Return to sender

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It's coming up to that time of the year when I have to renew my e-mail account subscription. I know this because Another.com have been bombarding me with e-mails for the last two weeks, reminding me.

In the world of Hotmail, GMail and various other free services, it may seem archaic to still be paying for an e-mail account – indeed, I even have access to my own mail server because I own my own domain (where I keep all the images and files for Thunderbozz). Unfortunately, I have registered my e-mail address with so many websites and services over the years that it would take far to long to update them all before my account expires in four days time.

Despite quite a good spam filter, once in a while, junk e-mails manage to make their way into my inbox. Usually I just delete them straight away, but the one pictured above caught my eye. The whole point of spam is to encourage you to reply, right? In that case, why not put some effort into making your message believable?

From: zsrudna@telecom.cz
Reply-To: vivianwalter_10@yahoo.com.hk


Before the message has even started, there's a problem. The e-mail is being sent from an address the Czech Republic, yet the return address is for a domain in Hong Kong...

Dear Beloved ,

I am Mrs.Vivian Walter,the wife of Mr.Edwards Walter,I am a citizens of the United states.My husband worked with the Chevron/Texaco in Russia before he died in the year 2004.my husband deposited the sum of (7.5 Million Pounds) with a Bank.


...while the sender claims to be from the United States, with a husband who worked in Russia, despite the fact he had 7½ million British pounds at his disposal. Unless, as the brackets suggest, it was minus 7½ million pounds. No wonder someone tried to kill him.

the management just wrote me as the beneficiary that our account has been DORMANT and if I can not ACTIVATE the ACCOUNT,the funds will be CONFISCATED.I 'm in a hospital in Russia where I have treatment for cancer.Stand as beneficiary for the Funds.reach me:vivianwalter_10@yahoo.com.hk


Now it turns out that "Vivian" is in Russia too, suffering from cancer. What an unlucky lady. She can't even get to a phone to explain her situation to the mysterious "management" who are threatening to "CONFISCATE" the money. What legal power they have over the cash is anyone's guess. Likewise, how Vivian is able to e-mail me, a 21-year-old living in Sheffield she's never met, but not get in touch with a bank that owes her millions.

Remain bless.

Mrs.Vivian Walter.


"Remain bless" doesn't even make sense!!

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