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Spammed

Forestwood

An email arrived today.

So, apparently I have been lucky enough to secure one of these:

“Free Anti-Biden Gun Gift.”

Because you know, it is absolutely essential that I have my weapon handy while I run, bike and hike. There was an image in the email, but I won’t reproduce that here.

Oh, and by the way this gift was Free! 100%!

spam

Pffft!

Not only is this clearly junk email, but it is also outrightly offensive.

Firstly, I don’t own a weapon.

Never have.

I don’t live in USA – never have.

And,

I certainly don’t need some lethal firearm to protect me against a democratically elected President of the United States.

Out of some misplaced curiosity, I checked the returning address. Turns out it is a US post office in Puerto Rico!

Which make some wonder: What kind of people actually send this rubbish out into the web? Who would think it is legit? Seriously, how stupid do they think people really are?

Someone has actually wasted time constructing this email with the intention of getting what?

More email addies to sell? A more authentic email address? Access to residential addresses?

Were they in reality, identify thieves securing information?

That, to me, is the real concern.

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Published by Forestwood

A philosophic Aussie writes here at StPA, one who will readily admit to loving Scandinavia. I'm interested in global politics and what drives us to be who we are. Scratch the surface and you'll find a practical Environmentalist with an egalitarian bent, trying to unleash a little creativity via the written word. Scandinavian culture, literature and traditions are close to my heart, even though I'm Australian. Travel and courteous discussions greatly broaden the mind, so I travel if I can and am always up for a vigorous, respectful discussion. I'm an avid reader, I enjoy photography and craft, particularly traditional art forms. I hope you'll find 'Something to Ponder About,' in my WordPress Community.

74 thoughts on “Spammed”

  3. Nooooo! Don’t open spam mail! That way they know you exist, and will continue to bombard you! Of course it’s offensive and upsetting, but ignoring is surely the best policy.

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  4. I never get spam that’s gun-related. I get offers of how to make squillions from bitcoins, lots of “hello dearest” spam, McAfee being out of contract and my laptop at fearful risk .. how come you get gun stuff but you’re not at risk because your contract with McAfee has expired ??!

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    1. This is the first gun-related spam I have ever had so it shocked me. And offended me because of what is going on in the Ukraine.
      I also get bitcoin spam and was once tricked into getting McAfee when I was updating Adobe. Our credit card was charged, but we argued it and the charge was reversed.

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    1. All guises, yes, Peggy. But the gun theme is new. Thinking about it now, it was probably a mistake posting this as the Google spiders may mistakenly think weapons are relevant to me and send more ads my way.

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  7. I’ve never had a gun offer either and as I live in the UK where are police aren’t armed (apart from those doing security duty at sensitive posts) it would be most illegal. The holster sounds fun though, handy for carrying all sorts of things I should imagine. I get a lot of McAfee needs updating – and that annoys me because i have AVG – and cyber currency ads. but I don’t open any of these less it encourages them to send more.

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    1. A good policy not to open any suspicious email, Mari. Your idea of a holster having a dual purpose is a novel one, but I would be paranoid I’d be arrested under suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon. Heavens above, even carrying mace is illegal here. Let alone a firearm.

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  9. Amanda, I guess America gun makers want to export our love of weapons that kill many at one time to the world. We already proliferate the world with cigarettes, fast food, and couch potato entertainment that are destined to kill you more slowly. Why shouldn’t we had the means to kill people faster. Maybe we can sell them discounted with a violent game or movie to show how much fun killing is. Not off the subject, but I once heard a British colleague of mine, who ran our global health management practice, tell a client that “America’s greatest export is obesity.” The gun industry is jealous of that claim. Keith

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    1. A pertinent but slightly disturbing comment on the American psyche, Keith. I am of course speaking in general terms but it is disturbing that so many people look to the United States for aspiration and leadership and find that with the good comes the bad – the export of sugary diets and fast foods, obesity and high-powered killing devices and often violent, mindless entertainment that hints that, “might is right.” The good guy is the one with a strong will and a gun. Only in entertainment does the good guy win. Real life is more complex and messy.
      At my lowest ebb, I see a nihilistic, kind of, “you can have it all and to hell with everyone else,” philosophy emerging. There is so much good in America, but a selfish, greed-based, mentality overshadows that far too much. Weapon exporters make a lot of money, so greed is an element. Greed and ambition have twisted the American dream. In creating a highly successful country with a strong currency, empathy and compassion have lost out. Australia is like a small sheep tagging along behind America, but largely without the element of guns.
      I hear mega rich people mention in interviews, a major fear for them, is of becoming penniless. Instead of fostering benevolence and helping others with income that is excessive to their needs, they become fixated at the prospect of losing that privileged position at the top of the pecking order and turn inward and closed off in their thinking. Does this also in part, explain the psyche of a gun society, that a fear of loss of control, or a certain freedom, leads to the thought that guns will provide the average person with a measure of safety? That search for protection and control?
      Like in the movies, the strong survive, but they apparently need guns to do it. A reflection I think of a weak individual.

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      1. Thanks Amanda. It is unfortunate when American leaders do not live up to our ideals or a perceived level of competence. Botching the pandemic response under the “lack of tutelage” of the previous president made the world take notice. The January 6 insurrection showed how precarious democracy is, especially when the same president is inciting and inviting seditious acts because his ego cannot tolerate losing.

        On the flip side, the good things happening in both our countries do not get reported. There are far more good things happening with community minded people and organizations to take up the slack caused by those that make the news. Nonetheless, we need folks like this to call out the bad actors and say this is not right whether it is poor gun governance or super-sizing Americans through addictive fast foods and added sugars.

        Thanks, Keith

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  10. I’ve never had spam like this. It’s usually money related. They tell me I have a tax refund owed if I just click on this link and share my bank account info. Or that I haven’t paid for a TV license and must click to pay here immediately or I’ll be prosecuted. The spam emails always look authentic at first glance – they have the logo of the appropriate organisation for instance. But a second look shows that the logo isn’t quite right, or the email address doesn’t look like an official one or some other give away. But to get an offer of a gun?! Wow no, and that would freak me out too. I’ve never understood the attitude to weapons of many in the US and I don’t want anything to do with them.

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    1. I found it really strange that I should get an offer of a holster and that is was politically motivated spam, mentioning Biden. What kind of thinking proliferates such poisonous thinking? The gun culture in America is really off the rails, isn’t it? Ironically, as I mentioned to Keith, I feel that as society becomes more chaotic, the search for control is seen in having a gun at your side. I am glad I live in a country where this is not a part of our culture. I can honestly say the only person I have ever seen out in the streets that has openly carried a gun is a policeman. I know some youths in dangerous neighbourhoods carry knives, but I have not (thankfully) been in those situations or places. It is still illegal to carry anything that could be construed as a “concealed weapon.” A metal pipe or even a piece of wood for instance, if concealed and intended to be used as a weapon, carried within a bag with the intent to harm someone, is illegal here.

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  11. It could, in fact, be related to the Russian aggression. Raising negative thoughts is done in part by repetition. Just putting the position out over and over until people take it for granted and think its okay. If you reply they get a bonus because they have contact information for a “live one” who can be part of their chain of misinformation. Russians have for several years been trying to drum up a civil war in the states to weaken the US so it can’t prevent or respond to their aggression. That’s why they manipulated to get the former administration into power.

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    1. An interesting and concerning thought, Xingfu. It may in fact be related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They may be opportunists taking advantage of fearful Americans or it could be more nefarious rationales. Whatever their motives, it does not appeal to me. I hope I never see the day when something like this becomes commonplace in my country.

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          1. It’s been going on for quite a while. When gun sales jumped due to the pandemic it was a clue…It is quite clear that the previous administration had close ties to Russia. The Fox News poison machine has been in full swing, Russian news sources play clips from them. There has been an enormous amount of badmouthing Biden, even when he is doing things that pretty much everyone wants done. They are trying to demonize him to weaken him (he’s actually been pretty strong and competent).

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            1. Biden must be so emotionally resilient to appear unaffected by such rubbish and attempts to demonise him. He will always have my endless admiration for that. A true leader!
              Even though I am aware of Russian cyber and espionage/propaganda activity in the US, it is still hard to believe it is happening, even though I accept that it is. I mean, I feel like the Cold War has returned. I really thought those days were gone. Sadly though, even though the world has become more accepting of other cultures and diversity, it is still very much divided and nefarious interests feed that divide.
              At least we have the ability to analyse and fact check information these days, something that wasn’t so available during the Cold War.
              And I wonder why there has been so much attention on the Russian invasion into Ukraine, as opposed to Chechnya and Georgia. This is in no way saying I support Russian invasions, but I can’t yet get my head around why the West is much more involved in this conflict. Is it just Ukraine’s geopolitical importance, or a reason more sinister?

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            2. I think the cold war restarted when Putin came into power and that people didn’t realize it until much later. Things might have been different today if he was put under pressure earlier. I see two factors the preoccupation with Iraq and Afghanistan that happened after 9-11, and that Georgia and Chechnya are not on Nato’s doorstep. In the US the news is very insular. Another factor may be that the previous US president made finding something to report too easy and news reporters didn’t look farther.

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            3. Not being so near the Nato zone may indeed be a reason that Ukraine is featuring more in the West’s mind. And I take your point about the previous POTUS – he certainly knew how to trigger a headline!

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    1. A holster for a deadly weapon, yes. Perhaps I should be glad that they weren’t offering me an AK-47. I think such emails would be picked up by our security services…

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  13. I always wonder the same about spam: why? Apparently they want to fish information from you… somehow. Or give you a virus if you click on the wrong link. On Twitter, I noticed very many of these threads with a question. Like What was your favourite food growing up? What street did you live on when you were twelve? Can you believe dinosaurs actually existed! What is your viewpoint on religion? They were very popular, until some people started commenting that they are fishing for info to train AI. Even if it were true, again, I’m thinking… okay, and that is bad because…??? I guess I’m not much of a criminal mastermind because I can’t figure it out!! (Oh, and someone pointed out that some of those questions are the security questions used by some apps, like gmail or some country’s bank apps, in which case the criminal link is more easy to spot!)

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    1. I am suspicious of those questions because they sound exactly like security questions for password resets. Given enough resources they could accumulate a lot of information on a person’s preferences – enough for identity theft. I give these a big swerve.

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  14. There’s always a reason behind spam. Monetary gain and information gathering are two obvious ones, but there are others. And while these ‘offers’ appear clearly stupid it only takes one or two responses to make it worthwhile for the spammers.

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    1. On seeing this email, my thoughts initially went along those lines: America is the land where everyone has a gun in their car’s glove box and maybe in some areas, a gun rack on their SUV. It is the land of the KKK, however, Janis I understand that these are just gross generalisations. I know that are many folks in America that do not want a life with a gun, that do not think this way. The American people I have met, and some are great friends, don’t seem like gun-wielding nutters who would buy a holster like this. America has a large population and statistically, there will be some who are off balance and they get all the attention. I do think weak gun control laws in many countries also exacerbate the problem and make desperate people feel using a gun is a quick fix to their problems and society feeds that desire for a quick fix as we are conditioned to want the removal of pain or discomfort asap.
      That is the one good thing that came out of the Tasmanian massacre at Port Arthur. We rid the Aussie community of many firearms and the buyback resulted in a huge reduction of guns in the community, especially in rural farming areas, where guns were used for controlling pests on crops.

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            1. Amazing to think that politicians can be bought off and the democratic vote of the people ignored or effectively pushed out of the picture. Is there a public disclosure of political donations?

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  16. As soon as I recognize a message as Spam, I delete immediately without further reading. As you say, outrightly offensive.
    But I do worry about people who take these messages seriously (and apparently this does happen enough to make it worthwhile for spammers). 😦

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    1. It beggars belief that someone could be so naive as to ignore the motives of a random person sending them such an email. Perhaps though I am naive for crediting folks with more mental acuity than they have? Do they just give it a go because they don’t think about it?

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  17. That’s interesting you’d receive a spam email regarding U.S. President Joe Biden. And, by the way, I own a firearm, but I’m definitely not obsessed with it. I don’t suffer from either hamster brain or pencil penis syndrome.

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    1. There is a bit of Texas in you! Having said that, I understand. I, myself, know a couple of people, one who’s a good friend who does own a gun, for competitive shooting reasons, of course! But it is only taken to the sporting shooters field, never out in public, of course.
      It certainly is weird that I get this kind of spam!

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  23. Pingback: 121 – Information – Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking

  24. Spam detectors are one of the most underrated inventions on the internet. Imagine if all this spam didn’t get detected and filled our inboxes. Haha, that would be a difficult life.
    The American constitution is such a fascinating concept. Many countries say that people can defend their rights. America is probably the only country that armed its people to do so. The gun law might or might not have helped what Thomas Jefferson wanted, but this is perhaps the farthest a country would have gone on the ideals of “liberty.” No comments on its success, though; the concept is interesting.

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    1. Mayank – thanks for your insightful comment on the concept of liberty and arms. Living in a country that is one of the few that doesn’t have a bill of rights, I don’t know how to view the wording of the American constitution. It has to be read in the context of the times, as you alluded. As we know, times, morals, values change over time, so should a country’s constitution change with those fluctuations or remain the same for all time? A solid foundation that becomes somewhat antiquated or harder to work around?

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      1. Thanks for bringing this up. Australia is a prosperous liberal democracy without a bill of rights. The values that come naturally are the best. “We don’t teach a fish how to swim.”
        You are spot-on about the rigidity of fundamental ideologies. The rigidity of a solid foundation is a two-way sword. Amending a bill in democracy? Oh my god, next to an impossible task.

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