Do You Guys Actually Respond to SPAM?

[purplehazze96]

I never even open it and figured nobody did...Anyway this weekend my email got hacked and THOUSANDS of spam emails were sent out with my yahoo account...theusual Nigerian $#%+, "you've inherited X amount of money, blah blah" "sendme you info to claim it"

As a result, the last two days my inbox has been flooded with response emails and these things are hilarious, some of them are straight up nasty

people cursing me out, death threats, threatening to tell the FBI, they'll call the police, etc

even a few "this is an obvious scam, but God Bless, Jesus loves you"

just wondering cause who actually responds to spam mail?

 

[steve hartridge]

I usually 'cus them out

 

[xxhonchoxx]

SHELL PETROLEUM INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY SOUTH AFRICA.
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER.
PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
REF #: 73284-294-1093
BATCH #: MELPUK-0385-SHI
TICKET #: 4278-8845-284

This is to inform you that your email ID has won $1,950,215.00USD (ONE MILLION,NINE
HUNDRED & FIFTY THOUSAND,TWO HUNDRED & FIFTEEN US DOLLARS) in the first
dip of our computer ballot email lottery with the said winning numbers
given below:-

REF #: 73284-294-1093
BATCH #: MELPUK-0385-SHI
TICKET #: 4278-8845-284

Emails were selected anonymously through a computer ballot system from over 35,000 companies & 70,000 individual e-mail addresses all over the world & your e-mail address emerged as one of the winners from 3rd Batch category. It is promoted& sponsored by Orient Software Corporation (Orient Networks) in collaboration with ONLINE SHELL PETROLEUM INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMO, SOUTH AFRICA.
Also note that from our record on file, your outstanding winning payment is US$,950,215.00 (ONE MILLION,NINE HUNDRED & FIFTY THOUSAND& TWO HUNDRED& FIFTEEN USD). Payment will be made to you in a CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT or WIRE TRANSFER or by POSTAGE TO YOUR DESIGNATED ADDRESS of your choice.
It is mandatory that you contact the CLAIMS PROCESSING OFFICER to know when your US$1,950,215.00 will be delivered to you. Your delivery charges have been paidby the company.

The only bill to be cleared by you is the security maintenance fee of your consignment which is ($155.00) to receive your winnings. Our correspondent Bank willdeliver it to you on C.O.D basis which simply means the Security Kepping fee ($155.00) is the only charge due for you to pay before your payment is forwardedto you.

To claim your winning, you should contact the OFFICIAL CLAIMS PROCESSING
OFFICER immediately:-

Mr Tom Nelson
[email protected]
Head of Clearance Dept,

Your urgent reply to Mr Tom Nelson will effect the speedy release of your cash prize to you within 48 hrs.
Please provide the details below so as to enable the
quick release of your cash prize without any delay:-

Your Full Name:....................................
Home Telephone.....................................
Mobile Number......................................
Fax Number.........................................
Residential Address:...............................
Occupation.........................................
Marital Status.....................................

Congratulations once again from management & staff of this company, & thanking you for being a lucky winner of our promotions program.


Sincerely,
Mrs. Ron Van DemBerg
President.

 

[datznasty]

I usually ask, "how did u know, did she tell u? #%%$!"

 

[dirtylicious]

[h2]Spam gets 1 response per 12,500,000 emails[/h2] [h3]New study details how junk mailers still make money[/h3]
Monday at 12:52 GMT | Tell us what you think [ 6 comments ]

Eurgh, horrible, filthy spam...
[img]http://www.techradar.com/default/img/icon.trans.gif[/img]Zoom
<>

A new study details how spammers - the bane of our email inboxes - still make pots of money, despite only receiving a response to one in every 12,500,000 emails they spam out.

The study, by a team of seven computer scientists from University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego (UCSD) infiltrated the Storm network, which uses hijacked home PCs to relay much of the junk email you spend your days wading through while wondering 'who the hell responds to this stuff?'

Well. Now you know. One gullible idiot in 12,500,000 recipients. Or thereabouts.

Spam the spammers

"The best way to measure spam is to be a spammer," claims the study. And they certainly picked the right network to hijack, with the Storm network having over one million machines under its control at one point.

Using 'proxy bots' the team of researchers managed to control 75,869 hijacked machines to conduct their own fake spam campaigns.

The researchers used two of the most popular ploys currently used by spammers - firstly offering a fake pharmacy site and, secondly, offering a herbal Viagra-style remedy to boost libido.

"After 26 days, and almost 350 million email messages, only 28 sales resulted," says the research paper.

Yet even with this apparently abysmal response rate of less than 0.00001 per cent, the researchers still estimate that the controllers of a network the size of Storm are still bringing in about $7,000 (£4,430) a day or $3.5m (£2.21m) over a year.

Both baffling and incredibly annoying, we're sure you will agree. For some actual useful and helpful information head over to TechRadar's recent 50 websites you will wonder how you lived without feature.

By Adam Hartley

 

[primavera vills]

I never respond to spam.

 

[airfreshazn]

Nope I never do.

 

[vctry20]

i clicked on one of those things the other day that has you fill out offers to qualifiy you to get a macbook air....I said %#+@ it, I already have enoughpop-ups

 

[RyGuy45]

If no one responded to these emails then they wouldnt have a business. Ahhhhhh

I remember reading about a local person who was recently arrested for computer-related activities and the article discussed how this guy's operation fromhis house had him as something like the world's 5th-highest spammer, and it talked about how he was sending out a billion e-mails every few days....

 

[eight2one]

haha i didnt know people actually responded

 

[oidreez]

i dont respond to spam

 

[infamousod]

yep electronic spam, no waste, doesn't cost much to send out billions of e-mails a day

 

[rsdplaya]

i love spam, some ppl say it's too salty, but i still dig it.

 

[mytsharp]

[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]At my job this lady came in mad at T-Mobile cause when they would send "your bill is pastdue" text messages she would reply with "thank you".[/color]

[color= rgb(255, 255, 0)]She was upset that T-Mobile didn't say "your welcome"[/color]

[color= rgb(0, 102, 0)]My-T.[/color]

 

[lazy b]

I reply to the Nigerians. I usually link them to that Dipset you mad site.

 

[pastellove88]

Yeah I cussed one out. because it kept sending me emails it stopped.

 

[kicks off]

spam always gets deleted, never read.

 

[you go boy]

no... whats the point?

 

[d3772000]

i respond with nice try or your an idiot to the nigerians...

some chinese person sent one once talking about they have cancer or something, and i pretty much said i hope they die in pain

 

[alchemiss]

I never even look at my spam. Gmail FTW!

 

[vsano]

They're a waste of precious time....

 

[geminifly]

I never open them cuz I figure I may get a virus or something.

 

[18key]

Someone sent me a spam email claiming they were 'from the office of Barack Obama.' like a day after the election

 

[purplehazze96]

Originally Posted by Lazy B

I reply to the Nigerians. I usually link them to that Dipset you mad site.

 

[paul is on tilt]

Originally Posted by geminifly

I never open them cuz I figure I may get a virus or something.

Same here. I never open them. I just delete them.