A GQ thread last week was about spotting a fake Rolex. This spurred me to Google on Rolexes and a Fake Rolexes. There was some very interesting readings, including some independent warnings about $1,000 fake Rolexes that are very convincing.
But I digress.
Within the next 30 mins, I got at least half a dozen e-mails about Rolexes for sale, fake Rolexes for sale…watches, etc.
I tested later in the day and got similar results.
Coincedence or not?
(I can only guess about spyware, etc. I don’t know conclusively if it is possible)
Weird. The first time I’d almost be willing to chalk up to coincidence but when it happens twice it’s kind of hard to dismiss. I can think of several possibilites.
I think we can be pretty sure that Google isn’t the culprit, they wouldn’t want the bad PR that would come from that kind of behaviour.
Are you using any strange browser toolbars or plug-ins that you downloaded from the net?
Did you request info from one of the watch sites you browsed and give them your email address? (Okay, I know that’s a dumb question. I just want to cover all of the bases.)
One possiblilty I can think of is that one of the big advertising networks has been tracking you via cookies (at least when you go to sites that have one of their banners) and has your email from something you filled in or ordered in the past. When you placed the order or made the inquiry they placed a cookie that either contains your address or is associated with it in their databases. While reading about watches you may have gone to a site that they track and they read the cookie and, knowing that you were looking at a watch site, sent emails about watches. I’m just guessing. I don’t even know if anyone operates like that, but I think it’s possible. I truly hope that they haven’t started doing this!
This is why I always delete all of the cookies when I close a browser. That way I can’t be tracked beyond one browser session.
I like Bosda’s “short wave radio” experiment. It would be interesting to see the results. But negative results wouldn’t necessarily prove anything. For example, if my cookie theory is correct, then two things would have to happen for you to get the emails:
You would have to visit a short wave site that is being tracked by the guilty advertiser.
They would have to have a current email advertising campaign for someone who sells things of interest to short wave enthusiasts.
I would imagine this is pretty unlikely and it may be the reason you’ve never seen this happen before.
Then Philster’s and your experience may be just coincidental. Someone may have just started a massive spam campaign for fake watches. With millions of the things going out, there are bound to be a few coincidences where someone receives it right after browsing for watches, or even while just thinking about them. (Imagine the horror of believing that spammers can read your mind! :eek: ) In your case rsa, it may be that this thread simply caused you to check your mail and the spam was already sitting there.
Of course, it’s also possible that both of you have some kind of spyware that’s reading everything you browse and responding to certain keywords. I think it’s unlikely but you may want to use “Adaware” or “Spybot Search and Destroy” to scan your systems, especially if it keeps happening.
It’s also possible that the person who started that Rolex thread (I’ve already closed the window now!) Recieved one of those e-mails which prompted him/her to start the thread in the first place.
My only input here is that there are some pretty complex/nast spyware and key loggers out there. Many take advantage of security holes in IE and ActiveX and may or may not be able to cause targetted Spam.
Try these utils which can identify and remove spyware and adware:
The Cleaner
Adaware
Spybot
You can also try the free online scan at www.pestpatrol.com. As an aside, the laughable thing about Pestpatrol is that it will scan your system, and after possibly identifying all sorts of nasties like keyloggers and trojans, will ask you to buy the product online to remove them. Fine, except who on earth would be happy disclosing their credit card number after finding out their PC is compromised…riiiiiiiiiiight.
I’m sure someone who knows more about these things will be along shortly…
Now I have crop circles out back! What the heck is going on?
Seriously, I’m gonna chalk it up as coincidence.
I hadn’t run Adaware or Spybot in a while, and since I did, it hasn’t happened. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t just coincidence, but it certainly means I can’t test. Doh! I should have tested first.
Stop conspiring against me! All of you. Must find foil hat…
Coincidence. The only thing that could do this would be spyware, which would be better off sending you to a website direct rather than involving the third parties of email and your email application.
Try searching google on “V!@gr@” or “mor76@ges”. If you get spam on them then that would prove everything beyond any doubt!
