Spammer: “Sell me some smoke detectors”

July 19, 2007

I wrote an article about this a while ago, but apparently my email address, that of a simple online security trade journal editor, has been misunderstood as someone who sells "products". Thus this morning, I got hit with the classic scam; it also arrived in the inboxes of others in the industry.

Hello sales dept,       
     my name is walex benson i will like to order for some (SECURITY PRODUCTS). from your store and below is  the  quantity needed on the SMOKE DETECTOR
 
system sensor photoelectric smoke detector with base
model number.2w-b
Quantity needed : 200 units
 
So kindly email me back with the total cost of the devices plus tax including the shipping cost to the shipping address below....
 
191 Scheafer Street Suite 2
Brooklyn New York
11207
 
I look forward hearing back from you with the total cost of
the detectors plus tax including the overnight shipping cost to your location and let me know the types of credit card you accept as a method of payment
Regards,
walex benson . 

 

 

If you want to read the article where we tried to warn the industry about such scams, go here. Personally, it gave me a bit of a laugh that I -- as someone who has tried to educate others about these scams -- got sent a scam email. You'd think they could have at least Googled "Kohl, smoke detector, scam" and figured out that I'm not a likely target. Ah well...if they were that smart, they wouldn't be trying to steal smoke detectors.

-Geoff