Saturday, May 9, 2009

Spamming the Zeitgeist

After having written some speculative Nigerian spam from the future last weekend, I was intrigued by the below message that just landed in my inbox. Is it possible spam bots are intelligent enough to tailor their narratives to the recipient? Because I have a soft spot for military caper narratives in touch with our dark Zeitgeist. More likely, the spammers are just getting better at fresh topical hooks, like last fall's spate of Cindy McCain video! spam.


Hello friend,

My name is Scott W___, I am an American soldier, I am serving in the military with the 1st Armored Division in Iraq , as you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs.We managed to move part of funds belonging to Saddam Hussein's family in 2003.

The total amount is US$12 Million dollars in cash, mostly 100 dollar bills,this money has been kept somewhere outside Baghdad for some time but with the proposed troop in increase by president Barrack Obama, to end the suicide bombing and make peace with Iraq militant and terrorist ,we are afraid that the money may be discovered hence we want to move this money to you for safekeeping pending the completion of our assignment here.

READ THIS WEBSITE VERY WELL AND GET BACK TO ME.

We are ready to compensate you with good percentage of the funds, No strings attached, Iraq is a war zone, we plan on using diplomatic means to ship the money out as military cargo to your home, under diplomatic immunity cover.

I am contacting you in confidence, all arrangement for the successful delivery has been put in place, all we need from you is to receive the cargo from the diplomat, If you are interested I will send you the full details, my job is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest.

Regards ,

Sgt. Scott W___.

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