I just posted what I (humbly) believe to be my defining tweet: https://twitter.com/#!/sachagroves/status/129691130668392448
"I've started a new Web 2.0 enterprise. It's an asocial network. You aren't invited."
Only after I had smugly told myself how brilliant I was did I notice that is was my 1,111th tweet.
11:11
Reality is bullshit.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
4219
Just received a 419 scam claiming to be from Gaddafi's daughter. Which I find simply and amazingly entertaining. It's interesting to me that the scammers are trying to keep up with current events.
What next? Surely the tack to take would be to fake celebrities asking for help? That'd grab a much larger percentage of the moron set. What does Joe Gamblingdebt care for the plight of Miss Gaddafi? He's probably never heard of Libby Ya. On the other hand, what if Wesley Snipes wrote to him to ask for help with a slight tax problem he's having? Or, um (my celebrity knowledge is piffling to low), one of those Kardomonians or whatever the hell they are?
But that got me really thinking.Where are the social engineering scams targeted at nerds and geeks? They hold all the passwords and, in general, a metric fraktonne of disposable income (I base that not on facts, but on average cost of cosplay costume + convention tickets + average airfare). Do the scammers think that, as targets, they are too difficult to fool? I seriously doubt that. Just ask George Lucas.
The scammers need to get with the program. Mr Eko Mungabungewe contacting me asking for help with a financial transaction doesn't interest me. "+Wil Wheaton or +Felicia Day needs your help!"? Hmmm, maybe I'm clicking on it, but probably not opening an attachment.
However, and I'm probably setting myself up here, this might work, even on me:
Dear sir,
My name is Douglas Adams. You may know me from my works in science fiction humour, animal conservation and Apple evangelism. Many years ago I faked my death as I was tired of phone calls with Hollywood executives about my Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy script and, frankly, the response my last book received on the internet.
I know, I'm sorry, I'm not proud of it.
Faking my death, that is. Not Mostly Harmless.
I found your name using a complicated algorithm designed personally by Steve Jobs (eh-hem, he isn't dead either) to trawl the internet, specifically social networks, for people who I felt could aid my cause.
You see, and I apologise sincerely for hard selling you, I wasn't careful enough about managing my finances for my extended retirement and have found myself, how does one put it?, skint as a dead dingo's donger. I may have mixed my colourful metaphors there.
If you are willing, I'm asking for your aid in moving some money from my deceased estate to an account I have in Nigeria. Which is in Africa, you may not have heard of it. When I next don the fedora, nose prosthetic and dark glasses, which is an effective yet terribly clichéd disguise, to visit my Lagorian banker I would be happy to impart 30% of the total to you.
Please contact me urgently at doglesehdem@scamthefirstworld.ng
Your friend,
Douglas Adams
What next? Surely the tack to take would be to fake celebrities asking for help? That'd grab a much larger percentage of the moron set. What does Joe Gamblingdebt care for the plight of Miss Gaddafi? He's probably never heard of Libby Ya. On the other hand, what if Wesley Snipes wrote to him to ask for help with a slight tax problem he's having? Or, um (my celebrity knowledge is piffling to low), one of those Kardomonians or whatever the hell they are?
But that got me really thinking.Where are the social engineering scams targeted at nerds and geeks? They hold all the passwords and, in general, a metric fraktonne of disposable income (I base that not on facts, but on average cost of cosplay costume + convention tickets + average airfare). Do the scammers think that, as targets, they are too difficult to fool? I seriously doubt that. Just ask George Lucas.
The scammers need to get with the program. Mr Eko Mungabungewe contacting me asking for help with a financial transaction doesn't interest me. "+Wil Wheaton or +Felicia Day needs your help!"? Hmmm, maybe I'm clicking on it, but probably not opening an attachment.
However, and I'm probably setting myself up here, this might work, even on me:
Dear sir,
My name is Douglas Adams. You may know me from my works in science fiction humour, animal conservation and Apple evangelism. Many years ago I faked my death as I was tired of phone calls with Hollywood executives about my Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy script and, frankly, the response my last book received on the internet.
I know, I'm sorry, I'm not proud of it.
Faking my death, that is. Not Mostly Harmless.
I found your name using a complicated algorithm designed personally by Steve Jobs (eh-hem, he isn't dead either) to trawl the internet, specifically social networks, for people who I felt could aid my cause.
You see, and I apologise sincerely for hard selling you, I wasn't careful enough about managing my finances for my extended retirement and have found myself, how does one put it?, skint as a dead dingo's donger. I may have mixed my colourful metaphors there.
If you are willing, I'm asking for your aid in moving some money from my deceased estate to an account I have in Nigeria. Which is in Africa, you may not have heard of it. When I next don the fedora, nose prosthetic and dark glasses, which is an effective yet terribly clichéd disguise, to visit my Lagorian banker I would be happy to impart 30% of the total to you.
Please contact me urgently at doglesehdem@scamthefirstworld.ng
Your friend,
Douglas Adams
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