themselves open to abuse.
First, thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Second, that is my mother, to a “T” — she’s always calling because she clicked on something obnoxious, and the pop-ups won’t stop, or she keeps getting prompted to download stuff.
We revoke the licenses of drivers who can’t handle a car…so why can’t we…?
I think that perhaps people need to learn not to believe idiots.
I suppose the first step is to identify an idiot.
Of course, before that, you have to be as far from an idiot yourself as is reasonable.
I think this would solve a hell of a lot more than spam.
Of course… the fact that this hasn’t already happened elsewhere pretty means we should expect to see more spam, and more spam suckers.
I remember UPGRADING to a 28.8 modem and thinking I was quite the hot rodder: my machine was absolutely s-s-s-smoking!
(And yes, it’s scary how many people don’t understand some of these issues and what they really indicate beyond the “aren’t they gullible goofballs” jokes.)
“simply because this technology is, to them, indistinguishable from magic.”
You realize of course, that this makes you a wizard?
I’m pretty sure the internet was never a series of networked BBSes. I’ve been online since the early 80s, and while I remember both the internet and networked BBSes, they were very different entities.
If you’re trying to trick me into putting on my robe and wizard hat, it’s not going to work.
Very cool.
BTW; no comments on WSOP?
I dont rememember you saying much about it in 2007.
Since you’ve been there I thought you might have some feedback.
Oh, to be so naive again.
Here is a news report from our local newspaper this morning. It is too funny NOT to share.
A [my local town] woman who works as an ID theft prevention specialist said she had her identity stolen.
[Her Name] said she added someone to her message list and then watched her computer go “berzerk” with pop-ups and porn.
She has not had her money stolen, but said her personal information and home numbers and addresses of up to 30,000 of her clients have been stolen.
The email message she clicked on came from the address [email protected]. [Her Name] thought the address was safe because of the att.net portion of the address.
She has taken the computer to Circuit City, but she was told it cannot be fixed.
————–
Bet Circuit City is willing to sell her a new computer though.
Also, my point with this post was not to cast aspersions on people who are mystified by the internet, or who don’t know any better when it comes to phishing and spammers.
My hope was to point out that we who do understand all of this stuff have a responsibility — for the benefit of all internet users — to help enlighten those people, so they’re not as easily exploited.
There is an entire community of people out there (I’m one of them) devoted to wasting the time and money of these scammers to protect the innocent victims. MSNBC did a special on it. It was called “To Catch a Scammer” it was awesome!
Check out these two sites for more info and more laughs than you’ll know what to do with:
http://www.419eater.com
http://www.thescambaiter.com
And a site just for potential victims:
http://www.scamwarners.com
It doesn’t solve the problem of current users – but I HOPE as our education system is teaching students how to use computers, it is also teaching them *safety*.
Not that teens taught safe driving habits in Driver’s Ed utilize them. Or those who are taught safe sexual habits. But that’s generally because driving fast is fun, and well obviously…
Being suckered is never fun, so if we are taught early safe computing habits, maybe there will be less idiots.
Oh… I do have to mention to be cautious. Scambaiting can be addictive it’s so much fun. You may find yourself spending hours on end trolling for scammers and coming up with new and interesting ways to keep busy.
A friend of my installed child safety software on her parents computer to prevent some of the potential issues. One day she went over to help her Dad because the computer was “acting up” she found a bunch of spam and porn, her Dad was horrified. I don’t think he knows she set the child safety software up….
You hit the nail right on the head here. We really do have a responsibility to teach those ignorant of technology how to use it. I view this sort of knowledge as being just as vital as basic math, or even literacy.
And, well, you know what they say. “The geek shall inherit the earth.”
Unfortunately, John, our education is not teaching kids how to use computers, we are simply putting kids in front of computers and thinking they will solve all of the problems much like parents used to think TV was a babysitter.
This past year, I taught a course called “Introduction to Computers.” For 6th graders, they took the class for a 1/4th of the year, 7th and 8th graders had the class for a full year. We offered the class this year because our district thinks the way to improve standardized test scores is to purchase every software package presented to them by snake-oil salesmen who promise that it works wonders, meanwhile the kids who attend my school don’t have a computer at home and lack the basic fundamentals of operating one. In addition to keyboarding, word processing, presentation software, internal/external components, and basic networking, I fought for the ability to do a unit on Internet Safety, which really should be a separate course, IMO. Due to the way our calendar is laid out, that unit got whittled down to a week (at most) or in some cases eliminated altogether (during the quarter we administered the standardized tests and I lost a week of class time.)
I’m very afraid that the next generation of computer users may be even worse off than the parents of the current generation…
I learned everything I know about computers from having one when I was young, tinkering with it, learning how it worked, because having a computer in the house was a new thing. Nowadays, it’s taken for granted (or for those that Phil Gramm calls “whiners,” a luxury) and the impetus to figure out how it works just isn’t there.
Wil talks about how he opened the email. Some junkmail just needs to be opened to do it’s job. That’s why it’s better not to open suspicious emails, you never know what it can be…
The first half of this was really funny. Thanks man.
Maybe you should do a 5-minute podcast… tips from a geek? Tailor it to people like my grandparents and other who believe that they really, honestly, DID win the South-American Lottery.
@appleblossombeck
You realize now that when I go to see Wil at PAX it’s going to be very hard not to break out into “We’re Off To See The Wizard”…
I can see the skipping now…
Taking a small trip down memory lane was quite fun. Oh the days of 14.4, upgrading to 28.8, and the infamous 56k!
I guess I was one of those lucky people who’s dad had a computer in the house always. I remember his first “portable” computer was this 75 pound monster, with a little 5″ green screen. Oh man, I loved playing Ladders on that bad boy!
I guess I remember the days when there wasn’t a need for this kind of knowledge, and like Matthew Cox said in his comment, it really should be taught. A computer in my home is a necessity, not a luxury.
Great post. My favorite spam message talked about female anatomy slamming shut… I’d share the quote, but it’s definitely not work friendly. 😉
Holy cow, memory lane! I think it was through GEnie that I first fell in love. Or something like that.
Poker… yes – no – maybe?
LOL
“you will bee lost all data on your PC!”
it’s almost like “You have no chance to survive make your time.”
Now now now. Scammers have to make a living, just like cockroaches, ticks, and lawyers.
There are a lot of us who have been online since the Internet was a series of networked BBSes.
I dunno, Wil. I always thought the Internet was a series of tubes.
This reminds me of my mother. She uses the internet to check her school email (she’s a college professor), and still clicks on any link sent from “7your bank,” or her “dear friend.” Thankfully, the university blocks the sites, but I have to constantly remind her that her friends will use her name and that her bank already knows everything it needs to know about her.
Meanwhile, I have a second cousin who knows how to run a virus scan on his laptop. He’s four.
@Bill, now now, cockroaches and ticks are Gods’ creatures and should be respected. 😉
Aah yes, 14.4 kb connected by long distance after midnight because that’s when it was cheap enough (Mosiac anyone?) ….
Use mailwasher myself, excellent anti spam and helpful friends annoying FWD deleter.
Jeez. I remember the 300 kbs modem on my Applel ][ – it was so spectrally filthy it unmuted my ham walkie as I pulled in to my space outside. I was on the ‘net at the start, BBS’s &c. since I worked an an University. Some of the spam I receive is so ridiculous I wonder if they think we’re idiots – but then, that’s who they’re phishing for.
This is one of the most insightful looks into our psyche. These people aren’t morons. They just don’t know. They’ve never had any reason to know, or to understand how computers work. They simply use them, they work they’re happy, they don’t work they take them to someone who will fix it. Due to this lack of knowledge when a problem or issue comes up falling within this realm they use a previous set or frame of reference for understanding the problem. The result tends to be either a complete lack of anything resembling sense, or bizarre actions made within a reasonable context.
Because of this unintended lack of knowledge shysters are able to convince us that whatever they are selling is the best, and brightest. Net neutrality is evil, you have no reason to fear if you’re not doing anything wrong. The examples go on and on. The bad news is that we are inundated with information every day. Go to a gas station and count how many signs you see. Slow down and see how much information we consume involuntarily each day. This is both a wonderful and terrible thing. We have more access to the world than ever before, but we lose so much. As a result we have a passing almost conversational knowledge about more things than ever before. Yet we still don’t understand the minute of any particular issues. Things like the environment are so integrated and holistic to really get a full understanding you have to have some depth of knowledge on more than a few fields of scientific endeavors, chemistry, physics, biology, climatology, and so on. The challenge it to educate people to a level that they can see through the BS that we’ve been fed. The down side, is that people are so bombarded with…stuff that they/we don’t want to be forced to learn about things that make us think about things we barely care about. It’s a monumental challenge that favors those that can use an emotional argument. We live in a sound bite culture not because we want to, but because we have to.
That, my friend, hits the nail right on the head and buries it. I support online education students, and I can attest to this fact because I see it happen every single day.
The oldsters who came up through the FIDONet-connected and stand-alone BBS ranks don’t get caught by Nigerian spammers. Those of us who were running the blazing-fast *new* 2400 baud modems, then moved up to the 14.4s, the 19.2s, the 28.8s, and finally to the final, best-ever speed anyone would ever get from a single modem – the 56.6s – who literally watched as the internet took shape right before our eyes, moved in, and claimed it as our own – don’t fall for email scams. Because we understand how the technology works.
In other words, it isn’t magic for us at all.
And it is tough to explain to some kid who grew up with a cable-internet-connected machine in their home that was as ubiquitous as a toaster, how very important internet security is. To them, someone hacking their wireless router, or getting infected by a destructive computer virus that will trash their hard drive just for kicks, is only something that happens in bad movies.
That is, until they have to pay some old, grizzled geek like me a hundred bucks an hour to tell them that there’s no way to save their home budget data, their family pictures, or their porn collection – and that the only option they have is to nuke the drive and start from scratch.
THEN they begin to understand. 😉
I like to get all my spam in one email. Saves time.
Dear friend Wil,
I am writing this letter to you as I have found your email address in the cast bones of a chicken that I, myself, have sacrificed in order to find a trusted comrade in America. You may have heard of my family, the Mugatu family of witch doctors and adepts of Nigeria. My father served as the personal witch doctor to the previous Supreme Leader of the People’s Front of Nigeria, God rest their souls, which was recently overthrown by the accursed Nigerian People’s Front. In your language, I understand, those names sound very similar, but here they are like night and day. I am writing you because as outcasts under the new regime my family are in extreme danger and cannot reap the rewards of our great discovery, a potion that combats hunger by channeling the spiritual energy of appetite into enormous and long lasting erections for men. All who have tried our magical elixir have become perfect physical specimens and satisfied many, many women.
It is with this potent magic that I need your assistance. I need a representative in America who can handle the distribution of this miracle drug. You can see how lucrative this will be. I know you understand because the bones have said it. You can earn upwards of a $100,000 a month without ever leaving your home, all the while shedding unwanted weight and driving local women mad with desire. I have already set up an escrow account, as the spirits foretold you would want, and it awaits your action in merely paying the offshore account fees. Once you have paid this trivial amount you will need to certification as a witch doctor in order to sell this potion, so I have enrolled you in an online degree program. They will send your diploma after you have paid the certification and shipping fees. I will expect quarterly profit reports of the incredible riches that are pouring in, so that I may access my share of the wealth. Please use the valuable OEM software in the link I am sending, it is cheaper than retail for all Microsoft products, which you may also wish to purchase. All that’s left is to meet single women in your area, but as a witch doctor I am privy to all that the spirit realm contains, and have seen another website in a vision that will help you find desperate women in your area (included below).
Here is the sequence as it has been foretold: 1. You will satisfy all the insatiable attractive women in your area and tell them of the potent elixir we are selling. 2. They will tell all the men in the area. 3. We will be rich. Please do not forget to pay the nominal fees listed, or this utopian vision may become a catastrophe that wreaks sorrow on both of our houses.
Yours in commerce,
Grand Shaman Mugatu,
People’s Front of Nigeria
PS: If for whatever reason you need help with paying those modest fees I have contact with a Christian Money Lending service that helps good people such as yourself with their debt. They are very selective, but with my diplomatic status I feel sure they would issue you a loan.
Advertisers in general don’t stick with anything long that doesn’t generate sales. What really worries me about spam is that it must be working pretty well, or advertisers wouldn’t be spending money on it. I’ve been concerned enough to blog about this in the past, as well – what can we do to protect online society? Can we possibly educate everyone?
But I enjoy clicking the link to renew my information sent by a bank I’ve never done business with. I assume my superhero identity, Chlamydia Fitzpooperson, and procede to tell them that my CC# is 5537-8008-5537-8008.
There is also something so awesome about corresponding for a few weeks with those romantic Nigerian phishers. I can be assured that they love me beauty ever and ever and still laugh at their expense. No matter how much I insist they send me plane fare to see them, they refuse!
I’ve received the Nigerian scam at least two times this month… You know it really is sad an pathetic when you see some old folk who have responded to the scam and lost their life savings in the process. If it’s too good to be true, then it is.
You know what would be great? The re-emergence of the BBS, I always wanted to be a sysop…I remember my modem had an acoustic coupler for my 64, I think I was getting connected at about 300 baud. LOL That was sooo awesome. 🙂
dude…check this out, you’re gonna love it. I question the legality of some of the stuff here on the main site, but there is some other interesting things. 🙂
http://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/phreaking/coupler.txt
I fix computers for a living and I’ve had some fun times trying to break some people from sending out the “Bill Gates is giving away money” and other such scams to huge groups of people.
One of my favorites was when I received the Nigerian scam in french.
heck I remember having to run a punched-tape just to get some pr0n. That X there, is that the nipple? I can’t tell.
I don’t worry as much about online scammers as I do about offline ones. Like the people who drop a decoy ATM in a high-traffic location for a few days and grab everyone’s card info and PIN numbers.
I no longer use ATM’s outside of banks, and will only use one outside my own bank’s premises if it’s an emergency (it’s not good enough to just be sure to use your bank’s branded ATM if it’s someplace off-site…Citibank ATM’s at 7-11 stores got hit in a big way recently). My next step is going to be to quarantine the bank account I use for cash from ATM’s from all other financial accounts, so that I have to manually transfer money into it before it’s available for withdrawal from an ATM.
If you think I’m being overly paranoid, spend a few minutes googling ATM security.
oh and happy Free Slurpee Day. Go to 7-Eleven. Now.
Some of us remember when 28.8 came out and it was considered amazing as we had used 300 baud for a long time.
As for teaching people, you can’t. It’s your liberal mind-set that people need to be taken care of. You can’t legislate common sense, if you could, liberals would have been outlawed years ago.
That crap keeps showing up on computers because users tolerate it (and often use the Windows OS but that’s another discussion). Until people are willing to take the time to learn how to do something, it won’t change. Computers are like everything else, just because it is fairly easy to obtain doe snot mean it is something you need to have to ought to have. Most home users really have no need for a home computer but may want an email box. The market place sets the tone and nobody has come out with a replacement for the home computer.
As for teaching people, you can’t. It’s your liberal mind-set that people need to be taken care of. You can’t legislate common sense, if you could, liberals would have been outlawed years ago.
You know, I’m really getting tired of this crap from you.
I write a post about the importance of helping enlighten and educate people for the benefit of us all, and you turn it into an attack on me, because I don’t share your political ideology.
I’ve ignored your personal attacks on previous posts, but I’ve really had enough.
What part of “Don’t be a dick” do you not understand?
The people who don’t understand the internet won’t just be the scammees, they can also cause some major trouble. Check this article about how a man was arrested and held for 30 hours because the cops thought he sent a harassing email, even though he could show him in his email account that he did not.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10email.html
“..people who don’t understand its inner workings any more than I understand how to take apart my car’s diesel engine.”
I’ve been saying this for TEN years. Nice to hear someone ELSE say it finally.
Wil, regarding your response to the personal/political attack: hear, hear!
It’s really sad, though. Some of these posters (such as the one who spewed a vile tirade in response to your Little Brother post, even stooping so low as to disparage your parental bonds, which the rest of us admire) seem to want to change this blog from a friendly, fun, “safe” place into the kind of blog where people exchange semiliterate insults in all caps.
if “all data bee lost on your PC,” then “all your base are belong to us.”
“I believe that we have a responsibility to these people, to help educate and enlighten them, so they understand how to protect themselves online.”
Yes, Wil! Please to be helping, please! ;o) I do know enough not to fall for scams like that (I do recall Compuserve [vividly], and once upon a time, I even programmed QBasic [poor Sammy dies again], but I’m fairly clueless about the true innards of my computer and of today’s Internet. I am one of the poor, the hapless, who will forever require assistance from those with bigger brains.
Or at least computer skills that exceed the QBasic. (Though if Q made an appearance in my computer, I wouldn’t complain.) ;o)
I actually got to thinking about a persons age and how it relates to technology tonight at work. I’m currently 42 and been hooked on computers and tech since I was around 16. Remember when Radio Shack made computers…
Anyway, everyone comes to me at work with tech questions all the time, and it got me to thinking. Will I ever reach an age where I don’t understand the tech around me and how to operate it. Never mind the possible laws and regulations that may govern it someday. Kind of scary to think that one day I might become an old fool that doesn’t comprehend something like net neutrality.
Hee Hee Hee…
Even idiots need hobbies, they just weren’t winning scrabble after they used up all their vowels early in the game.
A bit off topic: Wil, you had mentioned at the LA Festival of Books that your next book would be out around mid July. Is this still gonna be the case? I would love to buy it and take it to PAX for you to sign. Thanks.
r
Every now and then I warn my less computer savvy friends on the dangers of spam/scam. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. My sister and my brother in law often send me “Don’t open any video that shows (whomever) being decapitated ! it’s a virus” e-mails.
It’s as if they don’t know me at all. First, why on earth (or any other planet of your choice) would they think I would voluntarily watch someone being tortured to death ? And second just exactly who has had their hard drive eaten by virii, and who cleaned it up for them ?
The answer to the cleaning question is “me” and the answer to the infestation is “them”. So why do they continually forward this s*it to me ? For me to be *aware*. So I say “actually, I already am aware, and now I need to inform everyone else you copied on this e-mail, you t&*t.
And so, maybe once or twice a year, I warn my contacts about the perils of spam’n’scam. I’ve been doing that for about 20 years (I think – I’m 42 now and remember at least one scam in my early Compuserve days).
But you’re right, Wil, we must carry on. Even if we keep having to tell the same people the same thing – time and time again.
I remember once trying to teach my grandfather, then in his mid-80s (now, still remarkably alive in his early 90s) how to use a cheap HP computer he had got on sale.
The man could not grasp the concept of a mouse, never mind abstract complications like antivirus software. If he ever did get online, he’d be a prime target for this kind of spam, as what he’d heard on the evening news intersected with his natural paranoia and hypochondria (after all, the word “virus” is terrifying, whether it applies to him or his computer).
He’s never gotten the hang of computers, bless his heart. When people talk about the generation gap in technology, I always think of my grandpa.
“They run unpatched machines, leave their routers set to their default passwords, and are prime phishing targets…”
Okay, I give. What does that mean? I have no clue what you are talking about, so may I be one of the first to receive help? Anyone? Bueller?