The spam senders are getting desperate. Just about everyone now knows that e-mails from Nigeria are like short stories in the old Saturday Evening Post—pure fiction. Therefore, many Nigerian spammers (and others) are now bouncing their bogus claims, promises and appeals from country to country, trying to hide the true source.
However, in many instances, you can easily find out the country where an e-mail originated, or at least where it was redirected from. If you use AOL, for example, go to “Actions/ViewMessageSource” and hit “Go.” You’ll find initials for the one or more countries relevant to the e-mail. Some initials are obvious, such as “it” for Italy, “ca” for Canada, “mx” for Mexico, and “ru” for Russia. For all the others, go to www.visibone.com/country codes.
Here are a few: “de” = Deutschland. “eu” = European Union. “hk” = Hong Kong. “ng” = Nigeria. “nl” = Netherlands. “za” = South Africa.
Of course, some messages are so unbelievable it doesn’t matter where they originate; no one in their right mind would respond with the personal information requested (and then send the ever-increasing amounts of money they ask for).
For example, here’s an uncorrected excerpt from a recent e-mail: “I am Mr. Phil Brown, Financial Expert worked with well known Bank here in United Kingdom, I will be happy if we can do business together in good faith and this proposal will be of mutual benefit for us. I have a transaction deal in the tune of £52,000,000.00 {Fifty Two Million British Pounds Sterling} to be transferred to any possible safe account with your good assistance.”
Many spammers ask for your occupation. What would they do if you said, “Interpol detective”?
