Funny Spam IM

We've all received our fair share of spam emails. They range from Nigerian scam letters to ads for Viagra to admirer emails from "hot" girls to phishing scams. Pretty standard fare, and always to be found in my Junk folder, though occasionally one or two will slip past the spam filter and make its way to my Inbox.

Today I received my first spam IM. Apparently my Yahoo screenname is linked to my Dad's name (not entirely sure why, I may have used my own Yahoo email address when signing my Dad up for something long long ago). So every once in a while I get friend requests on Yahoo from people I don't recognize. I usually ignore them.

This time, however, the spammer was persistent. Despite my hitting "ignore" to the friend add request, it proceeded to IM me. I stared in fascination as the text appeared, sentence by sentence, before me-- almost as if a real live person were actually typing it!

Here's a transcript of the conversation (with my Dad's name changed):

[09:46:36] donaldsonxahaf: hey
[09:46:55] hellykwee: hi
[09:47:05] donaldsonxahaf: Hey Roger*
[09:47:27] donaldsonxahaf: This is difficult for me to do because I'm shy..but I have a crush on you, i have been sending you emails but no response
[09:47:49] donaldsonxahaf: I've never been able to tell you for reasons which you would quickly identify as obvious if you knew who this was.
[09:48:08] donaldsonxahaf: With that said, I want you to guess who I am, and approach me yourself.
[09:48:28] donaldsonxahaf: To help you out with your guessing I made a few pictures and videos with "Roger" written on my body.
[09:48:55] donaldsonxahaf: They're kind of risque photos so I had to make a private profile. look at my screen name on your buddylist and you'll see the link in my status update or you can look at the top of this conversation window. it's for your eyes only
[09:49:19] donaldsonxahaf: My username in the members area is "RogerandME09" (It's a free website but you might need a CC or Debit to verify your age because I had to. Sigh.)
[09:49:44] donaldsonxahaf: once you are inside search for me. I want you to guess who I am and then approach me yourself. I'm shy and this is the bravest thing I've probably ever done, but you need to do the rest.
[09:50:08] hellykwee: sorry, i don't put my card number into websites to verify age
[09:50:09] donaldsonxahaf: i wont ever be able to get on yahoo messenger again this is my only day so come talk with me on the website
[09:50:23] donaldsonxahaf: Kisses, Secret Admirer
[09:50:32] hellykwee: haha, you're funny
[09:50:38] donaldsonxahaf: AWAY MESSAGE - Waiting 4 My crush.. Won't back on here. FOR EVERYONE - If you read this you HAVE TO pull out your cellphone and text the word BARNABAS to the short # 70542. Follow the instructions. If you do this, you are voting for me to win the "hottest person ever contest". HELP!!! i need 1 more vote. If you vote for me tell me and ill love you 4ever

I was laughing too hard at the time, but now I kinda wish I had interjected some commentary of my own earlier on, just to see how well-programmed the spambot was to to handle real-time conversational responses.

Ah well. It gave me a good laugh for the morning. And I have to admit, I was pretty impressed that the grammar and spelling were pretty good-- makes a nice change from the ordinary grammar-error-riddled spam mail we're used to receiving! Someday I will post about the snail mail (yes, you read that right-- SNAIL mail) phishing scam I received a couple years ago...