On Thu, 2011-03-24 at 23:32 -0700, Michael C. Robinson wrote: > I'm getting email from [email protected] . > > The emails include lovely pictures of a woman who claims to be Russian. > > So far, all I have to go on is that I have received a few emails from > this person, bot, whatever where the story so far seems to be > reasonable. I've tried to suggest another medium to verify what I'm > being told, Skype perhaps. I'm wondering if anyone else has received > email where they are told to reply to [email protected] ? > > What can I do considering that email is completely untrustworthy to > verify or refute what these messages say? > > The woman, assuming this is a Russian woman in Russia, is supposedly a > teacher who wants to come to the U.S. on a special work abroad program. > The claim she makes is that she has no opportunity in Russia. Another > thing she says is that she wants to make a friend before she comes to > the US. She evidently wants to stay in the US long term. > > I've emailed back to the address given that I have concerns such as, > I can't verify that you are who you say you are, etcetera. > > Yeah or nay, sharing pictures is a good idea or a bad one? I offered > her a picture of myself and a very old picture of family. I did not > tell her in me message the family members' names. I figure I could have > a page up on the web with family photos. > > I asked her if she really is a teacher and suggested she come up with > ideas on how we can verify the stories going back and forth without > endangering ourselves. > > This email exchange is exciting, but I'm worried that it could be > dangerous. What options do I have to make sure that this isn't some > clever scam? If this is a scam, what is the goal of the con? > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
to rephrase the question: "can i trust the contents of this unsolicited email, from someone in a foreign country, and should i give out personal information to a total stranger?" common sense says no. if you're getting a kick out of exchanging emails, though, go for it, but be careful to CYA. - nathan _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
