(edit title) Is this email a scam? Stolen info from The Local? Options

[skogsbo]

You might have been in computers since 1979, but that . I was using computers and writing software in 1970 and running bulletin boards since 1975. and have lectured on web security

My dads bigger than your dad!
Any its not just your machine, you could have been copied in on an email sent by someone else email. Perhaps referring to the local in a Swedish/English spam mail was thought to add credibility. I would still scan your machine.
Do you use a smart phone? Protected? Does it roam for anyone insecure WiFi even when in your pocket.
Staying secure is harder than ever.
Ps. Not even born until 71, wasn't programming until at least 82/83 and gave up all that nerdy $hit in 89 anyway! oh and my dads 5 10!

[John.Smith]

My dads bigger than your dad!

LOL!!

Looks like a contest to see who has the bigger organ. Anti virus software is never 100% protection as it is always catching up, i.e. when a new virus or bot is created it is only after the fact that an antivirus can create the necessary protection (and removal).

The only conceivable means for the email to have matched your email address and TL website is from your pc or one that you have used to login to TL in the past. Any data that has been cashed locally on a pc can be harvested even if the same data was created several months previous (assuming the cashe was not cleared).

I have been programmer since this morning and my Dad is Bruce Lee.

[Rick Methven]

Looks like a contest to see who has the bigger organ. Anti virus software is never 100% protection as it is always catching up, i.e. when a new virus or bot is created it is o ... (show full quote)

Looks like a contest to see who has the bigger organ. Anti virus software is never 100% protection as it is always catching up, i.e. when a new virus or bot is created it is only after the fact that an antivirus can create the necessary protection (and removal). ... (hide full quote)

Which is what I was saying. The OP has a history of arrogant complacency. His statement that HIS computer is clean is just another example of that. Anybody who has just carried out a basic scan and says " My computer is clean" is living in a fools paradise. You never know. If your AV program says it is virus free, all it is saying is that it is free of the viruses that we currently have in our databases. Every day there are thousands of new viruses or mutations spread via the internet, many computers are infected before the AV programs have been updated.

I do all my development work on a computer that is not connected to the internet. never has been and never will be. That way the systems I supply to my clients are clean which they have to be when you are supplying programs to the likes of British Airways that are fanatical about system security.

[Jamtjim]

The OP has a history of arrogant complacency.

Not only that GJ has a kind of masochistic "form" whereby he comes on here every so often and makes a facile or otherwise vacuous post. The then quite rightfully gets his arse wooped and disappears back into the binary wastelands of the internet or possibly home to the bedroom where his other half perhaps entertains them both by pouring hot candle wax on to his nipples or clamps his testes in a vice.

Solely based upon my recollection alone, he has advocated taking kids abroad so as to circumvent the quite reasonable Swedish laws against the physical abuse of children as well as representing oneself fraudulently in order to queue-jump (the justification being that being a "better customer" confers an entitlement to place ones particular needs in priority to those who wait patiently in line).

Indeed it is not surprising that anyone harvesting information from TL found his details. Anyone with even a modicum of IT knowledge could achieve this based on the fact that he (purports at least) to be posing under his real name. A computer user of even less ability should realise this is the case especially one who has been "in computers since 1979" (although one suspects that "in" used in this case refers to poking around inside the case with a screwdriver looking for where the "mouse" lives).

Even a cursory search on Google brings up a whole load of information about a Garry Jones including a blog as well as a photograph of a rather gormless looking, helmeted chap standing in front of a collection of those ghastly painted goats, beloved of those more endowed with a sense of tradition than of taste. One suspects that given a little more time even more information would have been forth coming.

So in conclusion, the reason for the OP receiving a scam email is nether surprising nor conspiratorial. Most likely his own computer is the source (and with anyone so assured that their computer is "clean" the chances are even greater), but it could be one or more of many alternatives The Local being just one of them.

In the end, if you want to completely avoid receiving scam emails one piece of advice is to avoid providing your email address to an internet forum. It is rather like advising the rich and famous that if they want to avoid being splashed all over the front pages of the tabloids, they really should not pay hookers to shove dildos up their bottoms...

[Rick Methven]

a quick google search shows that The OP has a blog which he says is:

Not a blog!

Being an elder of the net, sending my first email in the summer of 1979 I dispise the word blog. I intend to use this webspace for a selection of short stories and reflections and allow anyone to comment them. Ok, rather like a blog to you and everyone else, but please allow me my eccentricities.

Just skipping through some of his posts there with facebook use etc. He has left a trail a mile wide that would allow any bot to harvest all sorts of information. To think that bots only harvest emails from high profile/users web sites is rubbish, they will go anywhere and everywhere they can get access to.

[Vitas]

Dont know what you speak about. I am yousing PC from 1973. It was from wood but enough safety.

[skogsbo]

I have junk email address for forum registering, shopping where you need to register to even see their price or delivery charges. Keep my formal email as clean as practical, hopefully reducing risk. I also run 2 laptops for different things, as I occasionally do some online trading and don't really want my financial password, floating around the same machine as my junk surfing, plus both have Norton av. I still would never claim I'm secure. My smartphone is another security nightmare I have yet to fully solve, until then it won't be sync'd to anything.

[teslar]

Interestingly enough, I just got the same scam, slightly different job offer though:

Good afternoon!

I lead the personnel department of the Add-ons Sp. z o.o.. Our company has found your contact at web-site thelocal.se.
Because of widening of the business and entering new market shares our company, the leader of wholesale electronic money exchange, is proud to let you know of a possibility of taking part in building of the young enthusiastic working group. We offer you to interview for our vacant post.

Vacant Post: Customer Service Operator

We offer you:
* Fast promotion track
* Possibility of choosing option of either fulltime or part time job
* Free education
* Pay – 60000-80000 euro per year + bonus
* Cost of transportation are repaid

Candidate Requirements:
* Older than 21
* Swedish citizen
* Knowledge of written English
* PC user
* Internet connection

We appreciate responsibility, painstaking, initiative, aspirations for education and self-delepoment. If you are interested in the offer please send us the actual CV.


Best Regards,
The head of the staff department in Add-ons Sp. z o.o.,
Wioletta
Add-ons Sp. z o.o.

[Johno]

How is your "self-delepoment" ?

[teslar]

About as good as my painstaking

[teslar]

I really am quite a good pain staker.

[Johno]

[The Local]

We're still looking into this.

Does anyone have a copy of the spam? If so, can you forward it to: technology@thelocal.se

It's important to forward it including the mail headers, so we can trace where it came from.

If you use Gmail you can see the headers by clicking the drop-down arrow at the very top right of message and selecting "show original". But every email client is different.

Thanks in advance!

[The Local]

ps

We're talking specifically here about the spam email from "Wioletta".

Don't forward me all your spam. ;-)

[Orksted]

Hi everybody,

I just got a similar email:

Good afternoon,

I am the head of the staff department in the Add-ons Sp. llc.
Due to enhancement of the business and breaking into new markets our company which is the leader of wholesale e-currency trade, is glad to let you know about an opportunity of taking part in formation of the young enthusiastic working group. We offer you to interview for the vacant position.

Vacant Position: Overseas Operator/Manager

We offer you:
* Promotion track
* Possibility of choosing option of either fulltime or part time
* Free education
* Wage – 60000-80000 euro per year + bonus
* Transport charges are defrayed

Applicant Requirements:
* 21-55 year old
* Danish Citizenship
* Written English
* Experienced PC user
* Sociability. Readiness to negotiate over the phone and face to face
* Attentiveness, punctuality
* Ability to form and pay supplier orders

We appreciate responsibility, painstaking, initiative, ambitions for education and self-delepoment. If you are interested in our job offer please send us the actual resume.

Sincerely yours,
The head of the personnel department in Add-ons Sp. llc,
Wioletta
Add-ons Sp. llc

Don't know where they got my email adress from???

BR Iver