Yaari - spamming in my name

-
Okay, I'll be the first to admit it was stupid. In my defense, Plaxo and LinkedIn also ask to login to your email accounts to see if any of your contacts are already members. So when Yaari ("India’s largest social networking site") asked me to, I foolishly said okay.

I'd gotten a request from a former colleague, now in India, that said something like:
    (former colleague) wants you to join Yaari!

    Is (former colleague) your friend?

    Yes, (former colleague) is my friend! No, (former colleague) isn't my friend.

    Please respond or (former colleague) may think you said no :(

    Thanks,
    The Yaari Team

Since I'd gotten it from an Indian colleague, it seemed at least somewhat plausible. Believing that was a big f**king mistake.

I immediately had a moment of regret and quickly logged into the email account in question and changed the password (booyah!).

Going back to Yaari proved it to be pretty much a waste of time. I figured I was done with it.

Then 2 days ago, BAM! The emails started landing in everyone's inbox: "(ME) wants you to join Yaari!" Even my inboxes (I have about a dozen email accounts).

I quickly sent an email to everyone on my contact list telling them to ignore this unsolicited bit of spammery. A little googling revealed their nefarious ways were well-known. How embarrassing.

My humiliation was complete the next day when I was forced to deal with the smirks of my IT co-workers, a number of whom had gotten first the offending Yaari-generated spam, and then my terse warning not to reply. The implication was they never would have been sucked into such a patently bogus deal (unlike me).

Humbling though this little episode was, the silver-lining was that I heard back from several folks in my contact list I hadn't heard from in a while.

Social networking indeed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday Movie Cavalcade

-
I didn't do much over the holidays (alas) but I did see movies. More movies than in all of the rest of 2009. It was all mainstream fair, but enjoyable nonetheless. Read on: no spoilers. Sherlock Holmes Holmes and Watson as action heroes. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law star. Early on, Holmes (Downey) does some bare-knuckle fisticuffs which were sufficiently violent that Spousal Partner decided she'd had enough. By the way, Rachel McAdams (as Holmes' love interest Irene Adler) is freaking gorgeous. Needless to say, this was " based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, " and not part of the Holmes canon. Purists may turn up their noses but it was rousing good fun. Avatar (3D) I wasn't initially planning to see this (it registered a bit high on the hype-o-meter) but Youngest Son saw it with friends and said he'd see it again with me.  I find that I tend to enjoy movies a lot more if I've previously lowered expectations.What I'd r
Read more

Contact Fedex Delivery Dept For Your Package....

-
Dear Customer! We have been waiting for you to contact us for your Confirmed Package that is registered with us for shipping to your residential location. We had thought that your sender gave you our contact details. It may interest you to know that a letter is also added to your package. However, we cannot quote its content to you via email for privacy reasons. We understand that the content of your package itself is a Bank Draft worth of $800,000.00 USD, FedEx do not ship money in CASH or in CHEQUES but Bank Drafts are shippable. The package is registered with us for mailing by your colleague, and your colleague explained that he is from the Country but he is here in Nigeria for a three (3)months Surveying Project as he works with a consultant firm in Nigeria West Africa We are sending you this email because your package is been registered on a Special Order. What you have to do now, is to contact our Delivery Department for immediate dispatch of your package to your re
Read more

A few random thoughts on "Cancel Culture."

-
 A friend of mine recently took exception when I mocked people (mostly conservative) who tossed around the term "Cancel Culture." It seems in the opinions of many some (mostly conservative), it's a freedom of speech issue. Not really. And it's not a First Amendment issue either, when Facebook or Twitter cancels your account for praising white supremacists, or neo-fascists, or other right-wing dickheads. " Cancel Culture ," which, according to Wikipedia, was originally an outgrowth of the "MeToo" movement, (so not so much about speech as calling out behavior - specifically against women) has morphed now into the latest right-wing NewSpeak  term for "I'm being punished for expressing my opinion."  Dig a little deeper though and you'll find the issue is not so much about "free speech," as "consequence-free speech." I mean...if you are going to be an opinionated ass, at least have enough self-respect not to be a w
Read more