A Rather Disturbing Spam and Reminder From Childhood
Today I received a spam at one of my personal email addresses with the subject Public Records Report For, followed by a name that was decidedly not mine. I’m glad for that; had it been my name, I would have wondered just what else this sender knew about me or was telling others about me. 🙁 The sender was an entity named Archives.com, which I had never heard of previously but whose web site is amazingly similar to that of the much-better-known Ancestry.com. The ESP was EmailLabs (also known of as Lyris, Sparklist, and Uptilt).
This spam reminds me of certain bulk mailers who infested Her Majesty’s Post when I was a child, whose envelopes appeared to be official correspondence from Inland Revenue. When I was a child, Mum would detour by the bin after picking up the post to discard junk mail. She hated these advertisements because she felt it necessary to open them to verify that they were not, in fact, from Inland Revenue. She also refused to do business with companies that advertised in this blatantly dishonest manner.
I think my mother has the right idea. 🙁
Source IP: 63.236.76.134
Headers:
Received: from archives.sparklist.com (archives.sparklist.com [74.116.236.37])
by <redacted> with SMTP id <redacted>
for <redacted>; Fri, 30 Nov 2012 <redacted>
DKIM-Signature: <redacted>
DomainKey-Signature: <redacted>
From: "Archives" <no-reply@Archives.com>
To: <redacted>
Subject: Public Records Report For "<redacted>"
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 <redacted>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:leave-<redacted>@archives.sparklist.com>
Message-ID: <LYRIS-<redacted>@archives.sparklist.com>
Message Body (for your entertainment):
Hi <redacted>,
Discover what information is contained within YOUR Public Records Report – click here:
http://www.archives.com/go.aspx?<redacted>
Public Records Reports are conducted daily by employers, landlords, potential dates, colleagues, and maybe even your family and friends!
A typical Public Records Report may contain:
– Nationwide criminal records
– Previous addresses and resident history
– Known aliases, relatives, and associates
– Bankruptcies, liens, and judgments
– Professional licenses, business ownership
– And more!
Run a search today:
http://www.archives.com/go.aspx?<redacted>
When used for employment screening, credit checks, or other purposes defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consent is generally required by the subject. But for purposes that fall outside of FCRA, consent is not required and viewing public records about someone is quite common.
Archives is pleased to bring you access to your own Public Records Report – for a special one-time low price – just click here:
http://www.archives.com/go.aspx?<redacted>
Reviewing your Public Records Report can be extremely useful for:
* Identifying and stopping identity theft
* Removing old or invalid legal violations
* Not losing a job or job opportunity due to false information
* Not being turned down for a mortgage or other credit application
Click here to view your report instantly:
http://www.archives.com/go.aspx?<redacted>
————————————————————
Disclaimer: This email is commercial in nature. You agree to use the information found within “Archives” only for appropriate, legal purposes.
————————————————————
Archives
P.O. Box 391146
Omaha, NE 68139
To unsubscribe from all future mailings visit this link:
http://archives.sparklist.com/u?<redacted>