My conversation with a hacker
27 Nov
So, thanks to Kara and Travis, who mimicked the comments of spammers on my post about blogging spam (those wisecrackers), I had a very funny conversation with a spammer/hacker this week.
On Tuesday, I received this e-mail that said it was from my nephew Blake:
Hello,
How are you doing today? I’m written you in tears in my eye I’m sorry i didn’t inform you about my traveling to London,United Kingdom on a short vacation It has been a very sad and bad moment for me, the present condition that i found myself is very hard for me to explain.
we’re stranded in London right now, got mugged at gun point last night all cash,credit card and phone was stolen,It was a Brutal Experience but Thank God we still have our life and passport saved…our return flight leaves in few hours but having troubles sorting out the hotel bills…wondering if you could loan me some few $$ to sort out the hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport..promise to pay back as soon as we get back home…
you can have the $$ wired to my name and present location which is London,United Kingdom via western union. kindly get back to me with the full transfer details.
hope to read positively from you.
Regards..
I knew it couldn’t possibly be real, because a.) Blake can spell; b.) he’s currently in law school in Canada c.) I would know if he had gone to London (we have one of those families where that would be a big deal and someone would have mentioned it), and d.) I’m not the first person he would ask for money.
I thought, wow, he must have read my post about spam and decided to have a little fun with it. In fact, I was really impressed with his spamming skills, so I mockingly replied back:
Thanks God you still have your life and passport! Those hotel bills are hard to sort out. How much $ will you need? I will send right away.
Of course, this was the hacker’s dream response! But he didn’t know what to do with all the other stuff I put in after I mocked him, like, “I’ve been meaning to write to you about the Road.”
So, I got this reply:
“thanks for the mail i’m freaked out here and i will be glad if you help me out of here please i need you to wire me 430 bucks..promise to pay back as soon as i get back home.
below is the western union info:
Name: Blake Hafso
Location: London SE12 9T.United Kingdom
as soon as you wire the money kindly get back to me with the transfer details….
hope to read from you Asap
At this point, I still think it’s a joke (albeit a little tired one). I was really looking forward to discussing the release of the movie, “The Road” with Blake.
So, I perked up a little when I was on facebook, and Blake started to chat with me.
“Hey” he typed.
“Hey,” I typed back. “How are you doing?”
“not so good.”
“Really? Those hotel bills still getting you down? I hear they are hard to sort out.”
“Yes need you to send money right away to London.”
Brother, I thought, still, will he give this up already?
“What do you think about ‘The Road’ coming out?”
This is when I stumped the hacker. If he had known anything about Cormac McCarthy’s book, “The Road,” he might have convinced me to check whether Blake had gone to London. Might. I repeat. Might. He stopped typing, and I signed off.
A little later I noticed this note from the real Blake on his facebook page:
someone hacked my hotmail!!! I am NOT in London. Don’t send them money
I was shocked, shocked, to find out that it wasn’t Blake. And then I laughed really hard.
apparently they hacked my facebook as well. I have changed my password but if anyone asks you for money pretending to be me don’t give it to them!
A further explanation from Blake:
“ya the bastard was chatting with someone on my list while I was logged on to facebook. I looked at the bottom of the screen and became concerned that I was currently involved in a somewhat lengthy conversation but not aware of it.”
When I told him about my fake conversation he wrote to say, “The number one way to know that it isn’t me is the complete lack of a reference to “The Road”, I can’t wait for it!”
Yeah, good ‘ol Cormac McCarthy, he’ll stop a spammer in his tracks every time.
Wow! That is crazy. Scary yet hilarious.
OK. Good advice. If anyone tries to spam me, reference the Road. I agree with you – anyone who has read that book is gonna have to comment about it.
But speaking of the Road, I’m so glad to find someone else who has read that book. I LOVED it. Couldn’t put it down. Did you notice none of the characters had names? Since names are my thing, I’m going to have to post on this soon…
Hope you had a great thanksgiving!
Had a great Thanksgiving, thanks! Now I’ve been trying all day to figure out palindromes. Can’t wait to read the Road. It’s currently checked out at the library, but I hope I’m next in line. Janelle
Very funny and scary, too. I wonder how many of these spammers actually convince someone they are the person they say they are?
Speaking of scary, I can’t say that I loved “The Road,” but I definitely couldn’t put it down. I thought it was horrifying as I zoomed through the book, even though I knew it wouldn’t and couldn’t end happily! Do I need a spoiler alert?
I hate to admit it, but I haven’t read it yet. That’s why I was going to ask Blake whether I should read it before the movie. Not that you spoiled anything, I’ve read every other Cormac McCarthy book and he doesn’t like happy endings. I’m going to check it out from the library pronto.
This particular spam has reached the pandemic level, but what gets me is that YOUR spammer had problems with English. I received one (allegedly from my friend Pat in Austin) with the same message – except that grammar and spelling were impeccable. But your conversation was hilarious. How can Blake log onto Facebook while the spammer is chatting with you? Something wrong here. Gotta get a copy of The Road. Does Cormac McCarthy know the extraordinary publicity you're giving him?
Yeah, scary. I plan on changing all my passwords as soon as I can figure out a system to remember new ones.
Janelle,
This is Cormac McCarthy. I’m stuck in London and need money. Please send to my attention ASAP. Do not try to contact me via facebook, as I’m certain your nephew hacked my account.
Regards,
Cormac
Cormac, that’s horrible! I will send you $$$’s right away. Janelle
Lol, nice blog.