Show me your zuneface.

That was actually a quick but interesting read.

I never thought of that. I get scam emails like everyone does, and there are times I actually think (in the back of my mind) that I sort of *want* to help them make the thing more believable... because its so patently obvious that its a scam.

downstairs: because its so patently obvious that its a scam.

It is kind of a fun idea but I wondered when I read TFA whether the smart guys at MIcrosoft are incapable of thinking like uneducated dumb guys. The simpler explanation by far is that dumb guys write dumb scam emails and dumb people respond.

To be honest a lot of the so called Nigerian 419 scams aren't scams at all. I met Nigel Soladu when he had some money tied up in a Swiss bank.
I made a modest investment and got a great return on my investment.

The bit about a wrong password guess leading to a fake network is interesting, but I assume it would take more effort to implement than most companies are willing to spend. It would though, lead to some hilarious IT stories of employees being confused as all hell.

As for the scam, I've always wondered what kind of person not only falls for that sort of thing but continues to believe it and pour ever cent they can get their hands on down that hole. I guess the answer is the kind of person stupid enough to respond to those emails in the first place.

Huh, I just realized its been a few years since any of my email addresses have gotten spam. People still using hotmail or yahoo or something?

gaslight: [www.freeimagehosting.net image 640x263]

no, YOU go microsoft UR FACE!
Whatever that means.

BumpInTheNight: Huh, I just realized its been a few years since any of my email addresses have gotten spam. People still using hotmail or yahoo or something?

I've had the same email (my own domain) since like 1995. An email that old is going to get so much spam, that some will pass through the filters.

flucto: downstairs: because its so patently obvious that its a scam.
It is kind of a fun idea but I wondered when I read TFA whether the smart guys at MIcrosoft are incapable of thinking like uneducated dumb guys. The simpler explanation by far is that dumb guys write dumb scam emails and dumb people respond.


An interesting counter-theory you have, and somewhat Ocham-esque.

Still, were that the case, would there not also be a much greater amount of non-dumb scams written by non-dumb guys to which both dumb and non-dumb people might respond? Compare the amount of reasonably well-written email scams with proper bank graphics and such, to the volume of badly written Nigerian patently obvious scams. There was a brief period of those, and I'm sure some still go around, but they are comparatively rare now, unlike the grandiose ones in pidgin English. If they worked, scam artists in the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and better educated scam artists from elsewhere would be sending out emails that read like proper English and have more plausibility.

Another article about the same report went into more detail but also provided another, simpler theory: people -- be they scam artists or not -- tend to stick with what works. Why mess with success? That article quoted from snail mail letters that read virtually identical to the typical Nigerian email and which were posted as far back as the 1830s.

Imagine a hacker trying to break into a corporate network. Often he'll guess at a password; if he's wrong, he'll find out immediately. Or he'll probe some potential weakness in the network's security and quickly learn whether he's gained access. But maybe he shouldn't be told his password is wrong. Maybe he should be pulled into what he thinks is the corporate network until, an hour later, he realizes he's wandering around a cul-de-sac. In certain situations, it makes just as much sense to build trap doors and honey pots as it does to add locks or firewalls. If a thief knows you've got lots of safes filled with paper, and only one filled with cash, he might not bother spending time trying to crack them.

Well, I'm convinced. Instead of putting a dead bolt on my office/lab, I will just rent out 4-5 more offices and set them up to look real, but with cheap, hollow computers and electronics and lasers. That way there's only a 20% chance or so a thief will break into the right office/lab.

Of course, if the thief is tenacious and has time:

(Miami Vice episode, "Golden Triangle" part 1, one of a few episodes which featured Castillo the Cuban ninja in all his badassery.)

Interesting...a filter for stupid people.


This would be great for voting,
except that stupid people have a right to vote too.

Endrick: gaslight: [www.freeimagehosting.net image 640x263]

no, YOU go microsoft UR FACE!
Whatever that means.

put crappy product on your face?