Sigh.
The spam. It does not stop.
I received a followup message from both “Jesse” and “Jen” [1], and now this:
From: Michelle Barlow <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: sean@conman.org
Subject: RE:
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2018 12:32:51 +0000
> Hi there,
I came across your site while looking for resources for our next blog and I knew I had to reach out immediately, kudos on a fantastic blog. My name is Michelle, and I'm reaching out on behalf a online gambling company. This month, we're looking to secure sponsorship placements with five prominent blogs and your site jumped straight to the top of our list. Please let me know if this is something you're interested in discussing further.
Kind regards, > Michelle
If I'm going to receive this crap, I might as well have fun. I replied to both “Jesse” and “Jen” with the reply I was tempted to reply with (let's see how they handle that) and to “Michelle” I replied thusly:
From: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
To: Michelle Barlow <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
Subject: Re:
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2018 19:16:45 -0400
> It was thus said that the Great Michelle Barlow once stated:
> > Hi there,
>
> I came across your site while looking for resources for our next blog and I knew I had to reach out immediately, kudos on a fantastic blog. My name is Michelle, and I'm reaching out on behalf a online gambling company. This month, we're looking to secure sponsorship placements with five prominent blogs and your site jumped straight to the top of our list. Please let me know if this is something you're interested in discussing further.
>
Thank you so much for the flashbacks I'm now experiencing. I live in Florida, and back in 2004, I was working with a gentleman who ran marketing for a gambling web site in Costa Rica. Between Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan our site (as well as my private server which had no relation to the gambling marketing sites) was hacked and completely wiped out by the Russian Mob as part of an extortion racket.
I … I thought I was over it … but …
For background, yes, I was hacked between hurricanes [2] (as part of an inside job). I can't say for certain if it was the Russian Mob, but hey, it makes it a bit more exciting.