Helpful Tips for Spammers, Security Advice for Everyone Else

On March 6, 2015

There are some spammers who lack common sense. I decided to write an article that documents some tips for spammers, but these tips are also useful for the rest of us (non-spammers) who are concerned about security and identity theft and would like to identify an unsolicited phishing email.

Here’s an example of what not to do when you are a spammer. I will use the following spam message I received as an example.

For those of you who are spammers, here are some tips to keep in mind. For those of you who are normal people, this is how to tell whether a message is legitimate or not.

Don’t use one name for the sender (Agustin Schaffer), a different email (Stuart Nicholl) for the email address, and yet a third name (Benjamin Morisson) in the signature at the end of the same message. Some people may get the idea that you are not the same person. Before spamming people figure out what your name is going to be and then use that name. Great tip, eh?
Please make sure that you spell your name correctly because otherwise you may come across as a complete illiterate, especially when you are the Editor in Chief of Worldwide Selection Committee 2015. If your name is really spelled Morisson then that’s okay, but as a spammer you may want to use a more common way of spelling your name with two Rs (Morrison). It will make you look believable.
TIP: If you don’t know how to spell something, use the spell checker feature in Word or just Google it.
Moving the mouse over the words visit here revealed a Russian website that uses a custom port number. Most of us in the United States don’t post our personal profile on a Russian website that is using a custom port number. Please avoid making these silly mistakes. When you spam Americans, use a website in the United States (I know it’s easier said than done) and don’t use a custom port number because a legitimate public website will never use a custom port number (e.g., http://www.spammer.com:3698) because people will know that it’s a phishing site.
Don’t send messages with the subject RE:Selection Committee 2015. When the subject includes “RE:” at the beginning it means that you are responding to the recipient’s request. This is a dead giveaway because people will know you are a spammer and will delete your email without opening it.
You deserve a credit for at least copying and pasting a legitimate email into your message. However, when you send out an email using the salutation “Dear”, you are expected to add the recipient’s name, like Dear Bill or Dear Melinda. I realize that as a spammer you don’t know the recipient’s name, and that’s a bummer, but at least try to make your message look more real. Remember, you are not sending this message to your wife or girlfriend, so don’t address total strangers as just “Dear.”
If you want to be a spammer, use must common sense or else you won’t succeed in your profession.

To become a more believable spammer you need some serious education, but the problem is that if you become educated you are likely to quit spamming people and become a more useful human. Well, that’s something to think about.

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