Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer

Evidently I need one to claim $8.3M!

FBI Headquarters
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

This is to notify you that huge funds valued at 8.3million Dollars have been transferred into your account. This transfer was stopped today by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) because our verification showed that you do not possess the Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) to show that this fund is legit and rightly belongs to you.

Do reply to this e-mail so we can direct you accordingly where you will obtain this legal wiring document to fully authorize the crediting of your fund into your main account.

FBI Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division
Special Agent, Michael J. Heimbach
FBI's Washington Field Office

This Michael J. Heimback is a real FBI agent.

Kindle Owners' Lending Library Small Print

I'm disappointed in Amazon. I signed up for Amazon Prime a few months ago and just recently started using the lending library. On its website, Amazon breathlessly touts that fact that "With Amazon Prime, Kindle owners can choose from more than 500,000 books to borrow for free with no due dates, including over 100 current and former New York Times best sellers and all 7 Harry Potter books." Cool.



Or not. After I returned the first book, I tried to "borrow" another title and I was told "Monthly limit reached." WTF? Nowhere on the webpage did it say there was a limit. You have to scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the "Questions?" link, then scroll down some more before you see "You can borrow one book from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library each calendar month. You can deliver the book to other Kindle devices registered to your Amazon account." It's more like smallnonexistent print as it's not even on the same webpage. That's really really lame.

Without the lending library benefit, I probably would have still paid for Prime. Typical eBooks are not that expensive and we should support good authors. Luckily, I had access to an old 2nd generation Kindle so I didn't have to buy a new one. I'd be super pissed if I bought a Kindle just for "borrowing" books. I guess I forgot that no matter what a company says (Don't Be Evil!), it's all a marketing ploy to make more money. Silly me... Amazon isn't here to lend you books; they want you to buy a Kindle and pay them $80/year for Prime.

Of course, I wasn't the only one that was irked. There were many complaints online about the same issue. What surprised me was the amount of rude and nasty replies, essentially calling the poster and idiot for not reading every Amazon policy webpage. It wasn't even on the same page! I knew there are many Apple fanboys that "defend" Apple on all sorts of Internet forums; I guess it's the same for Amazon.

Where Can I Steal Some Books?

So I'm taking an online class through edX. The course is CS50x, an online version of CS50 (Computer Science) at Harvard University. I'm only on week 3 (started with week 0) and so far it's been good. There is a lot of resources online through videos and social media.

Of course, the class has a Facebook page. I found this earlier:

I mean, sure, no one wants to buy a book if you can just download it online, but one shouldn't broadcast it to the world. The comments to the post are also hilarious:

JO: Pls send to my e-mail xxxxx@gmail.com The files I got are corrupt. Also how do we know the exact author David wants us to read from?

JH: so this torrent is like a zipped file and the uTorrent is like WinZip?

DK: Just google it. Did you try that? And as for the extract author, is that a joke?

JO: Different authors can write different books with the same name especially in the IT world

DK: He gives the exact titles, editions, with the exact authors in the syllabus.

JH: so its like a compressed file...and the uTorrent is the tool used to decompress it?

I don't want to judge, sigh... but the original poster is from Nigeria. Also, reading his profile, it says he has a BS degree in Computer Science in 2012. Really?! Aren't you supposed to learn C or several languages? Also, it appears he didn't even read the syllabus.

Perhaps what is acceptable in public discourse is different nowadays.

只想知道这个姑娘是谁

Looking through my Weibo account today, I saw this post with the above photo attached. I'm 99% positive that it's Kang Minkyung (강민경/姜敏京), one of the two members of Davichi (다비치), a K-pop duo.

The post itself had nothing to do (I think) with the photo; maybe the poster is using it to attract views. One of the comments asked "只想知道这个姑娘是谁" or "just wanted to know who is the girl" so I made my first Weibo reply: 姜敏京. Funny, I never thought I would be schooling Chinese people about K-pop, especially on Weibo.

Gina, is that your real name?

Got this gem in the junk email folder:

From: Gina Rinehart (marcia.medina@sj.unisal.br)

My Dear Friend and Partner,

Greetings to you my Dear Beloved, my name is Gina Rinehart, a great citizen of Australia,born in Perth, Western Australia,I have a mission for you worth ($200,000,000.00) Two Hundred Million Dollars which I intend to use for CHARITY.Please reply if interested by clicking the reply button.

God Bless You.
Gina Rinehart

I hate it when people don't put a space (ONLY ONE SPACE!) after punctuation.

Email Nuggets from the Spam Folder

Hmm, why don't I remember this person...?

BABE... i guess your not getting any of my email huh? ive been tryign to email u so many times but this dam laptop is such a piece of garbage and keeps freezing.. anyways how u been?

In case u dont know who this is its ME Adriana.. we used to chat a bit on facebook and then I think u deleted me :( haha.. anyways guess what... I got 2 things to tell u.. both good news.. 1) im single now.. yup me and my bf broke up about 3 months ago... and 2) guess where im moving? RIGHT EFFING NEAR U.. lol... ur actually the only person im gonna know there.. well 3 cousins too but i cant chill with them lol..

I remember when we chatted u told me u thought i was cute and u wanted to chill so now we finally can HAHA! im kinda scared to move.. im hoping this email addy is still the one you use and u can chat with me ebfore i get there.. maybe even help me move my shit in...are u still on facebook? i cudnt find ui was soo confused...anyways im gonna need someone to show me the town and take me out so u better be around bebe...

we only chatted a couple times but i remember thinking to myself i wanted to get ot know u better when i was single..a nd i thoguth u were cute too but cudnt tell u cause i wasnt single lol...ok so more info about me.. well im 23.. virgo.. love the outdoors and love to socialize, go out for drinks, restaurants, movies etc.. travel.. i have a lil kitty named BOO and i luv her to death... uhhh oh im a super horny gurl too but every gurl is they just wont admit it. so ilove watching p0rn and all that.. love sex etc blah blah blah...who doesnt..

I really hope we get a chance to chat for a bit either online or on the fone before i get there enxt week.. i hope u remmeber me and still wanna chill and arent married yet lol.. OH YA also.. i need to find a job when i get there..

do u have any hookups or know anybody hiring? id LOVE to work in a bar or osmehting like that...really anythgin cause my current job is fun and all.. and technically i CUD keep doign it but i want a change.. i currently work from home and well thats cool but i need ot be out meeting people.. oh wait. i dont think i ever actually told u what i did? hmm shud i......???? ok WELLLL... and dont get all weirded out on me.. i work on a webcam chat community site and i get paid to chat with people and get naked HHAHA... BOMB right :)? I KNOW.. like i figure iim horny anyways why not get paid to chat with people and play with myself heheh...anyways i hope u dont look down on that and NO THATS NOT WHY IM CONTACTING U RELAX URSELF lol... i actually need help once i move and i remembered u live there so im reaching out....like i said before this computer is a complete piece of CRAP and freezes NON STOP.. ive tried ot send this email to u maybe 3 times already and im hopign this time i can hit SEND before i run into trouble lol..

ANYWAYS.. heres the deal....every month natalie (my boss) gives each of us 3 VIP codes to give out to whoever we want.. so with this code u can lgoin to watch me at work for free and dont have to pay like everyone else... the only way i can give u one of the codes (so we can chat) is if you absolutey DO NOT give it out to anyone else and u ONLY USE IT FOR URSELF... i only get 3 a month and she gets pissed if more than 3 people use them so DONT SHARE IT MISTER... i figured u cud always email me back instead but my email account doesnt even let me login half the time.. so the bets palce ot chat me is my chat room...

if theres anyone else logged in when u sign in ill boot them out.. but remember DONT SHARE THIS PASSWORD PLEASE BABE IM BEGGING U.. I TRUST U... im online most of the day now to try and save money for my move.. also since im in such a huge debt already form my student loan :( I really thingk we need to chat before i get there and make sure u evern remember me hahha.. anyways ive rambled on and on now and ur probably soooo annnoyed with me so ill stop now.. im gonna go start work.. i really hope u come chat me. it wud make my day and releive a lot of my stress about the move... REALLY i mean that....anyways once i see u in insdie ill shoot u myc ell number and u can gimme yours.. if u dont

wanna come chat i understand but its really the only palce to find me now days.. if u email me abck ill probably get it once i get there after my internet is setup so about 2-3 weeks fomr now.. but im hopign to see u in my chat room.. rmemeber its 100% free with this code im gonna give u.. just DONT GIVE IT OUT OR ILL KICK U IN THE BALLS INSTEAD OF LICK U IN THE BALLS WHEN IS EE U hahahahha...k babe im out for now... chat ya soon.. kisses xoxo Adriana

Three Strikes on 4shared

... or is it?

I got this email earlier this week:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have received a notification that certain materials you posted on the 4Shared website as described below infringe upon someone else’s copyright:

http://www.4shared.com/mp3/...

Access to this material has been temporarily disabled or such material has been removed.

This is the THIRD instance of copyright infringement claim associated with your 4shared account. In accordance with 4shared’s Terms of Use, your account is now TERMINATED. You are permanently banned from using 4shared’s services. You will not be able to open a new 4shared account if you attempt to register under the same name or email address or from an IP address associated with the terminated account. 4shared will also disallow the registration of a new account if it has reasonable suspicion that the person attempting to register is you.

Blah, blah, blah...

I've had my account for a long time and I used to upload MP3s so I can listen to songs over the Internet, kinda like cloud storage before clouds were all the rage. Now that iTunes and Amazon music clouds are popular, I haven't uploaded anything to 4shared for a long time. I do link some previously uploaded MP3 files to my tumblr page since tumblr only lets you upload one song per day. Anyway, not that I'm complaining, but my account is still active and all the links still work. Maybe it takes them more than 4 days to TERMINATE an account.

CC: and Reply All

The first advice I give to new hires out of school is to never click on "Reply All" unless you really mean it. I'm on the mailing list of a Christian ministry and they sent out an email asking everyone if they would like the electronic version of their newsletter. However, instead of creating a custom email list, the email was sent to ~200 email addresses, all visible to each recipient. If you can't figure out mailing lists, at least use BCC: so you don't disclose your donors/customers/etc.

Even worse, people on the email are hitting reply all to answer whether they want the e-pub. I've received 3 such emails already within the last hour. Sigh...

ESL for Scammers

Speaking of email spam and scammers, I got this message from "USPS Services":

Notification,

Our company’s courier couldn’t deliver your parcel.

Reason It’s not right the address of recipient.
LOCATION OF YOUR PARCEL:KnoxvilleFort
DELIVERY STATUS: sort order
SERVICE: Local Pickup
NUMBER OF YOUR ITEM:U619256320 NU
INSURANCE: No

Label is enclosed to the letter.
Print your label and show it at the post office.

An additional information:
If the parcel isn’t received within 30 working days our company will have the right to claim compensation from you for it's keeping in the amount of $16.95 for each day of keeping over limited time.

You can find the information about the procedure and conditions of parcels keeping in the nearest office.

Thank you for attention.
USPS Services.

Huh? These scam email would work better if the English teachers in Nigeria were better qualified. :)

There was a 44k .rar file attached. Of course I didn't download and open the attachment. It probably contains Trojan.happili or some other virus from Vacations To Go.

Trojan.happili and Vacations To Go

About a month ago I posted my experience with Trojan.happili and how it hijacked my mom's computer. One of the apparent beneficiary of the malware was Vacations To Go (VTG); all the links for Royal Caribbean Cruises ended up at their website. I wrote a letter to VTG's CEO and got no response. I also unsubscribed to their email newsletter a month ago but I'm still receiving them, personally signed by the CEO. I'm not even going to try to unsubscribe again since it seems like Vacations To Go has no sense of business ethics; I'll just have to block their entire domain from my email. What a bunch of scumbags.

Again, there's a chance that VTG wasn't involved, which means someone wrote a trojan that redirects links to benefit VTG without their knowledge. Yeah, right. You would think they would at least reply to my email. Now I'm doubly glad that I didn't book my cruse through VTG.

Some common sense business tips:
- don't use viruses to hijack your customer's computer
- don't sign your name to email newsletters then ignore customer replies
- don't continue spamming your customers after they unsubscribed from said spam

Twitter Phishing

Got an email about a direct message "from" Twitter that turned out to be a phishing scam. A friend's Twitter account was hacked (whatever that means) and was used to send out emails directing you to a fake Twitter page. I almost put my login and password but since I was already logged in to Twitter, I thought it was strange and double checked the URL. Turned out it was TVVIITER.COM:

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: TVVIITER.COM
Registrar: XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
Whois Server: whois.paycenter.com.cn
Referral URL: http://www.xinnet.com
Name Server: NS11.XINCACHE.COM
Name Server: NS12.XINCACHE.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 10-may-2012
Creation Date: 10-may-2012
Expiration Date: 10-may-2013

Last update of whois database: Fri, 25 May 2012 03:24:21 UTC

Looks like the domain was registered in China just recently. What were they going to do when they steal my account? Tweet my 18 followers with more spam? Why are they doing this when Twitter is banned/blocked/censored in China... should be spamming Sina Weibo instead.

Vistaprint Spam

As an ex-engineering nerd, I have lots of email accounts (does anyone remember the free dialup email accounts from Juno?). I signed up for a Yahoo accounts early but moved on to Hotmail (before MSFT) and Gmail. Unfortunately, I used my Yahoo email as my Apple ID way back and since iTunes Store is such a PITA, I'm stuck with the old account. All this means is that I don't use the Yahoo account for anything else other than my Apple ID, and all the emails I receive are from iTunes Store.

So, a few weeks ago I started getting emails from a company called Vistaprint. As I mentioned before, I haven't used my Yahoo email to send anything for many years. Either they found my email from early Internet archives or Apple is selling out its customers. Anyway, at the bottom of the email, there's the obligatory "Unsubscribe" link.



If you click the link, it brings you to this page:



Huh? Typically when I click on the unsubscribe link/button on most other spam-type email, it simply unsubscribes (hopefully) me. Here it asks for my email (they have it already!) and an account password. Obviously I don't have one, and if you click on the "No, I am a new customer" button, it asks you to sign up. WTF? I have to create an account to unsubscribe to spam email?!

Of course, this seems a bit fishy so I Googled "Vistaprint" + "spam" and got lots of hits. Nice. I guess there's no way to unsubscribe from their spam since I'm not going to create an account and give them more info. I'll add them to the spam filter on my Yahoo account but that probably will not block their irritating emails when I check email from my iOS devices.

If any of my 3 readers receive email from Vistaprint, just delete it or add them to your spam filter. If you need printing services, check out Wet Ink Printing. I know the owner and he's a good guy.

Megaupload Files

Megaupload is still down, or at least unaccessible from the US. I had dropped a few files on there, mainly some Korean TV shows that I recorded but also some files that I wanted to access from different places. I ended up having to upload a few files to Mediafire since they're still around and allow uploading/sharing.

Is this the future of the Internet with SOPA/PIPA? Whatever caused the USDOJ to go after MU, how about all the user files that are not infringing on copyrights? I know some people use it for file storage; is all that data gone? How am I to trust cloud storage services if other users abuse the service and cause it to be shut down like MU?

Megaupload

Dang it. Now how am I supposed to retrieve files that I uploaded? If you do a WHOIS lookup on the domain name, this is what comes back:

Megaupload Limited
P.O. Box 28410
Gloucester Road Post Office
Wan Chai, Hong Kong 00000
HK

Are their servers based in the US? How can the DOJ shut down a foreign site... or it is only blocked in the US?

Xiaxue aka Wendy Cheng

Hmm... you find the weirdest stuff on the Internet. I just spent the last hour reading about some Singapore girl and her online run in with a psycho American and his fake (i.e., imaginary) girlfriend. It's pretty funny and I like her writing style. Her blog reminds me of Cheeserland but with more swearing. Are there a lot of girls in Asia who don't work and just talk about clothes, makeup, and travel all day?!

I guess she also hosted a TV show in Singapore...



As someone commented on the YouTube video, her voice is not what you imagined it would be after reading her blog. I will say that we have a lot of co-workers visiting from Singapore this week and they sound totally like her. Actually, some of my cousins are from Malaysia and they have that distinctive "Singlish" accent as well.