# Unintelligable spam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198 "2003-02-15T02:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/1 "2003-02-15T02:10:32Z")
Recently, I’ve been getting some really weird emails. They’re obviously spam (and this is the address I don’t use for anything except friends, SDMB, and Fathom), but when I open them (accidently, of course), they’re just random letters and numbers. For example, this is what I got today: > [@](#): > > 3123366647210-SNMOONATSGKNGHCYQFLGFKXJMVDXBSRD- > > XBACRNOBAJBJEDKYUAEVYFABISMMPBWN Just like that. Nothing else. Any ideas what this could possibly be? ~monica ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/2 "2003-02-15T02:16:28Z")
Instructions from Osama ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/3 "2003-02-15T02:23:21Z")
Roughly 60 percent of the spam I get is completely unintelligable. Sometimes it’s blank. Often some messed up version of my name is used in the subject (“attention lobbo! would you like to have bigger breasts!?”, “business proposal for lob”) I get an awful lot of them that start with “RE:” (as if they were replying to something I sent - _as if!_) ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/4 "2003-02-15T03:22:13Z")
Just a guess, since I don’t open up any of this stuff: As my e-mail filtering entries evolve, so do the spammers. They have now resorted to complete gibberish in the titles (including some with foreign-language characters) to slip by the filtering process. The only possible payback that I can see for this type of spam is to harvest a valid e-mail address. There is probably some sort of auto-reply embedded in the nonsense that is triggered when you open the e-mail. Once again, just a guess. Anyone work for a spammer who is willing to identify themselves? ---
**Author:** ![plain\_jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@plain\_jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plain_jane)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/5 "2003-02-15T21:36:15Z")
Here’s a silly question about spam. I know it exists and why, but I don’t know the who: who sends this stuff? Is it individuals who make a percentage off it? Or companies? Who is doing it? ---
**Author:** ![Lostboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Lostboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lostboy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/6 "2003-02-15T22:31:33Z")
This article profiles one person who sends spam [article](http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend22_20021122.htm) and the followup about the same spammer trying to sue because people are getting junk mail sent to his house [another article](http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend6_20021206.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/7 "2003-02-15T22:51:20Z")
There was an excellent article about it in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine section. The point was that it’s going to continue to be almost impossible to keep it from coming. There may be a few bits of legislation that could help - such as outlawing the practice of forging and falsifying return addresses - but by and large, it’s within the law to try to sell things, even to people who weren’t looking for the product. Much like junk snail mail. Find the article. xo C. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintelligable-spam/155198/8 "2003-02-15T23:57:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lostboy \* > \*\*This article profiles one person who sends spam > [article](http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend22_20021122.htm) > > and the followup about the same spammer trying to sue because people are getting junk mail sent to his house > > [another article](http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend6_20021206.htm) \*\* I can’t believe that man is still alive! (is he?) What an utter shit of a man!