Everybody's Phishing For Something

Edition #100 —November 24, 2007

A few days ago, my morning began with a threatening email. It was from someone on eBay who declared that I would be reported as a bad seller if I didn't respond within 5 hours. Next to the message was an eBay button with the words "respond now" on it. What did I do? I didn't respond.

This, of course, was another classic "phishing" email. These kinds of messages are made to look as though they came from a legitimate company website but are actually sent by thieves who want to steal your private information. This was the first one I'd seen from eBay — and it was good, too. The graphics were even coming from the eBay servers, to make it look real. If I was a regular eBay user, I might have responded by asking the sender what this was all about. Big mistake.

Responding would have confirmed that my email address is valid. That's gold to spammers since they can't find new victims if there's no one there to respond. Clicking that eBay button would likely also have set some nefarious scam into motion, or redirected me to a fake pharmaceuticals website or someplace that sells "growth" pills guaranteed to have the entire world lusting after my new, circus freaky man parts. Unfortunately, some fall for this kind of stuff and their money keeps spam flowing into our mailboxes.

The actual sender of this eBay email was someone named "eBay@mail6.dr.myx.net." I found that info in the message source code. Somewhere out there, a desperate, misguided individual is taking advantage of strangers he or she will never meet. Are they getting even for a lousy childhood, or just protesting that they are feeling anonymous in real life? Maybe they don't get email from anyone but those they rip off. Or, maybe this is how some folks try to get attention.

Sex Sells Diabetes?

To stay on topic: immediately after trashing the eBay phishing letter I checked the Yahoo.com homepage for news. As I was scanning the headlines, an annoying Flash banner ad was seeking to distract my attention. Something was weird about it though. I glanced at it just as the image of a young man holding a book was being obscured by a black curtain of color. Then the words "Do you want to see more of this hottie?" came on the screen.

I rarely click on banner ads and have never been attracted to male "hotties," yet something about the web address seemed out of sync with the advertising message itself. It said "GetSerious.ca." Why so serious? So I clicked on it. Guess where I landed?

It redirected me to diabetes.ca — a website for the Canadian Diabetes Association. At the top was some lame validation for their deceptive ad campaign. The rest of the page offered information on diabetes. I suspect it culminated in a "click here to donate" button somewhere. I didn't stick around to find it. I was disgusted within 3 seconds of arriving.

Diagnosis: here you have an legitimate company masquerading online as what? a dating service? a porn site? a celebrity website? It's obviously aimed at teenage girls. Those interested click on the misleading ad to find themselves somewhere they hadn't intended to visit. Maybe it's just me, but I would call that false advertising.

My being there as no accident. It flowed perfectly into the theme of the eBay phishing email I'd just trashed ie. the deception of unwitting consumers by opportunistic individuals or corporations. And with corrupt charities fresh on my mind, my first reaction was "it's probably a scam." After all, if they fooled me once, then it's my fault if they fool me again — isn't that how the rule goes?

If diabetes.ca is a legitimate website, then I hope they work out a way to help people without deceiving them. And if it is a scam site, then the shoe definitely fits. Ironically, a few days earlier an ex-girlfriend of mine emailed me. She has a history of lying to me, too. Guess who she works for? The Canadian Diabetes Association (no, I'm not sh*i*tting you).

Which brings me to the final lap of this endless race for truth in advertising.

Oh, Say Can You See... Democracy?

After watching the events unfurl in the media, I would like to share with you my impression of President Pervez Musharref's recipe for creating a democratic Pakistan. Here goes:

  1. Seize power through a military coup.
  2. Exile those who might defeat you in a democratic election.
  3. Jail your opponents and detractors.
  4. Shut down all non-governmental media (like communists do).
  5. Design your own Supreme Court; rewrite the Constitution.
  6. Invoke Marshall Law to legitimize the beating of protestors.
  7. Keep reassuring everyone that this is the road to democracy.

I gotta admit, Musharref's got it going on. Pervezident Bush could learn a thing or two from this guy. How else will the Republicans stay in power after the next election? I say call a state of emergency for the sake of "democracy" come next November, then have the cops arrest anyone who threatens to vote.

Yup, that's how to win these days. Maybe I will click that respond button and give my little phishing friend from eBayistan a fleeting sense of gratification. Then I'll eat lots of candy till I get diabetes. At least I know how to find their website — I'll just click on another misleading banner. Nice planet. Where are we again?

Oh, and there's one more thing.


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