January 9, 2008
Okay…
…so we’re talking SPAM here.
“Awright, Moose, we got one replica watch, eleven people whose lives are dedicated to enlarging our penises, six companies that are offering us cheap drugs, two time shares an’ a couple o’ women who say they’re real hot and they wanna talk to us.”
“Great, Biff, then we’re all set. First we’ll buy the phony Rolexes, then we’ll add a few inches to our love muscles, then we’ll order some cheap Viagra, then we’ll get some time in a Florida condo, then we’ll call the hot women. I guess we’ll have to let that Nigerian education minister smuggle in his twenty million bucks so we can use our 20% to get the watches, drugs, Miracle Grow and time shares.”
Where the hell, you ask, is all this going?
It’s just an observation: When a certain type of commercial overture goes on for a few months or years and then dies out (as has, for the most part, the above mentioned Nigerian scam — believe you me, they have replaced it with others, just check out this site, for example)… to go on,
When a certain type of commercial venture is going hot and heavy in the old “bulk mail” or spam filter, it indicates that it is profitable, thus being continuously pursued with much vim and vigor.
The spambot traffic that is arrested by the Akismet Spam filter at this blog averages 15,000 attempted such intrusions to my comment threads per month, and when I occasionally scroll through them, they are typically promoting sexually stimulating drugs, “nude celebrity photos” or pornography that goes to extremes that should land the purveyors in prisons or mental institutions for life.
My concern, here, is that unless there was a substantial and enduring market for these “products”, they wouldn’t be advertised so pervasively or over such a long period of time.
Some people are making major money off all too many other people who need some serious help!
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=778
January 9th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Ha! I thought I was the only one getting bombarded with this crap!
AOL must be wondering what the heck is going on as I have turned countless emails into spam.
“Awright, Moose, we got one replica watch, eleven people whose lives are dedicated to enlarging our penises, six companies that are offering us cheap drugs, two time shares an’ a couple o’ women who say they’re real hot and they wanna talk to us.”
LMAO!
January 9th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Let’s not even get started.
“You’ve won money”
“Instant College Degree”
“Make millions easily”
January 9th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Marie –
Trust me, you are not alone, LOL. I sometimes wish I had Darth Vader’s ability to make them all choke, wherever they happen to be. I truly hate unsolicited advertising, be it spam, junk mail or telemarketers. When it is majorly offensive, like “teen gang rape” type stuff, I really do wish I could get the spammer by the throat, and…
Shoprat –
And there are fools out there who respond eagerly to all of them. 1000 times bitten, and they’re still not “twice shy”.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
ROFL, I get an African scam/spam about twice a month, ED drugs , a few a day and that is not a problem. Who the hell wants a fake rolex or a risk of child porn on their computer? Stupid idiots, there are to many of them.
January 10th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Goat –
I would hate to see what perverse, creepy “entertainment” some people have lurking in their hard drives. The day some people with badges show up to confiscate their computer as evidence must be a highly memorable one for them.
Scamming on-line is a 9 to 5 job for many of the fine folks in Lagos, Nigeria, and I understand that in most cases they do so as employees, working out of large offices. I can just imagine what employers put in the “Help Wanted” ads.
January 12th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Viagra, discount meds, Nigerian princes & prime ministers, Rolex watches, no-fail internet business opportunities….where will it all end?
It will end when people wise up, get some common sense, and not fall for these scams.
BTW - I’ve added you to my blogroll.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Tom –
Welcome, and thanks!
I don’t think that will ever happen, as the gullible of one generation wising up will be replaced by those of the next, who will, in turn, pick up where they left off.
P.T. Barnum was absolutely right, there’s a sucker born every minute.
This is why scammers will always be with us. As long as there is blood in the world, there will be mosquitos and leeches.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:40 am
I’m in good company it seems. My Bulk Folder fills up faster than my mailbox with this crud - but they must be filling a market niche somewhere - or, as I believe one of the US’s great entrepeneurs once remarked, there’s a sucker born every minute.
Oh and the Nigerian Civil Servant/Banker is alive and well and thriving on someone, he/she still pops up on occassion.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Gray Monk –
I’ve known a few people who have been the types to jump on every “easy money”, “work from home”, “keep on making thousands, even while you sleep”, etc scam that hit their inboxes or arrived in snail mail, and they never seem to tire of pumping money down the drain for naught. Whenever a new rip-off comes along, they cheerfully go for it, exuding great optimism that they’ve finally found the brass ring.
I once told one such acquaintance that should he ever write an autobiography, he should title it: The Man Without A Spam Filter.
Similarly, a good title for a book about Nigeria might be: Country Without A Conscience. Larceny and fraud seem to be manufactured there on the same scale as are knock-off watches in Chinese sweat shops.