# Is this random text generated by a worm or virus?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-random-text-generated-by-a-worm-or-virus/230249>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 20, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-random-text-generated-by-a-worm-or-virus/230249 "2004-02-20T19:40:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![domesticatedjunglefowl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@domesticatedjunglefowl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domesticatedjunglefowl)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-random-text-generated-by-a-worm-or-virus/230249/1 "2004-02-20T19:40:04Z")

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So I have an old yahoo email account that was overrun by spam. I switched to an obscure e-mail service and have not received any unsolicited e-mail of any kind for about a year and a half. Every now and then I go back into my old yahoo webmail to hunt for valid emails. I found a string of about 5 emails in a row that seem to be random text. Here is one of the emails in blue:  
From: “Vern Andrews” \<\*\*\*\*\*\*\*@aol.com\> Add to Address Book  
To: \*\*\*\*\*\*\*@yahoo.com  
CC: \*\*\*\*\*\*\*@yahoo.com  
Subject: [Tory] receptacle sapient jowl spear

You have a $250 gift certificate waiting for you.  
Simply visit our site and redeem it.

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The underlined ‘‘visit this site’’ is a link to [http://P\>@www.bizletters.biz/?billie=Kaufman](http://P%3E@www.bizletters.biz/?billie=Kaufman). Naturally I didn’t click on the hyperlink.  
The other emails are equally cryptic at best. Any idea what that is?

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-random-text-generated-by-a-worm-or-virus/230249/2 "2004-02-20T19:48:39Z")

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Almost certainly simple spam. The random words are designed to fool spam filters into letting it through.

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**Author:** ![domesticatedjunglefowl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@domesticatedjunglefowl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domesticatedjunglefowl)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-random-text-generated-by-a-worm-or-virus/230249/3 "2004-02-20T19:55:32Z")

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> [@r\_k](#):
>
> Almost certainly simple spam. The random words are designed to fool spam filters into letting it through.

Thanks. Just found the text a little odd.

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**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-random-text-generated-by-a-worm-or-virus/230249/4 "2004-02-20T20:07:06Z")

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This is called **hashbusting** , a technique used by spammers to avoid being filtered by anti-spam technology that works based on contents of the e-mail body.

A cite: [http://www.mail-archive.com/fork@xent.com/msg14506.html](http://www.mail-archive.com/fork@xent.com/msg14506.html)