Blog: Guiltless Scammers- an Oxymoron
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Guiltless Scammers- an Oxymoron - Thursday, September 1, 2005
My UCLA email address gets a few phishing/scam letters a week. Nigerian letters, and fake eBay, PayPal, and bank emails asking me to update my account information (or else!). The usual. I usually delete without a second thought. But one such email got my attention today, and upset me very very much.
The title was a desperate plea for help. The email introduced a guy whose life was basically devastated by Hurricane Katrina. After a tear-jerking description of his suffering, he made an appeal for help. The email looked like it was sent by the Red Cross, for it was complete with Red Cross pictures and donation links. Except the links and the sender's email address were on (different) domains that I have never heard of.
I couldn't care less about regular scammers sending me stuff (besides wondering how they got my email address). But when somebody tries to scam using human sentiment and exploiting suffering, that's when I get pissed off. I guess, considering the morals they have, the idea is all the more lucrative to them. Well I hope the guy who sent me that email suffers a fate tenfolds worse than the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The bastard.
On a related note, don't fall for email scams. Always check the URL the email is pointing you to, and if it looks fishy, go to the real site directly (by typing it into your browser). I'm sure all of my readers already know that, but what the hey. =)
The title was a desperate plea for help. The email introduced a guy whose life was basically devastated by Hurricane Katrina. After a tear-jerking description of his suffering, he made an appeal for help. The email looked like it was sent by the Red Cross, for it was complete with Red Cross pictures and donation links. Except the links and the sender's email address were on (different) domains that I have never heard of.
I couldn't care less about regular scammers sending me stuff (besides wondering how they got my email address). But when somebody tries to scam using human sentiment and exploiting suffering, that's when I get pissed off. I guess, considering the morals they have, the idea is all the more lucrative to them. Well I hope the guy who sent me that email suffers a fate tenfolds worse than the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The bastard.
On a related note, don't fall for email scams. Always check the URL the email is pointing you to, and if it looks fishy, go to the real site directly (by typing it into your browser). I'm sure all of my readers already know that, but what the hey. =)