Cow. Chicken. Bell.

Every once in a while you notice a substantial increase in the volume of spam to a users address. The new spam all seems to come from dating sites, very interesting. Now, when looking for false positives, you happen to come across a reply from a spam bot to a sex ad posted by a user -- from their work account complete with company address in the signature! You get curious. You look into this more. And then you discover that the user's replies to sex ads outnumber legit business email by a factor of 5 to 1. User gets a talking to, illegitimate email traffic stops. Eventually the user leaves the organization, and you get to do the final email archive. And this is where the fun begins...

[More:]

Let's refer to the user as Shannon Hamilton. Now, Shannon had posted a flurry of craigslist ads as well as responded to plenty of postings along the lines of "SWF, 30, hrny 4 u!!" The mailbox was full of auto replies from spam bots, pictures of, umm, chunky women on play grounds, emails to family members complaining about his job, and of course the conversations between him and his craigslist hook ups.

All names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike. The content, however is real. Below is one kernel of goodness showing the stand up character of our friend Shannon. Please, do enjoy.

From: XXXXXXX XXXXX [xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 9:40 AM
To: Shannon Hamilton
Subject: RE: pics

Let me see, you called me bipolar, a cunt,a whore and told me to get AIDS and die. I thought you were a 34 year old professional, but I was wrong. Yes, I approached you because I thought you seemed fun and funny. But you showed me you true side last night.
You don't even know me, I am a 31 yr old professional, and mother and I do not need to be treated that way from anyone .And I accept your apology,however I will never meet you.
I wish you well,take care.

Shannon Hamilton [shannon.hamilton@acme.com] wrote:

I mean this....you are one of the prettiest...most sexy women I have
seen!!! YA..I think you would look GREAT in a bikini!! =) If you want
to come over and relax on Saturday during the DAY...please come on over
and we'll go to the resort. It's like a 5-star place on the ocean and
there are 2 pools....catered drinks...whatever you want and it should be
really warm and nice.

Shannon Hamilton
Account Executive
ACME, Inc.
shannon.hamilton@acme.com
(666) 666 6666 x666

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXX XXXXX [xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 3:15 PM
To: Shannon Hamilton
Subject: RE: pics

OK , this is gay, sending pics of myself. But anyway, one is my
christmas card pic, and the other is me and my gramma in ohio.the only
one I coud find alone was the beach one, and the other is at my 30th
bday.
in a nutshell.
I got your messege, but i should wait till i send the pics to call you
back, to see if you still answer!

Shannon Hamilton wrote:

Hey XXXXXXXXX!!

I know...through Craigslist it stinks. =) Try now!! =)

Shannon Hamilton
Account Executive
ACME, Inc.
shannon.hamilton@acme.com
(666) 666 6666 x666

________________________________

From: XXXXXXX XXXXX [xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 11:58 PM
To: pers-XXXXXXXXX@craigslist.org
Subject: pics

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

I'll have to send pics a different way or something!
Make it a great day!

XXXXXXX XXXXXXX
Realtor & Mortgage Broker
--Company Info Removed to protect the innocent--
Property Manager,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cell XXX-XXX-XXXX
Fax XXX-XXX-XXXX

this message was remailed to you via:
pers-265042931@craigslist.org

________________________________

More to come!