Those lucky SPAM hoard recipients

cproggie oughta offer free POP3 email for anyone with 1000+ posts!

Some recently revieved mail:

from: K.S. Savimbi

This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the
fact that we have not yet met. The message could be
strange but real if you pay some attention to it. I
could have notified you about it at least for the sake
of your integrity. Please accept my sincere apologies.
In bringing this message of goodwill to you, I have to
say that I have no intentions of causing you any
pains.

I am Mr. K.S.Savimbi, son of the late rebel leader
Jonas Savimbi of Angola who was killed on the 22nd of
Febuary 2002 . I managed to get your contact details
through the internet myself Time is of the importance
and I was desperately looking for a person to assist
me in this confidential business.

My late father, Jonas Savimbi was able to deposit a
large sum of money in different banks in Europe My
father is presently dead, and the movement of his
family members (including me) is restricted. We are
forbidden to either travel abroad or out of our
localities. Presently our movement are monitored.
Right now there is a rush for all my Father's wealth
but home and Abroad by the Government who are claiming that
most of the wealth was got by Arms smuggling and therefore
illegal and by my father,s extended family and relations.

You can know more about my father by checking his profile at
URL below: WWW.kwacha.com/edoc2.htm

His wealth has been estimated to be $500 million to over
$1 billion and being close to my father I happen to be in
possesion of documents and information of some of the wealth.
Approx. $250 million and only my trusted mother knows that
I have this information.

Presently, the US$30,000,000.00 (Thirty Million usd
Dollars) cash my father transfered to Europe before his
death is deposited with some security firms in Europe and Africa.
Before you can get access to it I have to give you the
password I am therefore soliciting your help to travel
to Europe to recieve this money and transfer
into your account before my government get wind of
this fund .You know my father was a rebel leader in
Angola before his death My reason for doing this is
because it will be difficult for the Angolan government
to trace my father's money to an individual's account,
especially when such an individual has no relationship ,
I decided to keep that money for my family use.
At present the money is kept in a Security Company in
Amsterdam,Netherland.

I am currently and temporarily living in Lome,Togo.
with my family for my refugee status.I intend to
communication with you as regards this transaction
on a satelite phone to avoid intervention by anybody.

Moreover, the political climate in Lome,Togo. at the
moment being so sensitive and unstable.With this
password and information and I will send you a
power of attorney to the security firm, When you
are ready I will give you the information needed
before you can get access to the fund you will then
proceed to Amsterdam,Netherland, where the US$30,000,000.00
will be given to you as payment.

PLEASE YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS
TRANSACTION IS HIGHLY REQUIRED.


Yours sincerely,
K.S. Savimbi.

And I signed up for taht account w/ a fake name and everything.

Ah, the African scam. I haven't seen it with that name before. The original was from Nigeria and incredibly, some people were duped into playing along!

What do you mean were? 419 scams from africa, (Nigeria usually) are still estimated to bring in over $10 Million a year. It is by some reports the fifth largest industry in the nation. There is even a special division of the FBI and Secret Service assigned to investigate them.

>Q: Is it a good idea to unsubscobe fromt eh mailing lists, or as someone suggested, that only tells the senders you're alive and reading their email?

It's generally a bad idea to respond to spam by sending them an unsubcribe email. They are sending you spam, they know that you haven't asked for it, and they don't care if you don't want it. Sending them an unsubscribe message simply confirms that you are receiving and you will go straight to the top of the Spam list.

Some b@st@rd sends me the same spam message every day, usually twice. I visited the site to find an email address or any contact information. There were none. A WhoIs query simply revealed someone in China, but again no identifiable information.

If you put your address on a website, it may be worth considering somesort of armouring of the address, i.e

me(at)somewhere(dot)com

This would ruin the chances of all SpamBots, while allowing people to decode your address if they want to. Certainly don't include mailto: in your http code, as this is easily parsable.