Who is Adriana and why does she want to meet me?

Do you ever wonder about the spam you get? I get certain persistent pieces of spam and I wonder what they are trying to accomplish – besides phishing for my information, of course.  What happens if someone is foolish enough to reply?

Example #1. Someone named Adriana wants to meet me, if my emails are to be believed.  At first “Adriana” tried to contact me through Yahoo Messenger, and then Yahoo email and now I am getting notifications of “Facebook messages” from said person. She is persistent, I’ll give Adriana that.  From the little I can see on the subject line she is 21 and, I assume, well built.  Hovering over the return email line reveals a nonsensical series of letters.  I imagine it’s a phish of some sort, designed to steal my credit card information.  Unfortunately for Adriana her measurements do not interest me.  She is quite desperate for contact, poor soul.  Her desire to meet me will have to go unfulfilled.

Example #2. Pre-approval loans.  These are fun.  I am always preapproved for some random amount, like $4,621.03 cents.  I wonder how these people come up with the total they offer me (no, I have no illusion I’m the only one lucky enough to receive such an offer).  What happens when someone desperate enough clicks on that link?  What does it lead to?

Example #3. Dr. Oz Fat Buster.  There are three of these emails in my spam folder right now.  I can understand the appeal of this message.  After all, who doesn’t want to lose belly fat without trying?  However, having lost 64 pounds over a one year span in the last year, I know that nothing happens without effort.

Example #4. 419/Nigerian scams. The other day I got one from an alleged Pete Voss. M.D. that an Evelyn Curry wanted to give me money.  This one made me curious enough to investigate online, and it’s a variation of the Nigerian/lottery scams.  For anyone not familiar with these, it’s when some random person who supposedly had a loved one die, or they are dying, and have millions of dollars resting in a bank account in an African country and they want to give it all to YOU!  For a small handling fee, of course.  Oh, plus some bribes for local officials.  And oh yes, there’s some paperwork…etc. etc.  The lotteries are the same.  All of these lead one place – the victim being out several thousand dollars for nickel and dime expenses, and no millions appearing in their bank account.

These people must get enough interest to continue these schemes. Otherwise they would not continue.  But I wonder why they persist in inboxes that have proven unfruitful, i.e., mine.  I imagine that they simply blanket across all emails, and have no idea which ones work. I don’t know what happens if someone chases these emails, thinking they actually will get something out of them.  My thought is that they get nothing but relieved of dollars from their wallet, at best.

Of course it’s possible that somewhere a gorgeous 21 year old woman named Adriana with to die for measurements is pining away, waiting for a reply from me. If that is the case, she will have to continue to wait.

Claire