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Category: Computer Security

Unblogged Bits (Mon. 11-Apr-11 2330)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

  1. Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand: A Love Affair Against the Common Good – One would think the conflict between Rand and Christianity would get as much play on the Right as the love affair between Rand and unfettered Capitalism. It’s telling which aspect of Rand makes the GOP go ga-ga.
  2. Robert Reich (Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich) – “If the rich were taxed at the same rates they were half a century ago, they’d be paying in over $350 billion more this year alone, which translates into trillions over the next decade. That’s enough to accomplish everything the nation needs while also reducing future deficits” But … but … that would make them fractionally less rich!
  3. Boehner abandons calls for an ‘adult’ moment – Why should he? He knows Obama will buckle and give him everything he asks for.
  4. Free Samples – Ah — Grazing at Costco for lunch …
  5. Trump Insists Obama’s Grandparents Planted His Birth Announcement To Obtain Welfare Benefits – Why the heck are people listening to this bozo?
  6. ThinkProgress » Utah Republicans Cut Unemployment Insurance As ‘Motivation For People To Get Back To Work’ – Oooh, yeah, livin’ high on the hog at $290 a week. Dadgummed hobo parasites!
  7. It Is Time For the AFA To Take Responsibility For Fischer’s Bigotry – Yeah, good luck there.
  8. Joyner Falsely Claims “Bolshevik” Means “Minority” When It Actually Means “Majority” – Aside from being completely wrong, my point was correct!
  9. Fischer Goes Too Far…Again: AFA Removes And Edits Post Demanding Immigrants “Convert To Christianity” – I’m not sure which is more amusing — that the AFA yanked the column, or that Fischer re-wrote it afterward.
  10. Norton Disables Itself After One Year – Wow! If it’s a way to automatically get rid of Symantec software without reformatting your machine, it might even be worth it. (Side note: Way to go, Symantec, in driving still more people to Microsoft’s free AV solution.)
  11. Why boys wear blue and girls wear pink – Fortunately (I think), Kay has never been a “pink” girl. Purple early on, more blacks and greens, in fact.
  12. Idaho’s Republican Legislature Gives Their Own GOP $100,000 For Suing Them – Stay classy, Idaho GOP!
  13. They shot a few hostages – SIGH
  14. REPORT: U.S. Military Spending Has Almost Doubled Since 2001 – Now, granted, we’ve been fighting two wars during that period — but, damn, want to wonder why we’ve got such budget problems? There’s a huge part of the reason right there.
  15. Chicken Fat: SUNDAY FUNNIES – MAD #8 – BAT BOY – For those who enjoyed the “Bat Boy & Rubin!” ep of Batman: Brave & the Bold — here’s the Mad Magazine parody that was the inspiration.
  16. In Budget Battle, Boehner, GOP Prove House Isn’t Powerless After All – “Boehner shows it is only powerless when controlled by Democrats.”

Unblogged Bits (Tue. 22-Mar-11 2330)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

  1. Quote of the Day – I would ask why anyone still cares about anything McCain says, except that he remains a regular on political talk shows and the press.
  2. South Dakota’s odious new anti-abortion law – Thank goodness the GOP stands for Personal Freedom against Intrusive Government!
  3. Shermer Spam Scammers Scam – I want one of those certificates. Maybe it will help me past US passport control.
  4. Smithsonian. Historically Hardcore. | davaidavai.com – Fun. If only it were a real campaign.
  5. BBC News – Academics to ’embrace Wikipedia’ – There’s nothing particularly wrong with Wikipedia that awareness of its weaknesses and strengths can’t deal with. It’s a fabulously useful source of information — so long as you drill down appropriately into the source data.
  6. GeekMom » Open Letter to David E. Kelley, Re: Wonder Woman FAIL
  7. Badass of the Week: Hideaki Akaiwa – Bravo, sir.
  8. Alternatives Have Begun in Bid to Hear from Spirit – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Awwwww …
  9. Medical marijuana: Donor complaints lead food bank to abandon dispensary pot-for-food drive – Denver News – The Latest Word – Yes, and we can’t accept any roadside help from those Samaritans — I mean, what would Jesus say?!
  10. The Tokyo Joe’s Story – Love my TJ lunch!
  11. Yglesias » Arab Autocrats Think Fighting Gaddafi Will Help Them Maintain Power – “There’s an obvious question as to what, in reality, American policy in the Arab world is. Is this part of a policy of boosting democratic change in the region, or is it part of a policy of bolstering the position of the Persian Gulf dictators who are important clients of American arms manufacturers?”
  12. David Barton’s Anti-Islam Expert Is Disgraced Former FBI Agent – “Apparently, the Muslim Brotherhood is so powerful that it managed to get Guandolo to sleep with the key government witness he was supposed to be protecting in order to discredit him and stop him from exposing their plot to take over the United States.”
  13. The Founding Fathers Had a National Motto: E Pluribus Unum – Yes, but we aren’t interested in the “Many” any more — just the folks who believe in our “God”!
  14. IRD: How Dare Methodists Include Buddhist and Shinto Groups in Japan Memorial Service – Because of you’re not praying to Jesus, YOU’RE EEEEVIIILLLLL!!!!!
  15. CWA: Gay “Bullies” Too Powerful In Government – Then why do you keep opposing anti-bullying legislation? Dolts.
  16. Communication Is Key – Yes!
  17. Cool World Control Panel for budding evil geniuses – Boing Boing – Sweet!

Unblogged Bits (Tue. 8-Feb-11 1030)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

  1. PC Mag Says LastPass Is “Still the Best”! – LastPass is faboo.
  2. SMBC February 08, 2011 – Now there’s a pickup line!
  3. Pikachu, I Choose Physical Disfigurement! – Um … hell no.
  4. Hillary On Drugs – The answer is typically incoherent on the subject. You “stop” folks making “so much money” by reducing the costs, thus the business risk portion of the price, through legalization. You deal with attempts to “addict even more young people” the same way you do with other addictive, unhealthy substances that are legal today (booze, prescription drugs, cigarettes, ice cream). The current War on Drugs is simply not working, and bankrupting us to boot; staying the course or redoubling our efforts is just silly.
  5. Locksmith’s swirling mural of discarded keys – Very cool.
  6. 5 Classic Board Games With Disturbing Origin Stories | Cracked.com
  7. We Are the (Average) World: A Study in Women’s Faces Worldwide – Saw this picture floating around a few days ago — good to finally read a bit more about it.

Unblogged Bits (Mon. 27-Dec-10 1630)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

  1. Cambridge university refuses to censor student’s thesis on chip-and-PIN vulnerabilities – “Cambridge is the University of Erasmus, of Newton, and of Darwin; censoring writings that offend the powerful is offensive to our deepest values.” Good show, sir (and a good poke in the eye toward “If you embarrass us over our known security lapses, then the terrorists and crooks win” types of weasels).
  2. All I Needed To Drain Her Checking Account Was Her Wallet — Good Thing I’m Her Husband – It’s a difficult balance between providing security and not inconveniencing customers. That sort of balance usually means that a determined intruder can break in.
  3. 5 Downright Silly Sales Taxes – I wonder if that, beyond the environmental aspect, is why some local coffee shops I visit in Colorado (Ink! comes to mind) don’t automatically put a lid on the coffee they serve.
  4. Pilot raided for YouTube video exposing airport security flaws – It’s rarely safe to point out the Emperor has no clothes, esp. when he still has his guards.
  5. ACLU bristles over terror list | Chattanooga Times Free Press – If you create an information-gathering apparatus with no checks or balances or oversight, then it will gather all the information it can, including politically-driven information. It’s been demonstrated in this country, among others, time and time again.
  6. Education And National Security: Can The Republicans Be Shamed Into Closing The Gap? – Don’t worry! American Exceptionalism means that even if all of our kids who rely on public schools don’t get a good edumication at all, God will still watch over us! (And weep.)
  7. Civil War message opened, decoded: No help coming – All Salon – Salon.com – Of such small threads is history made.
  8. Dec. 27, 1831: Beagle Sets Sail With a Very Special Passenger – Happy Beagle Day!
  9. Faking It – I would argue there is no value in faking respect for the validity of others’ opinions; the respect (fake or not) is for others to have their own opinions. Yes, there are in fact times when false claims, especially harmful ones, need to be challenged. But there are other times when we’re called to simply smile and nod and be polite and kind (and that applies to most all opinions on things religious and non-). But the key here is not respecting a “lie” or an “error,” but the person making it.
  10. Comcast + NBCU approval likely in January with some strings attached – The problem with putting one-off regulatory bounds around the proposed merger is that they are subject to change and revision by future administrations, Congresses, and business conditions. I don’t see the value to society and the consumer of creating this kind of vertical oligopoly, vs. the potential risks, and that, to my mind, is enough to say No.
  11. Scientists say extreme winter a result of climate change – This is why the term “global warming” is misleading (if, in aggregate, accurate). It’s not just that everything everywhere gets slowly, gradually warmer, but, in the short term, weather patterns get disrupted and, yes, you can get massive fronts of unusually cold (or hot) weather. Weather is not the same as climate, but when you have a lot of weather that is different, over a long period of time, then you have a climate that’s different.
  12. WikiLeaks: DEA now a global intelligence organization – Another result of the ever-reaching War on Drugs.
  13. NY Times editorial on banks stopping payments to WikiLeaks – It’s particularly worrisome given the increasing consolidation of the banking industry.
  14. Reid pushing ahead with filibuster reform – I hope this goes forward. The filibuster does provide a safety net at the extremes, but when it is so easily and repeatedly threatened (as it has been by the GOP this year), resulting in widespread obstruction of any governance, it clearly needs reform. And, yes, I say that realizing that someday it will be the Dems again the minority in the Senate.

Blatant

This spam starts off pretty standard …

Greetings! We once again try to notify you as our earlier letter was returned undelivered. I hereby attempt to reach you again by this same email address to inform you that you were one of our lucky winners in the 2010 Nokia Promo. Unfortunately we could not reach you before the end of the promo. All winners who we could not reach before the end of the promo, are mandated to contact ALLIED GUARANTEE TRUST BANK in West Africa to claim the winning prize. Therefore, your winning prize of 315,000 Great British Pounds has been deposited in ALLIED GUARANTEE TRUST BANK. The requirements to claim your winning prize is to provide your full bank details and your demurage security keeping fee of 115 Great British Pounds to ALLIED GUARANTEE TRUST BANK with the contact details stated below;

ALLIED GUARANTEE TRUST BANK.
Contact Person: Mr. Ken Jonathan
Email Address: alliedgtbonline@info.al
Telephone: +234-818-227-6596

First off — “West Africa”?

Country code 234 is Nigeria. The .al domain, though, is hosted in Albania. Hmmmmm …

I’ve never seen GBP spelled out as “Great British Pounds,” by the way.

Then, all of a sudden, things get … very blatant. Usually these sorts of scams rope you in first before asking for money. This one includes it as the initial price of admission. Ballsy move! It must be real!

NOTE: We have paid for the Insurance premium and Clearance Certificate Fee whose policy hardcover the impossibility of deducting the demurage security keeping fee from your winning prize. Try to contact the bank with the information above to avoid any further delay and remember to pay them their Demurage security keeping fee of 115 GBP for their immediate action. Payment of the (Demurage Security Fee) should be sent through Western Union to the bank account officer with the following information . Western union is required to accept the payment because is the fastest, safest, and most reliable payment method the bank use in receiving payment from international customers.

Receiver’s Name: Mrs. Elizabeth Baker
Address: Plot 865b Canada Square,Edo State, Nigeria.

 

And back to Nigeria (nice work if you can get it).

“Demurrage” (note the correct spelling, by the way) is a charge for delays in delivery not the fault of the deliverer. In this case, you silly person, you didn’t pick up your prize on time, so they have to charge you for the delay. But then, after you send it via Western Union, you’ll get your GBP 315K right away! Ken and Liz guarantee it!

1. Name of sender.
2. Address of sender.
3. Amount sent.
4. Money Transfer Control Number. (M.T.C.N)
5.Test Question: In God
6.. Answer : We Trust
Regards,
Dr. Authur Collins.
+44-701-115-1094

Nice patriotic/religious “test question/answer” passphrase.  Look for a man in a dark suit with a red carnation in the lapel.

I’m still a bit confused by whom the email is being sent, to whom the money should go, and who Dr. “Author” Collins is. He has a UK phone number, though. A search on that gives more on this particular spam scam here.

Unblogged Bits (Fri. 29-Oct-10 1130)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

  1. Barber Wants Obama Investigated for “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” – And if the GOP takes one or both houses of Congress next week, I’m sure there will be just enough Republicans to go along with Mr Barber’s suggestion.
  2. Barton: God Will Hold You Accountable For How You Vote – “For Christians, voting is not a right, it’s a duty. It’s a stewardship that we owe to God and it’s a stewardship for which we’ll answer directly to him. One day we’ll stand before him and he’ll say ‘what did you do with that vote I gave you?’ And we’ll have to answer.” Actually, I agree with him fully on that one. Voting is an act of engagement with the people around us, and we are called to the touchstones of loving God and loving our neighbors through voting as much as with any other action. Of course, I suspect my conclusions of how my religious values guides me to vote will be a bit different from Barton’s.
  3. Ohio McDonald’s Tells Employees To Vote Republican If They Want To Continue Receiving Raises And Benefits: Tanya Somanader
  4. Relatives Says Man Arrested For Threatening Democratic Senator Was ‘Under The Spell That Glenn Beck Cast’ – Is Beck legally culpable? No, and I’d defend him against any such charge. Is he ethically culpable, though? That’s another question.
  5. What Conservatives Have Taught Me This Election Season: James Frye
  6. Stranded, Stubborn Mars Rover Actually Makes a Big Discovery [MarsRover] – Go, Spirit, go! (In a metaphorical, “do great stuff” sense, of course.)
  7. Southwest Airlines $5 Bucks for WiFi onboard Flights – A price I would very seriously consider indulging in on some flights.
  8. Watch Five Minutes of ‘The Walking Dead’ and the Real Opening Title Sequence – Everything I’ve seen and heard about this indicates it’s going to be awesome.
  9. The boiling, erupting Sun – “… The mornin’ sun is shinin’ like a red rubber ball …”
  10. Drug Wars – While there’s certainly cocaine involved, note the several pictures of hundreds of metric TONS of marijuana. That’s a huge cash crop for the drug lords, reason enough for all the violence, and it’s something we could trivially deprive them of if US drug policy were rationally administered.
  11. Indiana suggests leaving disabled family members at homeless shelters – “Are there no workhouses …?” Welcome to yet another face of cheap-labor conservatism and taxed-enough-already partygoing. Is this the America the electorate is looking for? Because it’s where we’re headed.
  12. Karl Rove And Sarah Palin Going To War? – Given the number of comments Rove has had to dial back in the past months, I don’t see him standing up to much criticism if Palin and her variety of supporters decide to fire back.
  13. Dean Kamen unveils revamped bionic arm and water machine, LED light bulb powered by Cree – Many levels of coolness here.
  14. Government Withholds Records on Need for Expanded Surveillance Law – “A mandate requiring an easy-to-open ‘back door’ to electronic communications is an idea that was proposed and rejected over fifteen years ago because it would be ineffective, cause security vulnerabilities, and hurt American business — on top of the damage it would do to Americans’ privacy and free speech rights. Any attempt to require the same mandate today should start with a concrete and realistic evaluation of how often the government investigations are stymied by the lack of a ‘back door.’ Anything less than that is asking the public to blindly rubber stamp a flawed plan at a very high cost to Americans and American business.”
  15. The Message of Firesheep: “Baaaad Websites, Implement Sitewide HTTPS Now!” – Unfortunately, per EFF’s efforts, there’s not a trivial way to do this for IE or Chrome. I have implemented this on my various machine this week (esp. ones I travel with) with, so far, no harm.
  16. Climate change facts, for what that’s worth – “But do not always expect facts to convince. Someone who has arrived at their current stance due to something other than facts will not likely be persuaded to budge from it due to the facts. Some small percentage, some few, are honestly misinformed, and for them facts and information will be persuasive and liberating. They will be grateful for the link. But for most the problem is not simply one of a lack of accurate information. For them, finding their way back to the truth will require retracing the steps that led them away from it — a path that had little to do with information or facts.”

Unblogged Bits (Thu. 7-Oct-10 2330)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

  1. Spread the Word — Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer and Gene Patents – How the hell do you patent human genes?
  2. Why Fred Phelps’s Free Speech Rights Should Matter to Us All – Another example why the calumny that the ACLU is a “liberal/radical/leftist” organization is profoundly untrue. And, as loathesome as I find Phelps and his Gang of Family Idiots, if they don’t have the right to speak, nobody does.
  3. RWNJ’s Calling For Boycott Of Campbell’s For Making Halal-Certified Soup: Alan
  4. Giving the individual mandate real-world meaning – I believe I made this observation in my screed yesterday.
  5. The Original King of Irony Lives On – And yet, he seems to have made an amazing come-back in the GOP. what that says about the GOP I leave as an exercise for the reader.
  6. Senator Jim DeMint and Morality – NYTimes.com – Amen, Brother Nicholas.
  7. Random Book Blogging: Money, Greed and God – God is Ayn Rand. It’s now blindingly obvious to me. Or obviously blind. One or the other.
  8. Missouri Tea Partiers Campaigning Against Proposition Mandating Humane Conditions At Puppy Mills – They’re even against puppies …
  9. Newt Gingrich Believes Food Stamps Stimlulating The Economy Is “Liberal Math” – Dude, if even the Wall Street Journal accepts the math, give it a rest.
  10. A Revolution In Mobile Cup Holder Technology – Dunno if I’d call it a “revolution,” but it’s pretty cool.
  11. Stuxnet – I expect to see more things of this sort — regardless of the origins and targets of this particular instance — in the future.
  12. Neo-Cons: Don’t Touch Defense Spending! : Dispatches from the Culture Wars – Not to sound like that old Air Force Bake Sale bumper sticker, but, given our domestic needs … do we REALLY need to spend at Cold War levels on defense? Really?
  13. Technical Support Hell: Today I discovered an employee in my office sending Word docs via email by printing the document, scanning the pages, and emailing the scans. I don’t know where to start. – (Facepalm)
  14. Lou Dobbs’ Little Meg Whitman Problem – “The Nation also editorialized today that this latest revelation only adds more fuel to the arguments that immigrants, legal and undocumented, are so thoroughly integrated into our economy that those politicians who seek to scapegoat and demonize their work are almost alway engaging in hypocrisy. The piece argues that we must legalize and regulate this work, instead of demonizing the workers our society is thoroughly dependent on.” But … but … but … without evil, lazy, Welfare-sponging, American-decaptitating, job-stealing, anchor-babying illegals to demonize, we’d have to find someone else to demonize!
  15. So that’s why Koch funded a major evolution exhibit – “The fact that we could be knocked back to a stone age level of technology without going extinct is not a point in favor of welcoming global warming.” But think of the money-making opportunities! Especially if you cunning corner the shell and bead market ahead of time!
  16. Gap Already Admitting That New Logo Sorta Sucks – I vote for “crappy design work with quick, if cheesy, recovery attempt.”

Tweets from 2010-06-05

  • RT @BPGlobalPR: Words can not express how sorry we are. So we are going to stop apologizing and just give our investors 10 billion dollars. #
  • RT @matociquala, @leahbobet: Is Arizona just trolling at this point? #
  • Dear dirtbag Twitspammer @XxxxNnnnnn: Hey there! I would rather gouge out my eyes than buy into your #FREE MacBook Air! spam. Please die. #
  • K is trying to finish “Half-Blood Prince” so we can watch the movie tonight so she’s caught up for Potter-themed Girl Scout camp tomorrow. #
  • Another sign Kitten is growing up — she can now wear Margie’s hats. Yikes! #
  • RT @stevesilberman Between them, Gingrich and Limbaugh have had 7 marriages. And they want to abolish my one. #
  • After madcap shopping spree at Target, off to teppan dinner at Miyama. #
  • RT @wilw Neil: How long has the chicken been on? Everyone: ummm… Me: Check the timestamp on Paul’s picture! Neil: Nerds FTW! #

Oh, boy! I hope I get what’s coming to me!

spam

Look! In my email!  I get a “PayPal Refund”!  Yippee! I haven’t bought anything with PayPal for a while, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?

The message doesn’t go into much detail.  It just says “PayPal Authorized Refund,” with efficiently terse instructions to “Please download and complete form.”

Then, I guess, I’ll just have to send it back to “paypai.com” (a simple typo on their part, I’m sure).

I just can’t wait to download this mysterious HTML file and see what it gets me!

[Kids — and adults — don’t try this at home. Really.]

Laughably inept or ophidianly menacing?

Kobra, by Jack Kirby (1976)

This morning’s spam message:

from Mr. Kobra ([redacted]@gmail.com
to [my office mail]
date Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 4:33 AM
subject HI

Hi Sir,
R u free for business meeting

Thanks & Regards
Kobra

Now, ordinarily, this would just seem like some spammer who isn’t even really trying.  I mean, bad English, bad grammar, bad punctuation, nothing like any actual business missive would include.  Obviously a spammer, a goofball, someone not worth worrying about.

But maybe that’s just what he wants me to think!

If I vanish sometime soon, just wanted to let folks know about this.

Variations on a theme

Received by mail today:

I am (Sgt Perry Johnson), an American soldier, serving in the Military
with the army’s 3rd infantry division,we discovered some amount to be
transfer out of iraq ,we seek your sincere co-opration as the business
is risk free.Please respond for further details:

Email scams — they’re not just for the widows of Nigerian government officials any more.

Unblogged Bits for Friday, 30 October 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

Professional SPAM

spam

Somewhere, somehow, my work email had gotten on some “professional IT services” list that is spawning many emails per day from many legitimate purveyors of IT services and info. I’m opting out whenver I can, but it’s like playing IT Whack-a-Mole. I don’t want to flag them as actual spam because these are legit companies, and if I just delete them I’ll continue to get mail from the folks. 

I just wish I knew where my email addy got out into the wild recently so that I could track the person who did it and hit them, hard.

How could I resist?

TO: dave.adams@conglomerate.com, dave.hill@mywork.com, dave.jones@inc.com, dave.smith@company.com
FROM: Roberta@hotmail.com
SUBJECT: I need 2 tell u something

hi

I found your contact info online. My friend thinks you seem really strong.

u should totally msg her on M.S.N. messenger

add her, her name is : paris19smith@hotmail.com
 

 

spam

Oh, yeah, I should so definitely message Paris (what a hot name!) and offer to show off my biceps.

If only I used MSN Messenger. 

I wonder who those other Daves are.

Oh, well.

[No real email addresses were used in this post.]

Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday, Chauncey …

spam

We get spam …

From: Anita Goodluck

Okay, bad sign when your name sounds like a Bond Girl.

Hello My dear one
How are you? i hope all is well with you, i hope you may not know me, and i
don’t know who you are, My Name is Miss Anita goodluck, i am just
broswing now i just saw your Email it seams like some thing touches me
all over my body, i started having some feelings in me which i have
never experience in me before, so i became interested in you, l will
also like to know you the more,and l want you to send an email. so l can give you my picture for you to know whom l am.
 
I believe we can move from here!
I am waiting for your mail to my email address above.
 
(Remeber the distance or colour does not matter but love matters alot in life)
miss Anita

“Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?”

It’s not the phishing attempt, it’s the implication that I’m an idiot

I mean …

Subject: Account Review
From: service <update@support.com>

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the system.
We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.
We requested information from you for the following reason:
We have observed activity in this account that is unusual or potentially high risk.

Case ID Number: PP-571-827-944

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser.
Once opened, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

Sure, I’m just going to download and execute an innocuously-named HTML file based on a poorly formatted generic phishing email. Yeesh.

Hopefully, nobody else I know and love would do so … (If there are any friends or family reading this who don’t know why that would be a bad idea or what makes me contemptibly suspicious of this, please ask me.)

Unblogged Bits for Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

I shoulda been in pictures!

I suspect this is from the “Mr. Romy” from last week, but …

From: Mr Deva [mailto:redacted@gmail.com ]
Sent: Friday, 09 May 2008 12:30 PM
To: Hill, Dave
Subject: Come Back

Hi Sir,

Are You interested for play a supported actor in shahrukh movie.

Regards
Asst. Shahrukh khan
Deva

I’m thinking … not.

Not really giving it their best today

The Spam of the Day:

From: Mr. Romy [string of letters and numbers address]
Sent: Thursday, 07 May 2009 12:32 AM
To: Hill, Dave
Subject: come

Hi,

please give me info about your Bussiness

Regards
Romy

Um … no?

It’s not from Nigeria, so it must be true!

I mean, who would imitate the FBI’s official computer letterhead?

Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001  

Our Ref: FBI-75BFWDUS09  

Attention Fund Beneficiary, 

         Payment Release Instruction From The Federal Bureau Of Investigation 

Acting on the Intelligence report we received from the IMF, UNO, World Bank Group and the European Union Commission Committees on Financial Matters through our International Monetary Watchdog, this is to officially notify you that we have placed a suspension order on the remittance coming into your bank account due to several complaints received from the International Monetary Funds External Auditors Committee, World Bank, United Nations Organization and the Federal Reserve Bank of America respectively via International Payment Voucher Number: IMF/FRBWDC/BOA-93WB82UN567-G about the inability of fund beneficiaries to receive what is rightfully theirs as at when due. Consequently, we have directed the ASSURANCE BANK USA N.A., a subsidiary of the Federal Reserve Banking System to disburse your due wining/inheritance and contract payment valued at Seven Million Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$7.3M) in your favor via their branch in New ! ! York by! Key Tested Swift Transfer  

In consideration of the above, you have been issued with this Exclusive Reference Identification Number (IMF/FBI-WDC/9USXX10751/09), Vide Transaction No.: WHA/EUR/202 and Transfer Allocation No.: FBI/X44/701LN/ABUS/US, Password: 339331, Pin Code: 78569, Certificate of Merit No: 104, Release Code No: 0876; Immediate Assurance Bank Telex Confirmation No: -222568; Secret Code: XXTN014. Having received these vital payment numbers, you are instantly qualified to receive and confirm your payment within the next 48hrs. as necessary clearance has been granted to the paying bank by the relevant offices/agencies to release the funds to you with immediate effect. 

In view of this directive received from the various agencies, we have on our own part verified your payment file as directed to us, and your name is next on the list of outstanding fund beneficiaries to receive their payment at this first quarter of the year 2009. With that being done, you are required to urgently contact the ASSURANCE BANK USA N.A. in New York through the Funds Release Supervisor:  

Contact Person: Sir. Clarence Dexter Jr.
(Funds Release Supervisor)
Email: cladex@gmail.com
Direct Office Line: 914 373 6375
Fax Number: 206 426 3179 

And reconfirm your international payment voucher number and your reference identification number respectively before that office with a view to the final remittance approval by the Economic Stability and Recovery Committee for subsequent crediting of your bank account to the tune of funds as stated herein. 

We wish to inform you of the need for you to also re-confirm your full personal, contact and banking details before the ASSURANCE BANK USA N.A. in New York to enable the officer in-charge to proceed with the preliminary arrangements that will enhance the immediate release of your funds. The details are as follows:  

1) Your Full name;
3) Your contact telephone and fax number;
4) Your Age and Profession;
5) Copy of any valid form of your Identification;
6) Your Bank name;
7) Your Bank Address;
8) Account name and Number;
9) ABA/Routing Number;
10) Swift or Sort Code/IBAN; 

Owing to security reasons, be clearly informed that we will not respond to any phone calls/general inquiries placed to our agency with regards to the remittance of your funds by beneficiaries as we are barred from doing so, you are therefore advised to communicate only with the accredited officer for further remittance advice. The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division processes these requests to check illegal activities in the United States of America. 

Thank you for your time and anticipated co-operation. 

TREAT AS URGENT. 

Robert Mueller, III
FBI Director. 

Although I am kind of intrigued  by what happened to missing item #2 …