# Weird Spam **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868 "2011-04-10T15:03:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/1 "2011-04-10T15:03:47Z")
Almost looks like it’s in code. 😃 > [@](#): > > From: Joyce Munoz ([joyce.munozkkz@hotmail.com](mailto:joyce.munozkkz@hotmail.com)) > Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 6:23 AM > Subject: Re:Best%Casino-Click > H(Ad Spi@noz&a se~eN t!he shadOw of @a sHameFul DeAth hovering ov$er the sP~irited ve_teRan, H^ad He fOreknoWn ^tH!at t^he poor o@ld gentlE$M(an–tool of @two desperate roues and a femme galante,–wa^S &tO bE ExeCu(Te d in PAri!s !for Th#is vERy conspiracy, (th(e worDs t@hat &s~o(uNd^Ed so tediously in ^hi#s ear wo&UL!d havE ta^Ken on a tragiC dignity. They appr oachEd t&h~e village, wh(o!se hu~ts loomed soLemnLy betweEn !the woods an d the duneS in &the sof(Tening twiLight. h#ttp://fac!ebook.~co%m/E&zASl9 T_H~E Va$n den E ndes @Were lodged wi^Th the c^aPtain o(F A _fiShi~nG-sMAck in a long, nArrOw woOden house with slopiNg ~moSsY ~til#es and sMa_ll-pan^E#d !w~indows. The _olD man threw oPeN the dO_Or of the L@ittle shell-De~co(r$ateD p(aRlor An$D peEred in. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/2 "2011-04-10T15:09:52Z")
That’s it! That’s it! At last! I can complete my calculations! My formula will be complete! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/3 "2011-04-10T15:17:00Z")
I gave up trying to make sense of spam long ago. These guys have all sorts of tricks: the message can be gibberish, the point could simply be to see whether the email gets delivered or opened. They then know the address is active. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/4 "2011-04-10T15:30:14Z")
or if they get posted to message boards, proving they’re bypassing the spam filters. Why is it that the spam filters can’t recognize gibberish like that? I mean, there are bad typos, and then there are _bad_ typos. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/5 "2011-04-10T15:38:28Z")
> [@simster](#): > > or if they get posted to message boards, proving they’re bypassing the spam filters. > > Why is it that the spam filters can’t recognize gibberish like that? I mean, there are bad typos, and then there are _bad_ typos. Because the filters have to be loaded with the words to look for. It’s easy to look for “Viagra”. Not so easy to come up with every variation that can come out of a keyboard. Repeat for penis, breasts, Ugg boots, Air Jordan, every electronic device known to man, etc. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/6 "2011-04-10T15:40:44Z")
The email subject title Best Casino might have been a clue. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/7 "2011-04-10T17:50:36Z")
This is a coded message. I don’t posses the code, but I’ve seen it before. Often they will post it on Google Groups or anywhere it will stay for awhile. You were sent the message in error. That’s my guess anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/8 "2011-04-10T18:18:41Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > This is a coded message. I don’t posses the code, but I’ve seen it before. Often they will post it on Google Groups or anywhere it will stay for awhile. You were sent the message in error. You mean it might be secret instructions to “attack at dawn”? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/9 "2011-04-10T21:05:11Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > This is a coded message. I don’t posses the code, but I’ve seen it before. Often they will post it on Google Groups or anywhere it will stay for awhile. You were sent the message in error. > > That’s my guess anyway. Just because it was something posted to Google Groups doesn’t mean it ISN’T spam. They’re not magically better at detecting spam than mail-servers are. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-spam/577868/10 "2011-04-10T23:07:33Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Because the filters have to be loaded with the words to look for. It’s easy to look for “Viagra”. Not so easy to come up with every variation that can come out of a keyboard. Repeat for penis, breasts, Ugg boots, Air Jordan, every electronic device known to man, etc. And that’s why this crap gets thru - not only should the spam filters look for _obvious_ words that are likely to be spam, they should also be able to determine the number and type of typo’s (hell, we’ve got spell checkers, right?) - and if the body of a text contains such massive typos and, in this case specifically, special chars inserted into the txt strings - that should set the spam filters on high alert. hell, in my perl days, writing a regex to do this type of filter would have been child-play (split the string into words, check each word for x, count the number of x, set a threshold on kicking it.) Not saying that it should kick for simple typos (even a lot of them or I’d never get an email from my SIL), but things like this one are clearly ‘spam’. The only ‘other’ reason that it might _not_ be spam is if for some reason the char encoding got messed up - and the local OS is doing its level best to compensate - but I seriously doubt that.