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FIRST SCAM ARRIVES THIRD DAY OF
TEST
The first test message was sent to
the experiment's e-mail address at 7:26 AM on October 4, 2003. A
little over 56 hours later, the first scam e-mail arrived, claiming
to be from a refugee in the UK with 6 million dollars in a bank in
South Africa that he help to obtain.
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On October 4, 2003, I began a "spam and scams" experiment. The
purpose of this test is to document whether a moderately exposed e-mail
address will attract spam and scam e-mails generated through automated
processes.
The test is based on the following assumptions:
- E-mail addresses are harvested from internet pages by
webbots, programs designed to scan the web and collect information.
- In many instances, addresses that are collected are
never looked at by a human to filter out those that are non-viable.
Results from the test will be published on this
web-site. I will post the complete posts of some scams as well as
significant information associated with spam e-mail.
- October 4, 2003 - test begins
- October 6, 2003 -
The first result of the test is received, a scam requesting aid in
transferring a large sum of money.
- October 8, 2003 - Arrival of
the first virus and a second scam message,
another post looking for help in transferring a large amount of money
from an overseas account
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