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Most. Despicable. Spammer. Ever.

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* By now, most of us have received a phony spam e-mail from a “friend” who was “stranded” overseas and needed help getting home. I just received another one…

Hello

How are you? i traveled to wales for a conference at the imperial college gallery section, Wales) and unfortunately for me the hotel i lodged got razed by fire.all my valuables including cash, cell phones and my traveling documents were destroyed during the inferno but luckily for me i still have my passport with me.i have contacted the police but they are not responding to the matter effectively they only asked me to write a statement about the incident and referred me to the embassy which is over there in london please i really need your assistance for me to go to the embassy and also to the airline office so i can start processing a new flight ticket.i am also having problems settling outstanding hotel bills and the hotel management are not helping matters at all please let me know if you can help me out

Waiting for your mail

Why is this spammer so despicable? The e-mail was “from” Tom Roeser. Tom died last month.

I’m sure Tom would’ve been amused if he were still alive. He was also pretty careful about his grammar, spelling and punctuation, so nobody would’ve believed it was him if he was still around. But to hack a dead man’s e-mail account is just wrong on so many levels.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:26 pm

Comments

Most likely it was his FB account (if he had one) that was hacked. They then spam his email contacts contained as they would be more ‘trusted’ than from a stranger.

It’s truely a disgusting scam though.

Comment by How Ironic Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:29 pm
If I was in a hotel that was “razed by fire” and it destroyed everything, I wouldn’t worry about “settling outstanding hotel bills” I miss the Nigerian General ones from the 1990’s. That was when you could be proud to be scammed. Not like todays neer-do-well’s.

(RIP Tom Roeser)

Comment by Newspaper Face Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:38 pm
You don’t have to hack anyone’s email account to send an email that looks like it’s from them (Silly Newbie Computer Trick #7.) Remember the Melissa virus? It went through an infected computer’s address book and sent out messages pretending to be those people. So when I got an email from “Rich Miller” that said “I love you” it was sent from an infected computer that had Rich’s name on it.

Comment by What planet is he from again? Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:40 pm
I’ve been getting spam from a dead friend for most of two years. Can’t bring my self to block ‘em though.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:40 pm
Hey, maybe I did say I love you.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:41 pm
Hey planet, if the email contained any attachments, post a link…

Comment by PublicServant Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:45 pm
Interesting how Great Britain is the hot spot for unfortunate victims. Last week, the victim was mugged and lost everything but his passport. Only $2,500 needed to pay his hotel bill…

Comment by Wensicia Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:48 pm
Are you sure it’s not from Tom? Sounds like he needs help escaping the inferno. Management not helping matters, indeed!

Comment by Don't Worry, Be Happy Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:55 pm
Hmmm, Zorn just wrote about the London e-mail scam last week. I got hit by this once a few months ago. If it really is one of your friends, they’ll call you.

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2011/06/londoncalling.html

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:58 pm
==@Don’t Worry, Be Happy - Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 1:55 pm==

Not a fan of Roeser, but that is uncalled for!

Comment by Jimmy CrackCorn Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:02 pm
I started getting spam from my dead brother recently. First time was somewhat disturbing.

Comment by Bluefish Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:19 pm
I wasn’t trying to pick on Roeser, and sorry if I offended.

But you’ve got to admit that getting an email from a dead person complaining about the inferno is kind of ironic.

Comment by Don't Worry, Be Happy Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:20 pm
This week received a similar spam message from a beloved deceased neighbor. Truly despicable.

Comment by 32nd Ward Roscoe Village Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:29 pm
PublicServant:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01923/horse-beer_1923273i.jpg

That’s me on the left with Rich after a particularly dismal White Sox game.

Comment by What planet is he from again? Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 2:44 pm
A lot of people that die now still have active facebook, linkedin and email accounts, it’s a tough issue to deal with and even tougher if you don’t know their password.

Comment by shore Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:06 pm
Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?

Pretty sure Tom would have got a kick out the references to Wales, which was a go-to line from his catalog.

JBP

Comment by JP Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:08 pm
I got the Nigerian letter from Hannibal Gaddafi last week. I had to look him up–I guess when Muammar was naming his kid, he thought about the original Hannibal, not Anthony Hopkins.

Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:17 pm
My Hotmail account was hacked and used for this very purpose. A similar email was sent to everyone on the contact list. I was able to recover access to it and let everyone know it was just spam.

Comment by RetiredStateEmployee Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:21 pm
It’s all so automated the spammers don’t even have a clue whose name they’re using for the scams.

I used to get Palestinian ones; I would reply telling them as soon as they settled up the $5K one of their brothers owes me in back rent, I would help them out … seem to never hear from them again.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:22 pm
Forgot to add … some people leave up Facebook accounts of departed loved ones. I know of a dad who maintains his departed son’s account. It can be a bit disconcerting the first time you receive a message from that account.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:24 pm
===I would reply telling them===

You should probably avoid that. Replying verifies the authenticity of your email address.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:26 pm
While the intent of the spammer is terrible on its face, I highly doubt the spammers know that the person is deceased or even who Tom Roeser is.

Comment by Just Observing Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:28 pm
this spammer belongs in hell with the person who is harassing the dying little girl on Facebook. there have always been creepy people around, but with the Internet and the immediacy of all sorts of communication for ill and for good we find out about them more and quickly. bring back the stocks so we can shame them out in public.

Comment by amalia Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:36 pm
Rich,

No interest in messing with them? At the very least, I bet you could make them go down to the local Western Union office a half dozen times or so before they realize you’re just getting a little revenge.

Comment by Benbo Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:47 pm
The problem with Facebook, your user name is you e-mail address. I suppose many also use the same password. I make sure I use different passwords for each online account I have.

Comment by Wensicia Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 3:52 pm
This is an old scam too, like a couple years old…shocking people are still trying it.

Comment by Segatari Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 4:31 pm
Rich,

That’s good advice for most people.

I’m not exactly most people. The account I reply to unknown people with isn’t my primary one; it’s a throw away. Except when dealing with trusted people like you who I give my real email to, I have layers of email addresses you have to bounce through with multiple spam filters. The first one gets forwarded to the second one, etc. for the chain … and darned little spam finds my actual inbox.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 4:44 pm
I guess I will have to go to plan b, Rick Miller.

Comment by Wumpus Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 6:12 pm
Whenever I get spam, I reply to it and attach a really super nasty virus that destroys everything on whatever server the spam came from, including the hardware.

No, I don’t, but don’t you wish you could?

Comment by TwoFeetThick Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 6:23 pm
Imagine! Tom Roeser’s funeral was a colossal hoax like the one in Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer.” If he is in London, I expect that he is visiting with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.

Comment by Esquire Monday, Jun 20, 11 @ 8:55 pm