Re: Halifax Bank email scam.

From: AndrewR (andrew_at_uk.co.andrewr.REVERSEME)
Date: 10/28/03 

Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 14:20:13 GMT

Dr Ivan D. Reid wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 12:43:52 +0000,
> Ben Padstow <benpadstow@NOSPAMsensical.co.uk>
> wrote in <j1pspvkvont1q5vbd5onas3d7224mbl3o0@4ax.com>:
>
>>On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 03:42:29 -0800, "ynotssor" <"ynotssor"> wrote:
>
>
>>>"Ben Padstow" <benpadstow@NOSPAMsensical.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>news:98lspvcq83rr6pdd19b4v3rgmrrmpjrpla@4ax.com
>
>
>>>>What I want to know is - how are the scammers getting hold of the
>>>>email addresses in the first place?
>
>
>>>Same way any other spammer does, I suppose.
>
>
>>I thought the suggestion was that the spammers are specifically
>>targetting customers of the scammed banks?
>
>
> Well, no. The one I got had Halifax in the title but citibank
> in the URL string. And I've never been a customer of either. It's
> one of the three rules of spamming[1]: "Spammers are stupid!"
>

(Off topic pedantic post alert!!!)

There are currently five rules of spam, plus various corollaries, and
other 'additions':

  The Rules of Spam

Rule #0: Spam is theft.

    Angel's Commentary: Spammers believe it's okay to steal a little bit
    from each person on the Internet at once.

Rule #1: Spammers lie.

    Russell's Admonition: Always assume that there is a measurable
    chance that the entity you are dealing with is a spammer.

    Lexical Contradiction: Spammers will redefine any term in order to
    disguise their abuse of Internet resources.

      Sharp's Corollary: Spammers attempt to re-define "spamming" as
      that which they do not do.

      Finnell's Corollary: Spammers define "remove" as "validate."

Rule #2: If a spammer seems to be telling the truth, see Rule #1.

    Crissman's Corollary: A spammer, when caught, blames his victims.

*-> Proposal currently laying without action:
      Moore's Corollary: Spammer's lies are seldom questioned by
      mainstream media.

Rule #3: Spammers are stupid.

    Krueger's Corollary: Spammer lies are really stupid.

       Pickett's Commentary: Spammer lies are boring.

    Russell's Corollary: Never underestimate the stupidity of spammers.

    Spinosa's Corollary: Spammers assume everybody is more stupid than
         themselves.

    Spammer's Standard of Discourse: Threats and intimidation trump facts
         and logic.

*-> New Proposal awaiting discussion/vote:
   James' Axioms of Spammers' Beliefs:

   1. Bandwidth is infinite. It possible for infinite messages to
      occupy the same box at the same time.
   2. The less value a message has, the more people want to see it.
   3. The more someone is offended, the more likely they are to buy.
   4. Reward is inversely proportional to the work done to earn it.

Rule #4: The natural course of a spamming business is to go bankrupt.

Rules-Keeper Shaffer's Refrain:
      Spammers routinely prove the Rules of Spam are valid.

(http://www.pearlgates.net/nanae/rulesofspam.txt)

Andrew 

-- 
http://www.andrewr.co.uk/contact.html
"If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, 
at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote?" - 
Bertrand Russell
I am not a lawyer, nor am I SPEWS, nor do I speak for anyone other than 
myself.

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