you be the sherlock, i'll be the watson

October 28, 2011 8:17 AM

I got this scam email with what looks like a CODE!!!!!!!! Is it a code?!

I'm looking for new rental houses, so I've been emailing lots of third parties off of Craigslist. One response was the classic credit report scam where the 'realtor' asks you to get a 'free' credit report before you can have any more information. When you submit the credit report link, the referrer (realtor) gets money and you get a monthly charge tacked on your card. The email was in absolutely perfect English.

This response also included what looks like a code:


-=_-_.=,__,.__,,,.._--__---.,.=
-,_.=,--,-_=__-__=_,_,.==-._.-,=.
-_.==.=_,_,_,-.__.-...=,
==.==.=-,=-,,=..,=-.=_,.=_-

HI, 200BURRITOS
WELL-WRITTEN SCAM EMAIL BODY HERE
THANKS,
HEARTLESS SCAMMER

-,,,=.=,=.=,--.__-_.,,.-_,
,.=.==__.,=-=,.._=_=_-,,--,==__,,.,-=-==-_=
=..,-_--==,,,.=__-=-_=,._--_=,_-=_,-__--
-_._-.=_--=_,_=,.__-,_..,-__._.==.==-,--_.-=_
_=.=_,,.,_,,=.=,,.=.._,=,.,=-._



It doesn't seem like a pattern because it's not particularly beautiful. It seems like it really might be a code of some kind. What could it possibly mean?

posted by 200burritos to Technology (2 answers total)

Best answer: It's probably not a code. More likely it's a hash buster. Hash buster's are used by spammers to make it more difficult for automated anti-spam software to determine that multiple e-mails actually contain the same semantic content.
posted by RichardP at 8:22 AM on October 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

I once received one of those and the code looking part was actually ascii lettering. I had to shrink the font size to see the whole thing. It said something like "viagra for 1 dollar."
posted by M Edward at 10:48 AM on October 28, 2011