Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/07/08/psa-digital-scammers-will-try.html
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Oh yeah, I’ve gotten that one several times, it’s always good for a laugh. Especially when they say “I recorded you doing things through your webcam,” and I don’t have a webcam. Let alone use the password in question, which is almost a decade out of date. Plus the email account has no contacts listed in the contacts list. Just a plethora of fail.
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I get that same email every4 weeks exact same message, plus a ton of “Your DHL/Purolator/UPX/etc is waiting…” or your Bank account at RBC/TD/Scotia has been compromised click our link …"
Must be enough naive people out there to make this work.
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I had some fun with these a while ago. I got two, diff’ed them…
…and turned it into audio - stereophonic diff!
It remains my most-visited blog post which makes me half sad and half amused that worried people find my silly little art project 
I should use Scams for SEO more often, I guess.
// Feels like I posted this before, in which case: sorry!
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If they have to twiddle with Unicode to get around the spam filters, it’s not a real threat.
Z̸̧̥̺̖͍͉̊̈́̇̋̈́̓̒͜à̴̻͍̩͎l̶͍̥̲̤̲͓̮͓͔̻̝̄̎̈́̊̐̈̋͠g̶̼͍̗̥͍͉̅͗ō̸̡͖̰͎̖͚͚̫͖̘͛͛̏́̇̄̾̍̍̀̈́ ̸̤͇͕͍́ţ̶̳̤͔̭̩̫̔̔́͊̎̈́͐̓̐͂͠ͅè̴̡̢̛̥̯̤̣̰̬͉̲͚͚͆̀͑͑̀̔̅͌͘͠ͅx̷̘̻͚̟̟͑̄͜ṯ̷̙̗̖̲̭̪̖͇̻̲̤͒̾̓͗̄̎͐̾̍̍̿͘͜ ̵̢̻̥͔̯̻͗̈́̌́̎̆̀̏͘͜͝m̴̞̱̈́͒̌̋͗͆̇̉̆̚͝i̷̢̛̘͒̆̓͑̌͐̽̔͐̈́̎̒͝g̷͓̪͍̳̰̪͖̫̺͕͒̌͗̔̃͆́̊̑̇̊̈̽h̸̡̨̛͓̞͔̭͍̳̋̃̂t̶̨̧̟̙̉̉̅̎͋͗̈́͠ ̷̞̆̎̎c̷̭̞͎̹̟̜̝̩̉́r̶͔͈̗͔̫͕̂̎̍̅̍̚͘e̶̡̧̧̠͙̥̺̠̝̓̋e̴̖̠̝̙̱̜̳̿͜p̷̬̺̲̝̱̮̪͖̪͚̆̐͋̐̍̆̓̂̕͝ͅ ̵̨̨̛̺͍͙͔̻͚̰̂̾͆̓͊̉̊̒̄͘̚̕͜s̷̫̮̜̯̪̝̐̕o̴̝̪̳̩͈̺͕̫̼̦̹̮̊̔̏̌͑͘͝m̶̨̦̤̩͔̯̄̅e̴̡͖̺̠̤̅̌͛͑̇̀̒͛̔̚o̴̮̊̀̓n̸̢̢̳̲̪͈̲̖̼͇̗̹̱͍͂̐͑ͅė̶̡͎͚̻̜͎͙̟̝̞͍̘̙̗̙̋̓͛̈́̚ ̷̘̎̑̂̍̌̂́̔͒́̃̆͒͂͝ͅö̴̡͕͐̓̽̅͑̽̈́̌̀̈͋͗͘ȕ̸̩̤̺͖̺̩͔͓̙̣̫̭̹͎͉͛͑͐̑̈́͛͋̆̈́̒̕͘t̷̥̤͚̺͚̼̱̠͂̋̅͒̄̈́̄́̈̉̅͐͘͜͠ͅ ̶̧̠̘̫͙̗͚̦̾̽͝e̵̡̟͎͕̲͓̔̿̒́͐̍̔͑͜ń̷͎̗̟͔̳̖͕͔̈͊̓̍̔̽̎̀͜͜͜o̷̝̾͐̏̈́̓̀̃͗̽̀͠͝ų̴̖̩̓̔͐̉ͅg̵̢̫͎͚͔̪̘̐͜ẖ̸̨̯̫̳̀̾̆͌̎ͅ ̸̹̥̩́̿̋̎͒́͠ţ̸̨̙͉̣̺͇̙̭͎̟̿̄͆̀̉̃̀̓͒͘ḥ̶͈͗̀̅́̀͑̐̊́̍̀͒͘͝e̶̫̟̰͂̕y̶̱̹̜̾͗̅̀̌͑͝ ̵̮̙̜͓̝̫̠̉̐̚b̵͙͙̗̥̱̩̯̞̱̏̐̓̒̆̍̏̑̌͌̅͐̕̕͝ͅe̵̛̲͇̙͖̋̊͆̽͂̂͠ļ̵͍̩̗̭̰͕̲̬̟͎͌͑̇́́̾́į̶̳̣̘̮̥͉̯͕͇̰̯̆̃̀̈͛́͗͒̂̓̚ė̷͇̱̬̺̱̗͍̘̞̹̞̣̗̞̌̆͆v̶̛̠̺̦̭̲̘̥͑̊̏̅̃͋͂̀͂͜͠͝ͅẹ̶̺̠̝͖̫̠̽͗̿̿̍̊̀̒̔͘͜͝ ̵̢̨͙̞̤̙̥̯̏̀ͅi̸̢̭̤̙̻̳͑̑̈͒̈́͛̒͐̈́̕̕͜t̴̨̼͈͊̈́͛́̂̆̈́́.̵̡͔̲̈̍͊̾̑̉̋̈̇̑̂͝͠
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The phraseology and style of the message really conveys a picture of whichever (barely) human first laid it out: a slimy, smarmy, smirking and sweaty little man with itchy palms.
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I have a camera on my laptop, but the 1st thing I did was cover it with part of a post-it. So no videos of me can be taken.
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Never pay scammers (you know what I mean).
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It’s always interesting to plug the Bitcoin account into a blockchain lookup site to see if anybody actually fell for the scam.
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1LBwjqzbSi63ZTEXEyuSrpcpuWQKMyA7jq
Doesn’t look like anybody has fell for this one yet. Usually there’s always at least one sucker.
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Damn, I already sent 3 bitcoins. Was that a mistake? 
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You could always filter based on the presence of characters not used by your language, for that matter.
If you have a Post-it over your web cam, then you know it’s a scam.
I cannot tell you how many of our employees have contacted me worrying about these scam emails. I even had to write a creatively-worded (you know what I mean) email to all staff reassuring them that it’s nothing, they can ignore it. I even provided a link to the Krebs.
The best though is one employee in particular who is not just upset at having received one of these scam emails, but is morally offended that such a filthy email exists, and would like for me, personally, in the name of Jesus Christ Her Lord and Savior, to do something about it.
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Pretty sure Gmail and iCloud, at least, do that. I never see spam unless I’m mucking out my junk folders.
My wife still uses Hotmail/Live/whatever they call it now and she’s innundated by scam emails like this.
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I like to tell scammers that I sent the payment. Then gin up fake screenshots which contain typos.
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I’ve had a few of these slip through the spam filter. I’ve also gotten to the point where I never look in my spam folder. I figure that anything ending up there did something to deserve it. So far my life has proceeded well enough without them.
The most recent one I got only asked for $60 dollars. You must make more entertaining videos than I do…
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Maybe they are doing A/B testing metrics on the amount they ask for… Since they are sending out the spam in bulk it would be pretty trivial to test different price points, though I suppose it would be harder to do that based on demographics which they probably don’t have and don’t bother with.
