Justyn Smith | Blog » SPAM

Twitter hacked by Acai Berry spammers

Justyn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:39:57 +0000

My Twitter account was compromised (I have since changed my password) which resulted in some of my friends recently receiving direct messages from me offering options to lose weight.

People that have had their account hacked will be sending messages similar to this one:

did not think i was really going to lose weight, i did it though! with this... http://tinyurl.com/yhbx5kl

Spam Message 1

Here is another screenshot with different messages.

Spam Message 2

Last but not least, one final screenshot.

Spam Message 3

As you can see, if you have a few followers they will get annoyed with your messages. I didn’t even know my account was compromised until my friend Ryan informed me about the message I supposedly sent him on Twitter.

I did some Google Searches on the issue and only came across one other post written by Graham Cluley dating back to May 24, 2009. I would like to know if anyone else has had this happen to them so please comment and let me know.

Has reCaptcha been cracked?

Justyn — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:58:48 +0000

I’m not sure what to say here, I have ReCaptcha on my blog to fight spam comments, and my idea was it was to stop bots from spamming the comments. Lately I have been getting 20-30 comment’s waiting for approval, ones like these:

- Yeah … Here people used to say: ABC teach – in all hut shout:).
- I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.
- Horoshaya infa!.
- Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.
- Purely my IMHO – you can not make the choice. Good luck, think about it..

They seem to be coming mainly from .ru domains. Has anyone else using ReCaptcha noticed this recently?

Email Hoaxes

Justyn — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:17:27 +0000

I have received not only one, but two email hoaxes from friends within three days of themselves.

The first one is the good old “Bill Gates will give you money if you forward this”, the other being “Ericsson giving away free laptops”.

Now here is some of the transcript from the emails, and why they are hoaxes.

First email, Bill Gates / AOL giving away money (Seems too good to be true).

Subject: Please read!!!! This was on Oprah!
Content: THIS WAS FEATURED ON TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY – IT IS FOR REAL

Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, you will regret it later.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay
you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on,
Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives
it, You will be paid $241.00. Within tw! o weeks, Microsoft will contact
you for your address and then send you a check.

Now how does Microsoft know your address and where to send the cheque too. Further down in the email, it states one person received $24,000. Bill is also putting most of his money into the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. So what makes you think your so important for Microsoft to give away money for nothing?

Second email, Ericsson giving away free laptop.

Subject: Free Ericsson Laptops – HURRY UP?
Content: Ericsson is distributing free laptops for their brand promotion.
They hope to increase their popularity and sale by this campaign.
All you need to do is send an email about this to 8 people and you will receive an Ericsson T18 Laptop. However, if you send an email about this to 20 or more people, you will receive an Ericsson R320 Laptop.

Make sure you send a copy to: anna.swelung@ericsson.com.

If you do a quick Google Search on the T18 and also on the R320, you will find this is a mobile phone, not a laptop. Now this email has been going around for quite a few years, as with the previous Bill Gates / AOL one.

You can read more about the Microsoft / AOL hoax over at Hoax Slayer and Snopes. You can read more about the Ericsson hoax over at Hoax Slayer and Urban Legend.

I’m sure there are other sources of information out there, if you do some Googling you can find results easy.

Akismet; Spam comments

Justyn — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:50:09 +0000

Well, I was going through my comments that Akismet happened to catch. I am suprised at the amount of garbage that would get through if it wasn’t for Akismet.

Just going through the comments, there is things in there that are quite strange, like:

Thankfully modern penis enlargement techniques offer REAL results and empower men to add between 1-3 inches in length as well as increased girth to their penis – GUARANTEED.

Okay, so if there isn’t enough spam emails going around for penis enlargements, now bots have to attack comment fields too.

Brutal and truly shocking rape fantasies site, once you check it out 6 tgp forced Check out these awesome forced sex video will blow your mind pic transformation breeding dog forced

Now this one is quite strange. I can’t believe people actually look at that kind of stuff, like breeding dog forced and everything. Whatever tickles your fancy I guess, but I’m sure you should put yourself into a mental institution.

Now I am wondering, how many of you people actually find these bizarre comments on your blog(s) that have been blocked?

SPAM is getting smarter, or people are more stupid

Justyn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:28:47 +0000

I just got the following email, from admin@microsoft.com with the subject Internet Explorer 7. Now the contents of this email seems legit, but is totally fake.

Download the latest version!

About this mailing:
You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to MSN Featured Offers. Microsoft respects your privacy. If you do not wish to receive this MSN Featured Offers e-mail, please click the “Unsubscribe” link below. This will not unsubscribe you from e-mail communications from third-party advertisers that may appear in MSN Feature Offers. This shall not constitute an offer by MSN. MSN shall not be responsible or liable for the advertisers’ content nor any of the goods or service advertised. Prices and item availability subject to change without notice.

2008 Microsoft | Unsubscribe | More Newsletters | Privacy
Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052

Please do NOT click on the link to download the latest version, this goes to some anonymous website, most likely infecting your PC. Always, and I mean always use official, microsoft.com website for any updates.

Happy internetting!