Re: Spam names pattern change

From: Scott Chase (osteopilus@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat 06 Aug 2005 - 06:52:16 GMT

  • Next message: Lawrence deBivort: "RE: Spam names pattern change"

    --- Lawrence deBivort <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> wrote:

    > Greetings, all,
    >
    > I receive about 30 spam emails per day, most of
    > which are caught by my
    > filters and deposited into a 'junk mail' file. Every
    > now and them I glance
    > through the spam to see if some 'good' email has
    > been snagged.
    >
    > In the last five days or so, a strong pattern has
    > emerged. As you know,
    > spammers assume invented names; the pattern lies in
    > the choice of names they
    > are making. Of eighteen emails in this morning's
    > crop, thirteen sport
    > 'Jewish' names, and are given as one-name
    > identifiers, rather than the
    > normal 'given name/surname' format. Thus the emails
    > purport to be from:
    > Grinberg, Halpern, Glucksman, Glickman, Gottlieb,
    > Horowitz, Finkbein,
    > Emmanuel, etc. Of this morning's eighteen, two
    > names were ambiguous (Ellis
    > and Timothy).
    >
    > The content of the spam has not changed as far as I
    > can tell; drugs, sex
    > drugs, software titles dominate.
    >
    > I have been wondering why this is happening. Is it
    > designed to appeal to
    > Jewish readers? Is it designed to embarrass Jews?
    >
    > Are you finding this true in the spam you receive,
    > too?
    >
    > What do you make of this?
    >
    >
    I was about to say that I hadn't noticed this pattern, but just checked my junk mail and noticed spam from people claiming to be "Gould" and "Feldman". Maybe you've picked up on a recent trend. Not sure if it means anything.

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