Here's a new one for me. I got spammed in my Private Message Center...here's the message: From favour4u 07:36:51 6/27/2009 (reply).Re: security, ID:18199, Response:1 Hello Dear, I saw you in this site (www.computing.net) when i was sarching for a soul mate and i stopped to take a very good look at it. I want you to know that i will be intrested to know you better because you sounded very sweet in your profile and i will like us to become friends and know eachother the more. Here is my email address (godsfavour_kuma@yahoo.com) send me an email today please! Yours forever, Favour. (Remember that distance,age or colour does not matter in a real relationship but love matters alot). I am waiting for your reply now! PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH MY EMAIL ADDRESSES IS godsfavour_kuma@yahoo.com I made up a generic e-mail address and replied to find this message reply: My Dear, How was your night over there in your country,i believe you had a nice night and that the atmosphere over there in your country is very nice today? Mine is a little bit warm over here in Dakar Senegal. My name is Favour kuma i am (24) but age doesn't matter in a real relationship,so i am comfortable with your age,I am from Rwanda in East Africa,5.4ft tall, fair in complexion single,(never married ) and presently i am residing here in Dakar as a result of the civil war that was fought in my country some years ago. My late father Dr Edward kuma was a politician and the managing director of a Gold & Mine Ind in Kigali (the capital of Rwanda) before the rebels attacked our house one early morning and killed my mother and my father in cold blood. It was only me that is alive now and I managed to make my way to a near by country Senegal where i am leaving now as a refugee under a Revrend father's care and i am using his computer to send these message to you. I would like to know more about you.Your likes and dislikes,your hobbies and what you are doing presently.I will tell you more about myself in my next mail.Attached here is my picture.I will send you more in my next mail to you i will also like to see yours today! Hoping to hear from you soonest Yours forever , Favour with the pic of a young african girl. So I did a search on the letter and found other people using the same letter and pic with different names. It is a spamming technique, so be sure not to use your actual -email address if you happen to reply out of curiousity. EDIT: My question is, how did they get to spam me in my private message? Is it a bot that placed the message or a real person doing it? This arrouses my curiousity, also, is anyone else getting this type of PM? There were 3 identical messages in mine (all the same). Some HELP in posting on Computing.net plus free progs and instructions Cheers

I just found this too: My Nigerian pen pals. Have you ever received an email from a stranger in Nigeria promising you millions of dollars? - You should just delete it, because it is a pack of lies. However, some people answers them, and they soon find out that they have to pay some fee in order to get the millions. Then comes the second fee, and the third fee, etc etc. No one has ever received the millions, but many have lost a lot of money, and some have even got killed. This so called "Advance Fee Fraud" has become an industry in Nigeria, and the surrounding countries. Another common name is "419 fraud" after Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal code, the section that specifically prohibits this type of crime. The fraud is difficult to stop, but we can have some fun, and have the criminals use their time in vain. That is called scambaiting.

No such messages for me. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a bot. Once you (or a bot) have/has an account, it's not to difficult to send PMs. Every user's "profile" can be viewed with an URL like: http://www.computing.net/userinfo/1... Only the number at the end changes, and it increments sequentially. On that page is a button to PM the user. -Ryan Adams Free Computer Tips and more:http://RyanTAdams.com Paid Tech Support: Black Diamond

Wow, I never knew that! Thanks for the reply

Yes there are all kinds of ways to get into through a backdoor . I used to do the same thing to enter full gaming sites. You know the ones that you can't log into because they are full. by-pass the normal logging in crapola and enter through the back door. The problem here is that a bot cannot enter the restricted areas unless there is a true log in file on the bot itself....not even through the back door. So some one posted the pm and sent it personally. Look at it this way: You have someone living in a country that the average living wage is only a couple of hundred a year. The scammers get away with one scamm that nets them a $500 then they can easily afforc to pay someone a stipend to join sites all day long and post a thread. Then they serach for and find someone that looks or acts or sends out vibes that might be a target...and guess what. they send you an email and it goes from there...if it works it works and if not then they go to the next likely sucker!

I did not get any PM's like your OP. Does that mean I will never find love?

sorry derby, I guess it's all in the looks and personality! ROTFLMFAO