Spammers meet Ruhtra Tolemac
Following on from yesterday’s mention of the “I live in Russia and want to meet you in Australia” spam, I have enlisted the help of my alias Ruhtra Tolemac to get to the bottom of the scam. Unlike Glenn Wheeler, the email I received was not from Mariana, but from Lbuyow, however the contents of the email were otherwise identical.
Unlike the last time I tried this, I’m using an alias so that I’ll be able to follow through with working out the scam, without divulging my personal details. Regular updates will be posted here, and Ruhtra has his very own category to keep track of the emails.
To start with, the email from Lbuyow (it almost had no line breaks…I’ve fixed up the formatting a bit to make it more readable):
Hello my new friend.
I want write to you and want to know you much more. I would like to correspond with you.And now it is a little about me, My name is Lyubow, I live in most beautiful city in Russia – Sain-Petersburg. I think, you heard about it. If you will have opportunity arrive here do it necessary and you will see how it’s look likes. I was born 11 of December 1978 years. I have all my life before me. I of 168 sm of growth and my weight of 52 kg. I have finished school and then studied
in university. I studied history of the different countries and the English language for this reason and I can talk in English.I work in shop on sale mobile phones. I don’t like my work, but I can’t find anything better. When I acted to study in university I thought that my future profession may be useful, but then I have understood that with my profession I can go to work only at school and I don’t want it, because on those wages that pay for teachers our government, it isn’t possible to live. Therefore I have gone to work at shop.
I want to tell about my hobbies, I very much love cinema! I think, that I can stay at a cinema all the day. I like gardening and green flowers. I prefer to listen to music on mood. I can listen in the evening to classical music and in the morning I can include radio and hop while I prepare for breakfast. I haven’t bad habits, I do not smoke and never used any narcotic substances. I can drink easy alcoholic drinks, but it happens only during holidays and in the company of my girlfriends.
I never was married and I have no children. I don’t know why, but I could not find the pleasant person for me. Much man want only sex with me. Other part can’t talk with me or can’t find a way to my soul. I want to know about your past relation. I will trip to Australia soon.
I will arrive to Perth. My girlfriend Oksana live there. She move from Russia some years ago. We communicate all time. She told me about her new family and live there. I want to live in Australia too. She help me with documents and all expenses for trip. Her husband is rich man and they don’t need anything in life. They help with money for me always. I will not ask you about money! I am not scammer. I heard much stories about it and you can trust me. If we want to meet in future, I will meet you myself, when I will be there. I want travel around Australia. I want talk with you on msn, give me you hotmail address for it. I don’t want to ask you many questions, just write me about yourself as I did. And of course feel free to ask questions! I shall wait for your letter.
You can write to me on my e-mail: shipkoluba@gmail.com<mailto:shipkoluba@gmail.com>
From past experience, it really doesn’t matter what you write in reply to these lunatics, as long as it is vaguely related to what they have written. I’m remaining on-topic for now (albeit avoiding a couple questions) and I’m painting a picture of Ruhtra as somebody who’s not very tech-savvy, and a bit gullible, the perfect target for this type of scam.
Ruhtra’s reply:
Dear Lyubow,
It is very lovely to hear from you and I think you will enjoy living in Australia. I have not been to Saint Petersburg but I have seen pictures of it on many television documentaries. You are correct, it is very lovely.
My name is Ruhtra Tolemac, I was born in the New South Wales town of Gundagai on the 19th of August 1980, I now live in Canberra which is the capital city. It has a very nice lake. I work as a baker, producing many fine breads and cakes. I am a very good cook.
I, like you, do not have any bad habits, and would like to get to know you better.
I do not have the MSN thing as I find computers to be a bit of a confusion sometimes, but I am OK with emails and I hope you receive and read this and would like to be in contact. I hope to talk to you soon.
If you have any more questions for me, I would be happy to answer them as you sound like a very lovely lady from the wonderful country of Russia.
Yours most sincerely,
Ruhtra Tolemac
The replies to this scam tend to be a bit slow, and tend to be done in bulk with the same reply going out to everyone who has replied to the initial email. For now, it’s just a matter of waiting.
Samuel
4 comments February 3rd, 2008 at 11:22pm