Just got another one of these, only this time it was a dire warning that Windows Defender had identified a horribly virus and don’t try to turn off your computer! Call this number! Gosh, I might be a little concerned if it wasn’t for the fact that her computer is an iMac. 
I got an email in my spam folder
the name is Christian Matches
& the email address is {something}{@}weinlove{dot}de
I’m sooo clicking on that link except for:
- She’d be really upset if I signed up for an online dating site, which is a strong indication that I’m not unattached
- If I was looking, this is not the site I’d go for. If that’s the first thing you put out there about yourself you’re not the one for me, the same as if it was {Political party} Matches or ___ Matches
- Assuming the above two were not issues, I’m not interested in a German mail-order bride
Has anybody else been inundated by spam from South Africa lately? That seems to be everything in my filter - scams ending in .za-com.
I wonder why? 
If it’s spam & a fake email address, what makes you think the last part o the address.(za-com) part is real?
That’s not a legitimate TLD so those aren’t real addresses.
The .za TLD is for South Africa and .com is a general international TLD. (It was originally meant for “commercial” usage but long ago changed to being used for anything.)
The “.za-com” is gibberish as a TLD, unless that’s actually a domain or other part of a URL you’re confusing for a TLD.
Got it. Just seemed weird everything since New Years has been ending with that.
Somewhere out there in the world… Kirsten Dunst is weeping inconsolably because she could not land Spiderman.
♫ Right there… there goes the spiderman!
♫ Is he strong? Can he warm the “bud”?
♫ He’s got radioactive blood
♫ Can he swing from a thread?
♫ Your chest & cheeks will be turning red
♫ Right there… there goes the spiderman!
♫ In quilts of Bayhead… at the scene of the crime
♫ As he’s giving head… she’ll arrive just in time…!
*♫ Spiderman, Spiderman. *
♫ Friendly neighborhood spiderman
♫ Wealth and fame, he’s ignored
♫ Action is his reward
♫ Life is one great big fookup
♫ wherever there’s a hookup
♫ You’ll find the Spiderman!
If she bothered to look out her windows (plural) she would have seen my digits on a piece or paper spiderwebed right in the middle of the glass, but did she call? NOOOooo!
A guy will only wait for so long, yanno 
My email address is public, and so I semi-frequently get these “you can inve$t in this@!!” or whatever emails & dismiss them.
I got one this morning from a self-described “paralegal”, and it was like “your wife might be getting cut out of a will, you need to contact me at once!!!” and I started to dismiss it, but on closer reading the person knew too much about my wife’s family, and as it turned out it was…legit.
In fact, it turns out this guy administering the estate is famously skeevy within the family, and this is his sister ratting him out.
So, not a fucking scammer motherfucker, but a different thing all together. Though her brother is really a Nigerian Prince at heart, I suspect.
Well, while she’s incredibly beautiful, you’ll just have to look on the bright side.
There’s always Emily Stone… 
If he wasn’t having carnal relations with his mother, then it’s at least an improvement.
I mean, it’s a low bar, but works for me.
We just really, really like you.
As mentioned above, RSA has the “co.za” top level domain, and while there is some internal spam, we appear not to be big generators of international spam.
Still, if you want to have a romance, donate some money or engage in a blackmail scam, I am your man.
Fucking scammers need to be thrown in a tiny cell full of fleas and mosquitos, with the only parole option a small island infested with fire ants and they must be barefoot. 
Someone in another branch of our org got phone-scammed, and if the transactions can’t be blocked the company is out a large chunk of change, like low 5 figures large. What makes it worse is that this person is in a new role and has been having a hard time with it, but REALLY wants it, and has been doing everything they’ve been directed to do by TPTB in our org. And I can just see them dutifully doing what this person directed them to do thinking they were doing the right thing and being a good and helpful senior-worker-bee.
I don’t know if this will be the end of the road for them or if it will lead to a PIP or what, but I am just so sad for this truly good and hardworking person who simply has real difficulty with critical thinking in high stress, high info-volume situations. Not stupid at all, just the way the brain processes stuff.
I am furious and so very sad for them.
This morning when I looked at my phone messages, I had one from a number I don’t know that said “you are being deleted from this group.”
Obviously, this is using a FOMO approach to get me to frantically text back something along the lines of “wait, what? Who is this? I didn’t ask to be deleted from a group, what’s going on?” Then they will slowly get a conversation going and as we become “friends” and I start to trust them, they’ll let me in on a cryptocurrency deal or some such thing.
Or anyway, I think that’s a pretty safe bet as to what is going on. The question is, should I string them along?
I’ve been thinking of texting back something like “Hah hah, Bert, very funny - you can stop now.” And take the conversation from there.
Should I do this?
I would say no. Whatever you plan to do they have already encountered and are ready to deal with.
BTW, if I get a scammy call about the house, I tell them it burned down and I am homeless (somewhat true).
If I get a scammy call about health care, I tell them I won $43.5 million in Powerball and don’t need anyone’s help.
If I get a scammy call about my cell phone service, I tell them I don’t own a cell phone.
But is there any harm in amusing myself until they figure out I’m just jerking their chain?
They might guess this up front, from the rather atypical response. But since this type of scam plays the long game, gradually trying to win over the mark by slowly building a sense of intimacy and trust, I’m guessing it might be possible to toy with them for a while.
I mean, I understand that YOU wouldn’t want to engage - which is a perfectly reasonable answer. I guess my question should be, is there any risk involved if I decide to answer (given that I would divulge no personal information at all).
Besides the risk that talking to them for any amount of time puts you on lists that they can then sell to others, I guess having fun with them can work out…as long as these words are printed/written out in large letters in front of you for you to see during the call-“This Is A Scam!”.
Yeah, that’s the one possible downside I can see. I get extremely few scam calls on my phone. (I assume this is because the phone number was technically legitimate but the mobile phone itself was almost always turned off for 17 years, because we didn’t use the phone while we were living abroad.)
Anyway, it would be a shame to ruin that. As it is, I can safely answer calls from unknown numbers knowing that the chances it is a scam call are close to zero. I’d have to change that it the number got on more lists.
Just got a text from “Amazon” informing me that something I bought had dropped in price, so as a “gesture of appreciation” they wanted to issue me a refund - just click on the link. I go to my Amazon account, no notice of any pending refund.
Turns out it’s a known scam to harvest personal info. It did sound good for a few seconds.