These days, I’ve noticed Phishing attempts are getting more and more sophisticated. Once, I was almost fooled, it was so convincing. But then something like this happens, and it makes me laugh, both at the incredible stupidity of the person perpetrating it, and even more at the idiots who fall for it.

Last night, this arrived in my mailbox. Now, I’d recently had a couple of eBay auctions end, and had received PayPal payments for them. But this was unexpected, since I’d been paid for everything and I no longer have a “Donate” link on the site. So I opened it up. Let’s dissect it together, shall we?

First up, the subject claims I was sent $16,00 (which is quite a feat, when you think about it). Upon further inspection, it turns out I was only sent $11,00 (Awww), but it was from “an Verified buyer“. Ooh, well that certainly inspired confidence! Despite this being “an Verified buyer“, it was, alas, from an Unconfirmed address. I can’t imagine why it’s unconfirmed — Estrella Ave, LA, Calofornia looks perfectly reasonable to me. And, the coup de grâce, when I hovered over the “View the details” link, I got the URL you see highlighted in yellow. Well, it’s got “paypal” in it, so it must be legit!

Thankfully, I dodged that bullet, but just barely. However, the attack did not end! This afternoon, I received this fine mail.

Another random generous soul, this one named Darren Lueders saw fit to bestow upon me the princely sum of $9,00! Now, that’s surely a more tempting bait. But, wait… Steven McCall appears to be the benefactor upon closer inspection, and he’s again trying to ply me with his $11,00! How can this be, Steven? Oh, but of course, even though Steven is still “an Verified buyer“, it’s Darren’s unconfirmed address that is listed. I must contact Darren at Box 1673 Greenville Me, Calofornia 0444 and find out why he’s sending me this money. Or I could just click on the “View the details” of this link, visiting the Quite Obviously Legitimate AmateurAsianSheMales.com address PayPal has suddenly started using.

It makes me long for the days when I was lured by untold millions from deposed dictators and dead Nigerian relatives. Alas, now I’m worth only as much as 16 dollars.

Now I’m sad.