New camouflage for spam.

I have a pretty good sense for virii in e-mails, spam links, etc. But every now and again we all fall for one. After all, I just woke up and was checking e-mails...

What gets to me though, is that I actually went off and read an article because the e-mail had the name of a guy I actually respect a lot.

Now I have to admit, these spammers are getting pretty sophisticated.

The first thing I noticed was this site had the name of my city on the article title, but nowhere in the article did it mention my city.

After I figured out the link I received was spam, I went back again to double check the spam, and I noticed three new features I hadn't seen before.

1 - The city's name in the title is actually dynamic and gotten through Geo-IP.
2 - The e-mail that sent me the link had a friend's name, probably stolen through Facebook.
3 - The inbound link uses A/B testing, and presents two entirely different articles and products! (this is what surprised me the most, these guys are getting smart)


Now, it gets to me that it is not illegal for people to do this. It is perfectly legal for someone to market some placebo, lie about it having magical properties, and spam people to drive sales.

Apartment in hartje Amsterdam closing.

For the past year I've been subletting my apartment, its been rough business.. Cleaned the place well, and packed everything, it looks depressingly empty just like when I first moved in.

I really missed Amsterdam. I miss Amsterdam still. I'll miss it even more when I go.

TODO:

- file income tax.
- close dutch company.
- pick movers quote.
- hand in keys.

Bye Amsterdam :'(