Is this spam?

February 25, 2006 7:30 AM

I received an e-mail claiming to have found my ad on a personals site for people over 40 (I'm 27). Is this mistaken identity, or some clever new form of spam?

The message is as follows:

Hi there

Did you get my last email?
I saw your ad on Senior Friend Finder ,I liked what you said there, so I thought I would write.
I'm not used to this area yet,I am still discovering things here, hope I can discover a new friend as well. I just moved near Calhan from Denver area about a month ago andI must say I really like it here.
I'd like to meet more people, I don't know anybody, except for my roomate who moved here a while back. She's made some friends through the internet and she says there's a lot of nice and interesting people I might find here.
I will be getting my own computer soon, right now I am on my friends computer. Well, a little about me, I am generally a happy and passionate person. I am probably not the most domestic person you will meet, but I more than make up for it with my wit, knowledge, good looks, good taste, and, of course, incredible modesty.
My roomate Christine thought I should email you and she showed me how to send it but nowI can't figure out how to attach my picture here. My friend and my picture are at www. Choosing your friendly match.com where she put them. You can locate my number 3075774. If you'll think you are interested, you can call me on my cell phone tomorrow at 65255181I'd like to try something different to meet new people now. I want a man that is not afraid to express his emotions.
Any way we can talk and see what we have in common and possibly get together if it feels comfortable. Bye,
Janie

P.S.
So,I hope we'll get in touch soon
I don't know how long I can use this address till I get my connection so call me and let's see where it goes.


It could just be she mistyped the address, but a couple things about the message sent up some flags. First, there's the lack of an area code on the cell phone, then there's the way the address of the website was written, which seems to be designed to get past spam filters.

Then again, the post script discourages me from responding, so if this is spam, how is it verifying my address?

posted by solotoro to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

It looks like spam, but I don't have the tech savvy to answer your other questions.
posted by Atreides at 7:33 AM on February 25, 2006

If you don't have a profile on that "over 40s" Web site, then forget about it. It's phishing. And, even if you did have a profile there, a response would be more specific.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 7:40 AM on February 25, 2006

google for 3075774
posted by andrew cooke at 7:40 AM on February 25, 2006

Yes, it's spam.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:43 AM on February 25, 2006

Huh? Why are you even asking this question? Of course it's spam. I've been getting spam like this for years.

Well, I guess the phone number thing is a new twist
posted by delmoi at 8:06 AM on February 25, 2006

The phone number is 8 digits long, which is unpossible for someone in the US, Canada, or Carribean.

Probably some russian h4xx0rz.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:51 AM on February 25, 2006

Response by poster: I asked because I hadn't gotten this sort of thing before, not one like it.

And good catch on the eight digits. I was only seeing seven, dropping that last 1.

It just wasn't clear to me what the POINT of this as spam would be. What's it selling?

And to the first point, my thought was that this might be directed toward someone with a similar e-mail who does have a profile on that website. Oh well.

Thanks all!
posted by solotoro at 5:23 PM on February 25, 2006