OBergmeier 0 Report post Posted November 13, 2007 Hi @ all...knows anyone here theinternetpatrol.com ? :rolleyes:I found this story:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------There are all kinds of people doing stupid things all the time. But some take the cake. Such as making a death threat against an officer who is investigating you. You have to admit, as people doing stupid things go, that’s pretty darned stupid.But, of course, when I explain that it was a spammer who made the death threat, well, it begins to make more sense. Because we all know that most - not all, but most - spammers are even more stupid than the average stupid person.In this instance, the death treat came from Peter Francis-Macrae, alleged to be the biggest spammer in the United Kingdom, but it’s actually not at all uncommon for spammers to make death threats, and other threats of bodily harm, to those whom they see as interfering with their operations. When I worked at MAPS, one of the first anti-spam organizations around, our investigators routinely were threatened like this, both in email and on the telephone. In fact, folks arrived at the office one day only to find that someone’s windshield had been shot out.But back to Macrae. Macrae was involved in a scam through which he spammed offers for cheap domain registrations in the EU. The only thing was, the domains he was advertising, and for which he was collecting money, weren’t available for sale. So he was investigated by the agency which deals with trading standards, and, it is said, he threatened to slit the throat of the trading standards officer.Not the sharpest tool in the shed, eh what?But a high-flying one, in more ways than one. With the 1.5million British pounds that he netted from his email scams he bought himself, among other things, designer clothing (Yves Saint Laurent) and helicopter lessons. You’d think that his father, with whom the 23-year-old Macrae still lived (in fact, his center of operations was his bedroom in his father’s house), might have caught on that his son had a bit too much spare cash for the average 23-year-old.Said the attorney for the government, Rupert Mayo, “He resorted to using violent verbal abuse and deadly threats to quite innocent people when challenged about his fraudulent activity.”Is anyone surprised? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skedad 0 Report post Posted November 13, 2007 Nothing seems to surprise me anymore. Someone taking advantage of a good thing. Someone taking advantage of another human being... There will always be someone stupid out there and thankfully these types of people that cause serious trouble are being found and caught. I think that rules are followed t 1800o a point, then at some point these stupid people want to raise the stakes so to speak and that is when they start getting into trouble. The victims themselves aren't stupid... just a bit foolish, or just don't seem to mind what they get into, until they realize what they got themselves into... then they double check and begin to research when it is too late!There will be spammers, and at every level out there. There will be the email spammers that hit yahoos and gmails and myspaces... thankfully a nice spam blocker will delete them and hopefully stop it from being sent or viewed in the future. I think on the phone, telemarketing is just as bad spamming. If you can even answer and tell them that you are not interested and to please take your number off of a list, it is a 50-50 chance of them not calling you back... like the very next day! They will keep up until there is a good answer, oh wait I mean a sale.Now the spammer you are talking about become criminal... scam artists, and they are usually pretty clever... but not the stupid ones! I would think that he should have at least had a plan for it all and not just blow the lute... stupid, stupid....I say out there... BE CAREFUL PEOPLE!- skedad - Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
patronus4000 0 Report post Posted November 17, 2007 No, not really. It's an interesting read, certainly, but there are plenty of not-so-smart people out there. But the thing about spammers shooting out the windshield - now that's scary. Then again, the world isn't a very nice place now anyways; crime is everywhere now. It seems impossible to avoid it.Serena Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
