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Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
2030 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/10/2009 : 03:44:29

Our latest member "Gisele12" sends me the following:

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">APPEAL FOR URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE!
From : Miss Gisele Martin
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
West Africa.contact me with this email address gisele121martin@yahoo.co.jp

RE: APPEAL FOR URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE!

Dearest One,

etc. etc. blah blah blah...... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

We may want to show her/him/it the plank......

Lady Kay IV, Dragonfly 25 # 54 Former C30#618-C250WB#618-C42#76

Edited by - on

Turk
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
736 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 03:54:13

Yea, it looks like he sent all of us a message. Looks like he got into the system.

Please someone delete him, he just got my good clean email account. The spam begins . .

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 05:02:51

I've seen other boards disable PM's and emails until the member makes a few posts.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 05:43:56

When a long ago Association officer, a Commodore no less, used his position to access confidential association data to harvest member email addresses, including mine, for his personal business, I've since used a junk email account for this association. Sorry to those who've tried to email me in the the years following, I was not ignoring you.

Edited by - on

528
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
181 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 07:21:38

Webmaster-I tried to eliminate my email address. The system does not allow it, so take it out of my profile NOW.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 08:21:28

We don't know that Gisele12 has gotten into our system and actually has our addresses. If the message says it was sent by the association, then he doesn't have the addresses--he's just using the Snitz "Send an e-mail" function, one user at a time. (He hasn't gotten to me yet.) That function is there specifically to allow us to e-mail each other without giving away our addresses to spammers. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Edit: He did get to me--my spam filter caught him... Still, he doesn't have my address, nor does he have yours (unless you reply to him).

PS: Also, if you use the "Send an e-mail" function to say something to Gisele12, then he will have your address.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 06/10/2009 08:37:20

Ed Cassidy
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
365 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 08:29:00

I received an email from him/her but my spam blocker was smart enough to put it in the spam folder, even though it said it was sent from the forem. I guess the author or the content of the email is looked at to determine if it is spam.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 08:38:35

Come on guys, these guys are fun!

Most of these guys post from internet cafe's and pay per minute for internet time to spam folks. The best way to shut them down is to divert and reply.

Your emial gats full of these things. You stop reading it and move along, right? Well turn the tables. Cut and paste the entire email into a junk account on Gmail or Hotmail, and then reply with an opening line that looks like you are a sucker, but ends with "not interested."

You will be reverse spamming the spammers. If every one of the 1000's of emails they sent out got a reply, then they wouldn't have the time (or money) to sit in an internet cafe and sift through them all. All of a sudden the scams are less profitable, and the poor guys who work them will be forced to find legitimate employment.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

Members Avatar

USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 10:11:34

Agree that he didn't harvest emails since I haven't gotten one either. Just don't respond.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 10:22:09

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by 528
 Webmaster-I tried to eliminate my email address. The system does not allow it, so take it out of my profile NOW.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">All you need to do is , in your Profile, set the "Allow members to send you an e-mail" option to No. Then Gisele won't be able get to you. (I'd rather not do that...)

Our past commodore used an insider's capability to harvest our addresses. I simply opted out of his mailing list--that seems to have worked.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 06/10/2009 10:26:09

528
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
181 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 10:55:12

OK, thanks. I thought the database had been compromised. They must be desperate if individually emailing members!

Edited by - on

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 14:40:46

I have alerted Paul, our webmaster, re this issue.
Steve A

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3472 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 15:27:40

I got my spam today...so at least I don't feel left out .

Edited by - on

ddlyle
Captain

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302 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 18:18:16

Yes indeed....Let's have some fun. Gisele must be sad since her dear old dad passed away.

I just sent her my ex-wife's bank account #.

Next I'll hook her up with an old boss who used to make me balance his personal bank account.

Just kidding actually, but it would be fun to string along the nigerian scammers to make them think they have a live one. I guess one would need to have used a junk email address (not your real one).

"Her" spam to me did come into my junk mail folder. I only openned it because it said it came from our forum, and there was no attachment, and I trust my virus program.

Edited by - ddlyle on 06/11/2009 03:51:23

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 20:28:57

Gisele 12 just got me. But did NOT go to spam email?
Steve A

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
5408 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2009 : 20:38:00

I opened the note, then sent it to the spam filter. I will keep an eye out for others from the same domain and put them on the white list

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2009 : 07:50:56

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by piseas
 Gisele 12 just got me. But did NOT go to spam email?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Everyone's spam filter is different, in part based on what you report as spam.

BTW, if we play games with this guy and he figures out that it's coming from association people, he could start messing with us.

I wonder if Paul can block registrations from IP addresses in selected countries...

You can't e-mail us if you can't register.

Edited by - on

crcalhoon
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
303 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2009 : 10:12:28

There is an unofficial group or association or what have you, called "the 419 Eater.' Their hobby is scamming the--largely Nigerian--scammers. I have spent a few happy hours reading the web site just to follow the fun. Some of them are hilarious, but the time investment is heavy, and I think they use separate dedicated computers and e-mail addresses to keep themselves separate.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2009 : 11:25:52

Speaking of playing games, has everyone heard [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI"]this one[/url]? (I'm ROFL again just now!)

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2009 : 11:35:44

I'd heard that before - it is hilarious! I got my e-mail from Gisele and it went into the Junk Mail folder. My experience is that it is best to just delete this stuff and move on.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2009 : 11:44:50

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by crcalhoon
 There is an unofficial group or association or what have you, called "the 419 Eater.' Their hobby is scamming the--largely Nigerian--scammers. I have spent a few happy hours reading the web site just to follow the fun. Some of them are hilarious, but the time investment is heavy, and I think they use separate dedicated computers and e-mail addresses to keep themselves separate.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Been having fun this way for months now. Its a hobby...

Here's how it works...

Giselle is likely a kid in a cyber cafe. probably about 12 - 15 years old. He has been hired by an "Oga" or "Bossman" to send out scripted emails and sift through the replies.

Every reply that looks promising, he sends out a second scripted email to from a new email account (In this case he would likely go to another yahoo account and hope you don't notice the addy change from .jp on the end to .uk, or .ca), and possibly follow that email with a third. If after the third reply, the emails still look promising, he will hand off the email string to his Oga, and collect about $0.10

Once the email changes hands, so will the tone of the scam. Sometimes the kids get the idea that they can take the money on their own, and those ones are a load of fun to play with. Sometimes the Oga isn't really very bright and you can lead them along.

These guys all want money sent by direct bank or wire transfer, so you just tell them to convince why that is better than sending a boxful of cash, and lead them down the garden path. Eventually you have them travelling all over Africa, wasting their internet time (which they pay for) and not having time to send out more scams since they are running in circles chasing your imaginary envelopes. The whole point is to waste as much of their time as possible by pulling them off their scripts, and making big promises so they can't hit folks with more spam.

Edited by - Prospector on 06/11/2009 11:58:45

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2009 : 12:48:26

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dave Bristle
 Speaking of playing games, has everyone heard [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI"]this one[/url]? (I'm ROFL again just now!)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dave, That was hilarious. That made my day.
Steve A
PS I would use that senario myself except I would get busted for impersonating a cop. I will have to come up with a twist.

Edited by - on

Rich G
Navigator

Members Avatar

226 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2009 : 15:59:00

I just got mine today from elody002@yahoo.cn.

Somebody has infiltrated this website's email addresses!

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2009 : 18:29:32

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Rich G
 Somebody has infiltrated this website's email addresses!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">If it says the association sent it, then nobody has the addresses. They're just going through our Members list one at a time, using the "Send an email" link. A waste of their time.

Edited by - on

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