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Computing/Internet

Spam Bait

Sky News has a list of the ten people whose names are used to attract people to read spam email. These are people who are apparently so attractive that we will be unable to resist their names in the subject line and we will open up emails containing viruses and other nasties. The top three are: Angelina Jolie, Barack Obama and Paris Hilton.

Personally, I wouldn’t be tempted to open a dodgy email with any of these names. Mind you, if someone started sending out spam with ‘free theological books’ or ‘photographs of spaniels’ I might just take the risk and open them!

What phrases might get you to open an email from a complete stranger? (This is a joke – of course you would never do such a daft thing!)

4 replies on “Spam Bait”

I must admit that I’m so calloused that nothing could get me to open up a spam message. But I do love looking at the subject lines sometimes, for a good laugh!

From my latest batch:

“Gains in length is now possible”
and
“do u want good pay job? World recognized University Dip1oma”

(Do you want good pay job? Learn from the experts who don’t have a clue about English grammar.)

I could go on.

“Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was preparing to comment on your blog”

PS. Eddie — why so apathetic about Barack Obama? You Euros are supposed to like him.

I do open spam messages. I see no reason not to, since viruses are unlkely to affect my UNIX box. I wonder at anyone who would be stupid enough to reply to an emailer who sends offers of large sums of money to “Undisclosed recipients” from email addresses not in the country they claim to be emailing from? Unless of course they are the “Ebola monkey man”, if you want a good laugh, google him.

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