Everything is for sale in America. Everyone is a buyer or a seller or, probably, both. Distilled, we are one enormous market full of barkers, entrepreneurs, rubes, financiers, marks, and suckers. That’s the American way. Maybe it’s the way of humanity. Embedded in about everything we do is a sales pitch. “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and get the deal of a lifetime.” “Come on down, friend, and meet the best car dealership in the world and beyond.”
The way I figure it about half the people in the world are prey to the other half, most of whom are swindlers, blackmailers and liars. Each day, everywhere one turns, someone is looking to pick a pocket or beg for money. Cybercrime is as common as germs on door handles. Billions of spam emails are sent and received every day, and a giant portion of those fall in the category of borderline criminal activity rather than marketing pitches. Most days, I feel like a zebra sipping at a watering hole on the savanna, because I know that nearby a lion or hyena or leopard is preparing to pounce. Those of us who are not on the daily take have become targets and must endure constant pressure to be on the lookout for predators and tricksters, a wearisome position which does not recommend humanity. Research from Symantec indicates nearly 85% of all emails are spam or malicious. Each day we require protection from all the toxic trash we must wade through.
I am amazed at how many packages addressed to me are waiting for me to claim if I simply click through with my private information. I marvel at all the freebies I am offered every day. I have been selected to receive bargains for insurance, magazines, wet vacs, rain gutters, tummy tucks, ED treatment, credit cards, Yeti equipment, hearing aids, window replacement, lawn services, and, oh well, just about everything under the sun. Should I mention the women who want to meet me immediately for a meaningless relationships? Even though I don’t know them and don’t want to know them, they say explicitly what they want me to do to them. Marketers have chosen me to go on free vacations, to receive free installation of a hot tub, to get a free chicken dinner simply for listening to a presentation on the value of timeshares, to get a free inspection of our crawlspace, and to win a smartphone just for answering a short survey. Then I read the emails informing me I have renewed my subscription to Mcafee (notice the typo) Total Protection in the amount of $577.77, which of course I didn’t buy. Mind you, I also have packages waiting at FedEx, UPS, and every other delivery service in existence. Apparently I have won stuff from about every store at every strip mall in the country, and all I need to do to get everything is click a tab and fill-in my checking account routing numbers and so on.
Dubious offers, of course, go directly into the junk folder as well as just about all others, though recently I have gotten disturbing emails from criminals, not unethical marketing types, no, rather people applying blackmail and extortion to their would-be victims. Don’t know how these stinkers got my email address, but, let’s face it, information is easily found in the public square, and the scroungers take aim and prey on the weaknesses of people. The following email I recently received comes from one of thousands of fraudsters in Indonesia.
On Apr 22, 2024, at 5:48 PM, coaxy@vps.sman1rongkop.sch.id wrote:
188-5104
I'll be brief. I prepared all the content with your participation for publication.
Don't look at the subject, I had to get your attention somehow.
My e-mails that I sent to you remained without reaction.
I will tell you about one of the surprises. In addition to intimate videos and questionable correspondence.
I'm also going to publish audio recordings I made on your phone of you bad-mouthing very important people in your life.
Let them know what you say about them when they can't hear it.
Good luck to you and I'm sorry this is happening, but like I said, it's nothing personal, it's just my job.
By the way, you keep believing everything the mass media says and writes on the internet.
You learned how to use a search engine, but you still can't use your head. But things don't always go as planned, do they?
I'll start with social media, and you can search there if you're interested.
And I'll make sure everyone who needs it gets a private message with the information I've gathered.
You have one last chance, if you make it in time. Otherwise, you'll see and hear for yourself.
My BTC wallet is the same: 17kKeNTEsqB2cASARSTSjL1Phu2TeujW1p
Amount $696.
I won't give you any more time.
I'll delete the information as soon as I receive payment.
"Hasta la vista, baby."
Sextortion and other extortion scams have gained favor among the criminal elements over the last ten years according to the FBI, and the posers do not discriminate when it comes ton their marks. We are all ripe fruit for the picking.
The line in the extortion note that grabs my attention most is: Good luck to you and I'm sorry this is happening, but like I said, it's nothing personal, it's just my job.
“It’s just my job,” the extortionist says. Yup, in a world where a sucker is born every minute, a new job title is in play. Cheating others is now an ordinary job. Perhaps it always has been.