Real businesses fake emails

My friends will tell you that I have too much time on my hands. This is not true, I actually feel like there are simply not enough time in the day, but my mind is always on overdrive. I think all the time. Lately, I have been thinking about SPAM.

So SPAM sometimes is just junk, it makes no sense, it is just some BOT firing off emails for sport, or some such. It may or may not have links in it.



Some SPAM seems like an attempt, albeit an amateur one to engage you in commerce of a questionable nature. Some of it is just asking for law enforcement to intervene. Of late I am getting a serious amount of SPAM marketing prescription drugs, particularly controlled substances. It is hitting my blind business email address, which dumps into my regular business email address. I know someone is mining addresses they find on the net. I have to think, that statistically speaking this will net you someone from the DEA or some other law enforcement agency. Furthermore, while some people, desperate for medications might fall for this, I have to think this is a ridiculous way to market your products. Furthermore, most of the emails are full of spelling errors and have weird fonts and designs.

If you are a regular business, not shady and offering a legitimate product, spend the time to set up a real website and market it like regular business people market their products. The business model works folks, if you can cook up some insane SPAM plan, you can exploit the normal business model successfully, I have faith in your abilities. You SPAM may be insane, but you drive to succeed seems clear to me, even if your spelling is challenged.

My favorite SPAM of the month is fake UPS emails that I have been getting, again to my blind business email, dumped into my regular email. Advising me that my package I shipped in December has not been able to be delivered and I need to contact them right away to make pick up arrangements.

December??? As if by nearly the middle of March I had not realized that something I shipped in December had not made it to the intended recipient. These SPAM emails are very much in the same family as the PAYPAL and EBAY ones which were popular a few years ago. They ALMOST look real. To the less than savvy email user, very easy to think they are the real deal.

Only these are ODD - I would think they are PHISHING - or trying to get me to enter my personal information into a form, so that someone, somewhere can steal my identity, but not the case - or at least that I can tell. My anti-virus program - scans these SPAM emails and is telling me they have a virus attached. I am not opening the attachments so I am safe, actually the emails hit my blackberry and I never open them at all on my PC.

So that begs the questions, what is the incentive to send me a virus. If you are not PHISHING then where is the economic incentive to send me these SPAM emails. I have to this date gotten at least 5 of these faux UPS emails. Why send a virus, which does nothing other than send me to the computer repair shop, my brother in law, or ruin my day.

I think SPAM is really interesting. I just do not get it. Put the effort into something legitimate. I think I have spoken to the power of the viral natural of the Internet. Twitter works in that way. Social media is build around that model and it works.

The PHISHING SPAM makes sense to me also. It is vile, but I get it as a concept. Sending me a virus, makes no economic sense whatsoever.

Any ideas?