Peevish Pen

Ruminations on reading, writing, genealogy and family history, rural living, retirement, aging—and sometimes cats.

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Location: Rural Virginia, United States

I'm an elderly retired teacher who writes. Among my books are Ferradiddledumday (Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin story), Stuck (middle grade paranormal novel), Patches on the Same Quilt (novel set in Franklin County, VA), Them That Go (an Appalachian novel), Miracle of the Concrete Jesus & Other Stories, and several Kindle ebooks.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Bood Sweet Spam

And Plain Old Scam

Besides getting the e-mails and phone calls about the commemorative plaque, I've also gotten a few other dubious calls and e-mails within the last few days.

Yesterday, a woman caller asked to speak to me by name and asked if anyone in the household had diabetes. I shouldn't have said I did. Anyhow, she then wanted to give me a free meter, send me diabetic supplies absolutely free, and charge it all to Medicare. I told her I would check the website; I did and wasn't impressed. A bit of Googling told me a lot of others weren't impressed either. Plus the meter they'd send wasn't one I could look at in local pharmacies.

The caller didn't use good grammar either. If a company can't hire someone literate to represent them, I'm suspicious.

The e-mail spam below was sent to the forty-some subscribers to an email list that notifies the listees whenever the sender up-dates her blog. If the sender hadn't put everyone's e-mail address on her notification, it wouldn't have been so easy for this guy to send this announcement. (Note: I've removed the particulars to avoid embarrassing his wife.)


Since I don't know the above sender, I have no idea if I'm close enough to make it or not. (Not that I would make it.) I'm curious about the "bood sweet and tears," though. And if the dream is "never ending," how did the woman realize it?

If you're gonna send e-mail spam, at least spell and punctuate correctly. And tell where the event is.

Anytime someone doesn't know if I'm a sir or a madame, I'm suspicious—especially of a "profession printing manufacturer" in China with a project manager who "can speak very good English." 


What does "We stay on our promises every moment" mean exactly? And why did I get this e-mail anyhow?

Apparently I've won a lot of lotteries lately. But I don't intend to send my "informations" to any of them. I'm still trying to figure out how this one—that has scam written all over it—did a "random selection exercise of internet website and millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide."


How many "full names" do they want me to provide? 

I received this same e-mail in January, from KMG & Associates, not from Spies & May. It was sent to "undisclosed recipients," so a lot of other folks also got it. Probably more than once.


RIP Mendel, who "loved to give out."

Notice that the one below isn't even sent to me directly. Why would "Kenneth Dodo" (Love the name!) think I want a Visa card from a bank in Ghana? And why would he think I'm a "sir"? And again, this scam asks for my "names in full." 



I'm so NOT going to "reply this mail with all urgency."

The one below was sent to several members of the Virginia Writers Club, whose e-mail addresses are on the VWC website. I can't figure why the sender, who seems fond of run-on sentences, wanted to target writers:


If you're going to spam/scam me, please use correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. It's the least you can do.
~

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1 Comments:

Blogger Not Waving But Drowning said...

What makes me so angry is that there are many people who get taken in. A common one here is the "Grandparent Scam", wherein an individual will phone an elderly person via a bad phone connection and claim to be their grandchild. They will state they cannot let their parent know that they had a minor car accident, etc and need money quickly. Ever helpful, a money order will be sent. Given their shame, many are reluctant to report the crime.

2:56 PM  

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