The Pig's Lipstick

FBI Spam variant.

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:10:56 -0400

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONETARY CRIMES DIVISION

FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS J.EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING

935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001

Ref: FBI/DC/25/113/13/2013

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/executives/director

Your attention is needed immediately.

We have been informed through our global intelligence monitoring network that the sum of $10.500, 000.00, has been released from a bank in Africa bearing your name as the beneficiary without dist certificate to clear your name and fund from every terrorist or drug or money laundering activities.

We sincerely apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of a certified mail, phone call or a face-to-face conversation,We will also send you a certified email later it is due to the urgency and importance of the security information needed. To checkmate financial recklessness, illegal gambling, racketeering and considering the effect of the global financial crisis rocking the United States, our government with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) Washington, DC and the internet crime complaint center (ic3),alongside the CIA signed an agreement with U.K police for an immediate release of all overdue funds presently logged in their treasury and to ensure it is disbursed to the rightful beneficiaries in all parts of the world. If you the beneficiary would adhere to our instruction it will help you receive your payment immediatel.

The bank knowing fully well that they do not have enough facilities to make this payment from any part of the world to your account directly, used what we know as a secret diplomatic transit payment (s.d.t.p) method to make the payment. direct transfers are difficult and secret diplomatic transit payment (s.d.t.p) are not usually made unless the funds are related to terrorist activities and we ask why must your payment be made in a secret transfer if your transaction is legitimate.

We do not want you to get into trouble as soon as these funds reflect in your personal account, so it is our duty as an international agency to correct these little problems before this fund reflects into your personal account.

we advise you to contact us immediately, as your funds have been stopped and are being held in our custody, until you are able to provide us with the dist certificate within 3 days from the country that authorized the transfer to certify that the funds that you are about to receive are terrorist/drug free or we shall have cause to impound the payment and subsequently prosecute you for cross border terrorist financial activites.

based on our findings, our investigative department wish to warn you against some miscreants, hoodlums and touts who go about scamming innocent people by claiming to be who they are not and thereby tarnishing the image of this wonderful country. By sending out fraudulent emails without our official logo and emblem we shall release your funds immediately we receive this legal document and we will ensure that you receive your payment without any further delay.

Note

We decided to contact you directly by email to acquire the proper verifications and proof from you to show that you are the rightful person to receive this fund, because of the huge amount involved. Be informed that the funds are now with a top bank in the united state in your name and under the monitoring/custody of the FBI. At the moment, we have asked the bank not to release the fund to anybody that comes to them, unless we instruct them to do so, and only if we receive the dist certificate this is to enable us carry out a comprehensive investigation first before releasing the fund to you.

hence, you are to forward your dist certificate to us immediately if you have it in your possession, if you do not have it, then let us know so that we will direct you to the appropriate authority to obtain the certificate then you are to send it to our office. And thereafter, we will instruct the bank holding the funds, to go ahead and credit your account immediately. If you fail to provide the documents to this office, we will prosecute you and take appropriate action against you for not proving the legality of the funds.

Finally if you truly want to receive this funds without F.B.I troubles then reconfirm the following below

Name………………………………………………….

Address………………………………………………..

Sex………………………………………………………

Age……………………………………………………………

Contact number………………………………………..

Country of origin of funds……………………………..

Yours Faithfully

SPECIAL AGENT (admin division)

Colleen M. Conyngham

(BADGE NUMBER JTT047101111)

FOR FBI DIRECTOR

MR. ROBERT S. MUELLER.

cc: general intelligence department (GID)

cc federal bureau of investigation (fFBIi)

cc .internet crime complaint center (ic3)

cc: Asia pacific group on money laundering (APG)

cc: international monetary fund (IMF)

cc: international organization of securities commissions (IOSCO)

cc: international banking security association (IBSA)

cc: world customs organization (WCO)

cc: inter-American development bank (IADB)

cc: national white collar crime center (NW3C)

cc: bureau of justice assistance (BJA)

cc: supreme court of South Africa(SCA)

LEGAL NOTICE:

Unless expressly stated otherwise, this message is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. Access to this e-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an addressee, any disclosure or copying of the contents or any action taken (or not taken) in reliance on it is unauthorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an addressee, please inform the sender immediately.

AVISO LEGAL:

Salvo que se indique lo contrario, este mensaje es confidencial y puede ser privilegiada. Se pretende a su destinatario (s)solamente. El acceso a este e-mail por cualquier otra persona no estб autorizado. Si usted no es un destinatario, cualquier divulgaciуn o copia de lacontenidos ni de cualquier acciуn realizada (o no) en la dependencia en que no estб autorizado y puede ser ilegal. Si no son unadestinatario, por favor notifique al remitente de inmediato

DO NOT PRINT /FORWARD THIS MAIL ITS AGAINST THE FBI LAW

This e-mail, including any attachments, is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 10 U.S.C. 2510-2521

Impermanence.

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 17:08:41 -0400

I fled from the unloved Blogger to Posterous some time ago but now, having been acquired by Twitter, it’s about to close down.

It’s been quite simple, thanks to JustMigrate, to move my “belongings” up here on Tumblr but it’s a great reminder in the impermanence of any Internet service.

As to where to keep important things safe; i.e. photos, it’s a preoccupation. “In a photo album” seems to be the safest option though Flickr is a great product. For now anyway.

Another glorious email Spam

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:09:00 -0500

I might dedicate this site to the art of Spam.

“The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Festus (sic) must be damned.”

—

Hello,

I decided to be communicating with you with my personal email id, for the sake of confidentiality of this transaction,Please consider this mail considering the fact that we have not known each other before.My name is Dr.festus kwofie, an Account Officer to Late TONY ROBERT; an immigrant, who was a businessman and building contractor in Ghana.

I was his personal banker at the bank were i work,as his account officer. On the 21st of April 2010, unfortunately TONY ROBERT lost his life here in Ghana. The deceased has an account that valued huge sum of 10.5 million US Dollars, and I have contacted you to assist in safe guarding the said money left behind by TONY ROBERT in this bank before the bank authority gets it confiscated or declared unserviceable.

Particularly, the bank has issued me a notice to provide Tony Robert’s next of kin or have the account confiscated within a short time and I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years. Now I seek your consent to present you as Late Tony Robert’s Next of Kin, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid into your designated bank account in your country. I have all necessary information that can! be used to backup any claim we may make. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me by my email and send your telephone numbers to enable us discuss further about this transaction.

I can email by attachment all the documents covering the funds on your interest and request.

Best regards,

Dr.Festus kwofie

For Old Times' sake: classic spam scam

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:51:00 -0400

I received this today. It’s a beauty. Abimbola is, it turns out, a girls’ name not a boys’ name. But it does mean, according to this site, “born to be wealthy”.

—

Greetings!

I am Mr.Abimbola Johnson, a staff in the allocation department of

Central Bank of Nigeria. We give final endorsement to any transfer or

remittance of huge funds within banks both on the local and

international levels in line with IMF requirements.

I have before me list of unprocessed foreign payments emanating from

unclaimed deposits, over-invoicing ,etc. The necessary documentations

will be legally processed in your name if you consider my proposal.

Already, I have been instructed by Foreign Debts reconciliation

department to submit the list of payment analysis on expenditures and

audited reports of revenues.

My conditions:

1. The sum of USD17.7M only will be processed in your name with all

the relevant legal documentations bearing your name as the

beneficiary. The transfer will be made either by Draft, ATM payment or

telegraphic Transfer T/T.

2. This deal must be kept secret forever and all correspondence will

be strictly by email / telephone for security purposes.

3. There should be no third party to avoid leakage.

If you are in agreement with my terms, kindly send me your details as

stated below:

A: Your Full name and address

B: Your direct telephone number

C:Sex

D:Occupation.

E. Country

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Abimbola Johnson

Recommended Book: The Case for Working with Your Hands via...

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:10:00 -0400

Recommended Book: The Case for Working with Your Hands

via amazon.co.uk

Love this book.

Dan Bull - Republican Rap Battle

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:49:00 -0400

via youtube.com

Blurring the lines between what many people lazily term “UGC” and professional content: Dan Bull.

Domestic vignette

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:07:00 -0400

A (7 years): “I am literally starving”

N (A’s mother): “Do you know what literally means?”

A: “No. I used it randomly”

N: “Do you know what randomly means?”

A: “No”

Good Technology by Red Guitars

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:25:00 -0500

Thanks to Radio 6 for introducing me to this last night.

More about Red Guitars on Wikipedia.

An experiment ... [updated]

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:10:00 -0500

I’ve been contacted by an agency called More Digital who are offering me money to write a blog post about anything I like, so long as it includes a link one of their clients and it is in keeping with the rest of my blog. Since the blog is about stuff to do with the Internet and so on, the approach itself seems a legitimate topic.

I guess the agency’s plan is to ensure that their client gets lots of authentic-looking in-bound links and thus profits from an SEO perspective.

I’ve looked into it and although there are some doubters (here is some talk about it being a scam), it does seem as though people are receiving their payments.

Since gaming the relative SEO rankings of Italian poker companies doesn’t hurt anyone I thought I’d do it as an experiment.

If I get the money I will donate it to charity. If I don’t I will update this post as a warning.

Let’s see ..

—

Update: payment received and promptly given away.

Whether or not it’s good practice; it’s not a scam.

Book: You Are Not a Gadget

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:02:00 -0500

Loved this thoughtful book exploring the tension between our ideas of humanity and the kind of technological world we are choosing to rush into.

Here is a link to the book (no I am not getting affiliate fees!): You Are Not a Gadget on Amazon UK.

Here’s the author Jaron Lanier’s homepage.

And here are a few choice cuts:

—

“I had an epiphany once that I could stimulate in everyone else. The plausibilty of our human world, the fact that the buildings don’t all fall down and you can eat unpoisoned food that someone grew, is immediate palpable evidence of an ocean of goodwill and good behaviour from almost everyone, living or dead. We are bathed in what can be called love”.

—

“The distinction between first -order expression and derivative expression is lost on true believers in the hive. First-order expression is when someone presents a whole, a work that integrates its own worldview and aesthetic. It is something genuinely new in the world.

Second-order expression is made of fragmentary reactions to first-order expression. A movie like Blade Runner is first-order expression, as was the novel that inspired it, but a mashup in which a scene from the movie is accompanied by the anonymous masher’s favourite song is not in the same league.

I don’t claim I can build a meter to detect precisely where the boundary between first and second order expression lies. I am claiming, however, that the web 2.0 designs spin out gobs of the latter and choke off the former”.

—

“Take a look at one of the big cultural blogs, or the endless stream of mashups that appear on YouTube. It’s as if culture froze just before it became digitally open, and all we can do now is mine the past like salvagers picking over a garbage dump.

This is embarrassing. The whole point of connected media technologies was that we were supposed to come up with new, amazing cultural expression. No, more than that - we were supposed to invent better fundamental types of expression: not just movies but interactive virtual worlds; not just games but simulations with moral and aesthetic profundity.”

—

“Freedom is moot if you waste it. If the Internet is really designed to be no more than an ancillary medium, whcih I would view as a profound defeat, then it at least ought to do whatever it can not to bite the hand that feeds it - that is, it shouldn’t starve the commercial media industries.”

—

“So if you get in deep enough, you get trapped. Stop calling yourself a user.

You are being used”.

ITV ♥ video games - YouTube

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:49:00 -0400

via youtube.com

Is it ok to find this funny but to feel bad for the poor somebody at ITV at the same time?

Giving it a go.

Clip: White Men Can't Run (rom C4 Athletics site).

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:10:00 -0400

via athletics.channel4.com

Short-form, high-quality, professional made-for-online video journalism.
You don’t very often get to say that.

Embedding not working?

Link: http://athletics.channel4.com/watch-now/key-moments/videoid=1230751/index.html .

Elvis Presley / Candi Staton duet - In The Ghetto

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:56:00 -0400

via youtube.com

Elvis and Candi Staton mashed-up-duet over a moving video to bring new depth to a classic.

Last 30 seconds a bit unnecessary but hey.

BBC - BBC Three Programmes - Our War

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:30:00 -0400

via bbc.co.uk

When the Head of Documentaries at Channel 4 recommends you watch something on the BBC, it’s a good tip.

Amazing programme from BBC Three which I read is likely to find its way to BBC One before too long.

Balancing the Information Diet ("Online Filter Bubbles" - From TED)

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:15:00 -0400

Great - and brief - talk on the ethics of personalisation algorithms.

Bluefin Labs : Real-Time TV Audience Response Through Social Media [On Posterous]

Thu, 26 May 2011 06:53:00 -0400

via bluefinlabs.com

Another elegant idea for intelligently closing the loop between Broadcast TV and the audience.

The TV / Data romance is blossoming; everywhere and all at once.

[Update: Sorry. The player seems not to embed properly. See the video here: www.bluefinlabs.com ]

"Artificial clouds" could help cool 2022 Qatar World Cup (video from BBC Sport)

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:53:00 -0400

via news.bbc.co.uk

Key word is “could” but if this happens I will know for sure we are living in the future.

Interview with Slinkachu (from Don't Panic)

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 07:08:00 -0500

via dontpaniconline.com

Interview with ‘Slinkachu’, he of the heart-warmingly brilliant micro-installations.

Required viewing: E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops"

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:02:00 -0500

via video.google.com

Use the Internet a lot? Don’t get out much? Can you still concentrate for 50 minutes?

Watch this adaptation of E.M. Forster’s prescient “The Machine Stops” from 1966. I’m surprised this isn’t better known; or perhaps it is and I’m the last to pick up on it.

Blessed is The Machine.

This is wonderfully funny. Dispatches | Train Journeys From Hell #trainpain

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:50:00 -0500

via youtube.com

Beautifully done.