h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's not often that a spam message makes me smile, but I was delighted to get one this morning that began: 'Good News; You credit report has came back with a good score of 666.'

Yeah, sounds about right...

Class!

Funny! Are you sure it was spam?

It goes on to say: 'Due to identity fraud we are asking you fill in some questions below.' Which I think is probably a disarmingly honest indication of their intentions.

One I don't understand: why don't the people who send out this kind of thing hire someone who has English as their first language to polish up their messages and make them seem a little more plausible?

I keep getting spam emails from porn siteswhat's wrong with *my* credit rating?

I'm sure they think it makes perfect sense already. Or perhaps they are salvaging their conscience by giving people a tip that it's a scam.. There are conmen who believe if someone is stupid enough to fall for their phoney pitches, they deserve what they get.

I love all the winning overseas lottery tickets I've had purchased for me by Mnbuko Gorgonzola. It will only cost me $1500 to claim my prize.

I must confess that on more than one occasion when reading of someone who had been scammed I thought that they were either sooo greedy or so stupid as to in part deserve what they got.

I mean come on, something for nothing just does not happen IRL.

You open spam mails?

It's all the ads for cheap Viagra and Cialis that depress me. I mean, I'm not *that* old...

BH: I don't usually actually open them. Most of them get diverted into my Deleted Items folder, but I have to check what's in there because some stuff I actually want gets caught by my spam filter. I can usually see what the message is in the bottom Outlook Express window without needing to open the message. I certainly know better than to click on any links in spam mails.

>> It's all the ads for cheap Viagra and Cialis that depress me. I mean, I'm not *that* old...

Think how I feel. I get loads of that kind of spam and I'm female!

"I can usually see what the message is in the bottom Outlook Express window without needing to open the message"
You mean the preview pane? That opens the email - you can't read the contents of an email without opening it. One of the first rules of safely operating Outlook Express (leastways, as safely as you *can* operate OE ) is 'turn off the preview pane'! Whenever you read an email and delete it or move it to a folder OE automatically opens the next one in the preview pane. Get rid of it and go back to your inbox every time you want to read the next email.

I got to say I love spam emails. I have won so many holidays that it is untrue. I could open a shop with the number of I-pods and Tvs I have won. Its great. The best one is that i am currently getting spamed with someone elses bussines report, so I can find put hw much shares.

Tom