Is this baitable?

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Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:25 am

Quote:

Subject line: Necessito tu ayuda

Chance to win 1 of 3 $100.00 gift cards to Amazon.com!

Just in time for the Holidays!

Hello,

I am a Doctoral Candidate at Alliant International University in San Diego, California working on my Ph.D. in Clinical and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I am conducting an online research study examining people's beliefs (i.e. how people view the world andhow they view themselves) across groups and workplace roles.

Your participation is requested as:

* A survey participant, if you meet the criteria, and/or
* A seed participant, to refer those you know who meet the criteria for participation. For this, please send and/or forward this email on to your contacts.

Criteria for participation:

* Be employed
* U.S. Born White/Caucasian and/or Latino/Hispanic
* Over 18 years of age
* Are a manager, boss, or supervisor (having at least 1 direct report) and/or have a manager, boss, or supervisor

What is in it for you?

Once you complete the study, you will be immediately given a complimentary, personalized, and confidential feedback report of

1. Your top five signature character strengths and description
2. A description and ranking of their 24 character strengths.

…Plus, These results could potentially assist you in your personal and professional development AND you will also have the option to return to the VIA website to view your results and optionally re-take the survey at a later date and compare your results!

3. Also, at the end of the data collection period, your email (if you choose to provide it) will be entered into a drawing/raffle top win 1 of 3 $100.00 gift cards to Amazon.com. Should you choose to participate in the raffle, your email is required. (Note: Your email will NOT be used for any other reason but to contact you regarding the drawing/raffle.)

Please continue here to participate in the survey.

Participation in this study is voluntary and you may withdraw from participation at any time. To obtain supplemental instructions, the participant bill of rights, or participant informed consent forms, please go to the study website

If you have any questions you may contact the researcher.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

[TPlTjDeAOs]

To stop these, use this option continue,

Or send us a letter,
Silver Cloud GRP
14525 SW Millikan #11450
Beaverton, Oregon 97005-2343

ID# TFeULRFXESQSXRxZKS

<1;36p6pEp_9pSmnjBmppYe6;209531>

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:30 am

Yeah why not, but is it a scam?

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:40 am

Quote:

U.S. Born White/Caucasian and/or Latino/Hispanic

Selecting participants on the basis of race is certainly against the law in the UK and I would bet also the USA.

Scam ? Pretty sure it is, and just a little googling should easily determine with 100% certainty.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:56 am

Okay I will google it.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Posts: 90

It is NOT illegal to discriminate in the US on the basis of race for academic studies - it's a way of limiting the variables/cutting down on the necessity for extensive analysis.
This reads to me like a poorly designed study, but not a scam. Was there a website provided?

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:41 pm

I get the feeling this is some poor schmuck needed to do a school project. I could be dead wrong.

If he's a scammer, he's not telling them they will get the money he's only saying they have a chance to win and then its' only $100. hardly worth the effort of scamming.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:47 pm

It doesn't look like a scam to me. There's no reason for you to send him any money, although it could come later.
Can you give us his email address and email headers?

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

How much in the way of advanced fees could you hope to extract from people on the promise of a chance to win (via a raffle) a $100 (about £50 in proper money Wink

) Amazon Gift Voucher (not cash)? Get real folks Laughing

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:03 pm

It's either...

1) A brilliantly concocted identity theft scam
or
2) A terribly composed PhD project

I imagine it's #2, and I sincerely hope they don't award real PhD's to people who spam inboxes for participants.

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

^^^

I remember when I was a student my university Email account used to get mail all the time from students on different courses wanting you to participate in various research projects.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:41 pm

There's only one way to find out for sure: reply! If it looks innocent, just drop it. Looks more like a customer base building and profiling attempt.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 15 Nov 2008 Posts: 1

Scroll to end and see it's from the same source (Silver Cloud GRP)
Of course I didn't click the link, but when I googled the Co. I came across this forum. I thought I'd add to this discussion and warn ya'll.

Barbie21Paramus sent you a message invite.

To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://hg4rhh3.com/sorys?e=0oAHH4enJ9s4zYYUoYQ&m=222531&l=0
--------------------
Re: My new beach pic is up Paramus NJ
We chatted I think. You responded to my post. Are you still
interested? I added you to my friends list so now you can see all of
my pictures. When you login in search for my page, Barbie21Paramus

Bye bye,

Barbie21Paramus
--------------------
To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://hg4rhh3.com/sorys?e=88zccLDgA9.Lwtt78tS&m=222531&l=0

id# MXHev

.
mttHvKofTlFObqqUG
EiPMfmzzeQfiDimmL
pyHnNigPdrChUdbDWWJc

.
TqYMuJaeMBryu
sBQSyvlvktwTFaRhyum
pATNxQJluoidSErt
.
fPOgkWavzTsd
HELzIUbdcikb
oVtrlZXowQPBReSM
.
[IinJxnthgfyRB]

You can leave here,
http://hg4rhh3.com/unsub.php?e=........=222531

Or send us a letter,
Silver Cloud GRP
14525 SW Millikan #11450
Beaverton, Oregon 97005-2343

<1;5U4uurKZQNjrSzz9UzC;222531>

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 10:03 pm

Thanks Dad123,

It does look fishier and fishier then...appreciate the post - and by the miracle of the internet, now anyone searching for Barbie21Paramus lands on this thread too Smile

Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:45 pm

Found this thread while trying to research a Phishy email I got this morning.

The following domains were filed on the same day and whois back to the same id.

Domain Names Registered on 9/28/2008

hu2aag1.com
hu2aag2.com
hu2aag3.com
hu2aag4.com
hu2aag5.com

hz3uaq1.com
hz3uaq2.com
hz3uaq3.com
hz3uaq4.com
hz3uaq5.com

Technical Contact:
Silver Cloud
Brian Wilson ([email protected])
+1.5033343910
Fax: +1.5555555555
14525 SW Millikan #11450
Beaverton, Oregon 97005-2343
US

It caught my attention because it had my name in it. Seems there may be a check for me somewhere and all I have to do is click on the link. I didn't do that, but you can try if you want, the header and message are below. I left the link intact, but removed my name and email.

X-AOL-UID: 3170.994184514
X-AOL-DATE: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 3:52:28 PM Eastern Standard Time
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from rly-md08.mx.aol.com (rly-md08.mail.aol.com [172.20.29.146]) by air-md10.mail.aol.com (v121_r4.4) with ESMTP id MAILINMD103-919492db6f7120; Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:52:28 -0500
Received: from ms3.hu2aag3.com (ms3.hu2aag3.com [65.75.172.50]) by rly-md08.mx.aol.com (v121_r4.4) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINMD081-919492db6f7120; Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:52:07 -0500
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=simple; d=hu2aag3.com;
h=from:to:subject:date:message-id:content-type;
q=dns/txt; s=s512; bh=8hGoDcwlx58bHffTc/SEUsJyOaU=;

Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=simple;
s=s512; d=hu2aag3.com;
[65.75.172.50];
Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:21:55 EST
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: Check Notice <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Possible Check Pending xxx xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:21:55 EST
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
X-Mailer: 3.5.0-78 [Jul 5 2008, 04:22:08]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-AOL-IP: 65.75.172.50
X-AOL-SCOLL-AUTHENTICATION: mail_rly_antispam_dkim-d236.1 ; domain : hu2aag3.com DKIM : pass

xxx xxxxxxxxxx You may have a check pending.

Please check your status,

http://hu2aag3.com/sorys?e=1NFLhFYggYJ6FbhZLoF46Fb&m=274531&l=0

Thank you,
Check Notice