<VV> Spoofed name

[Charley Biddle]

I agree with Bryan that such e-mails should simply be deleted.

I received the same e-mail and I did a double-take.  I know of a Corvair person named Brian O'Neill AND an author in New Jersey with the name of Brian O'Neill.  The New Jersey Brian O'Neill has written a book about WW2 US B-17 bomber crews that flew out of England.  One of the crews he wrote about included my father.  I had communications with him about my father's story.  I was surprised to get an e-mail from who I thought was the New Jersey Brian O'Neill making a "Humble asking".  If anything, he would be referencing my father's story.

Unfortunately, the address lists for Virtual Vairs and the CORSA Chapters List have been compromised (among many others).  I get spam e-mails from various people who I know in the Corvair world that make no sense or relation to Corvair things.

Hackers collect these list of e-mail addresses, bundle them up and sell them on the dark web.  Spammers buy these lists, resulting in a lot of the spam e-mails you all receive.

A common trick is to embed a picture in the spam e-mail, of size one pixel by one pixel and set to be downloaded from a server the spammer controls.  If your e-mail client opens such an e-mail, the picture is automatically downloaded and displayed in the e-mail.  Being one by one pixels, it shows up at best as a little speck on your screen.  If this single pixel is white, it does not show up at all.  However, since an e-mail on your computer has accessed a resource on the spammer's server, the spammer now knows you are a "live" e-mail account.  Your e-mail address is now added to a new bundle of e-mail addresses and sold for more money on the dark web.  These lists are purchased by other spammers, causing you to receive even more spam e-mail for all sorts of things, from time shares, shady car insurances, health scams, political (mis)information and even porn sites.

This all is a real good reason to never open an e-mail you are not sure is from a legitimate sender.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is a nasty world out there on the Internet.  We've come a long way from the early "Nigerian Prince" scams.

--- Charley Biddle, CCE



> On 04/07/2022 12:38 PM Bryan Blackwell via VirtualVairs <virtualvairs at corvair.org> wrote:
> 
>  
> Hi folks,
> 
> Not the full address, but someone thought that sending a spam e-mail purportedly from Brian O'Neill with the subject "Humbly asking" would work.  While he may send very polite notes asking for help, I don't really associate that word with him.  So, if you get one of these messages, just delete it :-)
> 
> --Bryan
>  _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by the VirtualVairs mailing list, all copyrights are the property
> of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, mailto:vv-help at corvair.org
> This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America, http://www.corvair.org/
> Post messages to: VirtualVairs at corvair.org
> Change your options: http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/virtualvairs
> Archives: http://www.vv.corvair.org/archive.htm
>  _______________________________________________