Musings, Commentaries, Photos and Reviews

This is one reason I like Gmail spam filter, it caught this piece of garbage. The spammers thought they would be clever and use white text to throw off the pattern matching software used by anti virus and anti spam programs. I just happened to notice it when I selected the text and saw it being inverted. I've put this on a gray background for your edification. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Miguel Cameron <notification8668@eftps.gov> Date: Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 2:19 PM Subject: notification: your account is blocked *********************** Beast with two backs (Meaning) Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure Your Federal Tax Payment Account was blocked for fraud. As cold as any stone Please, check the information about your account: Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog Make haste *a website here * I have not slept one wink < The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System PLEASE NOTE: Your tax payment is due regar...

I have moderation enabled for my blog comment and get to spend a few minutes every morning deleting the anonymous spam that fills my inbox. I don't want to disable comments since I value feedback on my postings however I will now require folks to use Captcha . Sorry about this.

I usually count on the spam filters to rid myself of junk email. Gmail filters are pretty good but some knuckleheads found a workaround. I get messages to the group that I moderate with business opportunities like: “Legitimate home business. Make your own hours,No sales, No MLM. No surveys.No tricks, No scams.” Gee, thanks for that interesting tidbit. Some of these clowns want to join the group so they can share the good news. I report the email addresses to Google Abuse, but so far have only blocked one spammer. The sites referenced claim they are against spam, how ironic. I’ve decided to post the email addresses of the offenders (these addresses are real, but may be generated by bots) in this posting with the hope that someone knowledgeable in Spamtrap technology can suggest a solution to blocking them. My wall of shame: Carl Connors – carlconnorsktz@gmail.com

One of the downsides of running a online forum is that the spammers and other internet pests can avoid the spam filters that are built into email. Each day I get a business “opportunity” from this email address: Sol Fogerson [tanekahuntington4vfz@gmail.com] I have reported this address to Google Abuse, but everyday I face another message: Earn up to $20.00+ per hour - Working On Line.No Personal selling, or contact required.Easy, flexible work available to you. http://processemailonline.com The irony is that this site claims to be against spam: By following the system we provide and our free submission tools, these emails will be sent to you on a daily basis. Our program requires only basic computer skills and can be done wherever you have access to the internet. With our program we DO NOT use SPAM to make money; it is illegal and, frankly, not very effective in the first place. So why am I posting this email address and the URL? I certainly don’t want anyone to...

Today I received an email offer that seems too good to be true. My only dilemma is deciding how much of the $25 million to take for my efforts: Attention. Business Proposal,Please contact me on my private email { sgtjames0101@hotmail.com } My name is Sergeant James Regan I am an American soldier with Swiss background,serving in the military with the army's 3rd infantry division based in Iraq/Baghdad. With a very desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you. I found your contact particulars in an address   journal. I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of($ 25 Million U.S. Dollars ) Twenty Five Million United State Dollars to you, as far  as I can be assured that my share will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is no stolen money, and there are no danger involved. Source Of Money: Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near one of Saddam's old palaces in Ti...

How would you like to have your Facebook profile photos used to advertise a product to your friends? Isn’t that a fun way to sell products? You probably didn’t realize that you agreed to this chicanery, but you did (yes you did!). You can un-agree to this by going to your profile and …. Settings -> Privacy -> News Feed and Wall -> Facebook Ads –> (Appearance in Facebook Ads) and click " no one ." Will they use your photo? Read this posting on Download Squad .

I should have known better. After watching a compelling 60 minutes piece on the health benefits of Reversatrol, the magic ingredient in red wine I made the foolish mistake of signing up for a “free” sample. I figured I would give it a try and see if could do undo the ravages of age. I thought I was rather savvy about these things. After almost a month I don’t feel any better but I don’t feel any worse, at least until today when my credit card statement arrived. There on the page was a charge for $83.18 for a company named EXPRESSBERRY. Those are some expensive berries and I can buy two cases of 2 buck chuck for under $80 and get all my Reversatrol and enjoy it more. As an elder I am supposed to wise, but they got me in terms of the agreement which I have included for your amusement. I missed this and apparently thousands of other folks have also. When you go to the site a timer starts and you informed that you only have a few minutes to sign up for the “free” sample. This feat...

Isn’t this annoying? You get an email from someone you know suggesting that they have sent you some pictures. If you don’t respond the site suggests that your friend may have their feelings hurt as indicated by the sad face emoticon :( If you spend the time to read the “terms of agreement” you will quickly discover that you are signing up for email from “commercial sites”. Isn’t that wonderful? Think how happy the folks in your address book will be after they are “tagged”. Here is the “fine print” that none of us bother to read when we sign up for things like this: E) Notice Regarding Commercial Email MEMBERS CONSENT TO RECEIVE COMMERCIAL E-MAIL MESSAGES FROM TAGGED, AND ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES AND OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE USED BY TAGGED FOR THE PURPOSE OF INITIATING COMMERCIAL E-MAIL MESSAGES.

Stop with these checks already! What do I have to do to convince this company to stop sending me blank checks with MY NAME on them? I’ve canceled my account (after I noted the interest rate would be 29.7%), I’ve informed the 3 credit agencies, dma choice and anything else I could find to stop it. Consider how these BLANK checks are sitting in our mail boxes with our names on them. The envelopes are not inconspicuous with the prominent “Capital One” logo screaming out to thieves “Take me, cash me and stick the bill to the name pre-printed on the check”. Of course the company assures us that we have zero liability if they are stolen or misused. I wondered about that a bit until I came across a small comment on the last page: $0 fraud liability claims are subject to verification and investigation. Isn’t that special? Unwanted checks arrive with MY NAME on them and the crack CSI team at Capital One will investigate if someone steals them. Sure they will! I was going to includ...

Twitter is fun, but some of the people who decide to “follow” you don’t really care about your “tweets” Consider this: Jewel (jordananda) is now following your updates on Twitter. Not really, Jewel’s profile picture has the name “girl14”. That seems a strange name for a profile picture doesn’t it? Jewel has a link to a web page to explain how to get a FREE MAC laptop… Wow, and she likes “free stuff” Funny about the free part, you need to buy something. Here is the legal part to peruse for your amusement: I’ll highlight the gotcha parts:   † THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. SEE TERMS FOR COMPLETE DETAILS. Members are being accepted subject to the following Program Requirements: 1) Must be a legal US resident; 2) must be at least 18 years old or older; 3) must have a valid email and shipping address; 4) Eligible members can receive the incentive gift package by completing two reward offers from each of the Top, Prime and Premium reward offe...