E-Mail to staff on spam

Sent this morning after getting about a dozen "is this spam?" e-mails from teachers and administrators. My deleted comments are in italics...

___________________________

To all school district staff with measurable brain activity:

The district has been hit with another goddam round of spam coming from with the subject “letersSecurStar SecuryTeam Order #176857” or similar. This is just plain spam that our filter does not recognize as such. (It fits none of the “rules” the filter uses to determine whether something is spam.) Never ask a machine to do your thinking for you.

Please, please, please just delete these e-mails without replying. If you reply, you will only get MORE spam. Which you would richly deserve.

Most of us by now have enough experience with e-mail and spam after 10 years or so to determine what is legitimate e-mail and what is not. I am guessing most 4th graders can. For the 10th time,  It is spam if:

1. You don’t recognize the sender. (The spam below came from “Enlightening A Stump.” I know no Mr/Ms Stump nor do I want to.)
2. It comes from a non-US address. (The spam sender’s e-mail address ended in .uk. Ever since Princess Diana died, I don’t get any e-mail from the UK.)
3. There is a financial angle. (The spam below referred to an order for something I know nothing about, let alone ordered. There is the opportunity to go to a website where you may very well be asked to divulge some personal or financial information. Although you probably will despite how often you are warned not to.  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do this. If you think there really may be a problem with a company you do business with, use the telephone. It's that thing that sits on your desk with a keypad into which you enter as series of numbers and allows a real-time, two-way exchange of information in an audio format. )
4. You get several e-mails with identical messages from different senders. (Still none of whom you recognize.)
   
5. Replace your written e-mail address on webpages with something that looks like gullible(at)isd77.k12.mn.us. Human eyes and brains will still be able to determine your address, but Internet searching "bots" that collect e-mail address will not. No, I'm not going to explain what a "bot" is. Trust me, you don't want to know.
   

This is quite serious business if you respond to e-mails that ask you to verify, repair or maintain your "account" via e-mail. This is how identity theft happens. And don't you already have enough financial problems trying to live on a teacher's salary?  Again, if the e-mail is from a source with which you have never done business, simply delete it. You do this by highlighting the message and clicking on the trashcan icon or pressing the delete key. We will have a 3-hour inservice on Thursday after school if  you are still confused. If it looks like it comes from a business that you DO do business with, telephone (see description in #3 above) the company. There are many "fake" websites disguised to look like legitimate businesses designed to fool people just like you..

And finally, count yourself lucky if you receive fewer than a dozen spam messages a week. These things are rampant and unavoidable even with spam filters in place. Think of them as the mosquitos of the Internet. Even tech directors, as powerful and intelligent as they are, can't control all pests.

All the best,

Doug

___________________________________________

THE ORIGINAL SPAM MESSAGE:
Subject: letersSecurStar SecuryTeam Order #176857 will be processed manually
by our staff
Thank you for your order (#176857).
We will manually process your order and contact you soon by phone or email
Below you can find the summary of the order:
KEZAAM! Software distribution service
746 Comalli Street, Laguna Niguel
CA 92677, USA
Purchased at http://caro.nu/info.html
---------------------
Order id:     #176857
Order date:   1.11.2005 03:21
Order status: Q
Total:
-------
Payment method:  Credit Card
Subtotal:        EUR 164.95
Discount:        EUR 0.00
Coupon saving:   EUR 0.00
Shipping cost:   EUR 0.00
Tax:             EUR 0.00
Total:           EUR 164.95 |  (USD 199.59)

Thank you for your interest in our products.
Best regards, SecuryTeam!

__________________________ 

So am I getting too old and cranky for my job or what? 

Comments

[Laura]

Doug, not too cranky by half!

Over the past three days I've received five e-mails from former students all telling me to watch out for plastic in microwaves. They'd gotten the e-mails from teachers, forwarding on something sent by the Business Manager! My solution? I sent a message to everyone on the headers (all my former colleagues, and the students) telling them to PLEASE VERIFY all this using Snopes before sending it on... Apparently, the BM had done this a lot at her former school and no one thought to mention that this was a. spam and b. verifiable. Sigh. I hope she (at least) learned something!

[Joy]

Doug,
I loved your email to staff on Spam. I especially loved your deleted comments. They were so appropriate. Some of us Librarians have been online 20 years now. (Yes, I am one of those who started in DOS with DELPHI.) I am still training many of my staff as well as my family. It is a long slow process for some.

I also wanted to comment on the Librarian Image thing. I remember 20 years ago when ALA did a major campaign and there were those National Library Commercials with the 20-something Librarian in the hot red dress and the articles about Sky Diving and Plane Flying Librarians.
I think we make our own image. Sure, when we first start to work somewhere, some people may come in and make stereotypical comments, but I think we can always change their mind with our actions, our creativity in ideas for Library Displays and Exhibits and our sharing of information.

Several Examples I can think of are displaying some of my hobby projects (like my pottery or my woodworking or even the automotive work I had done on my own car. When I started teaching at one Middle School, a little over 15 years ago, I shared personal experience which enlightened them as warranted.
Scenario: A veteran science teacher came in and said he knew I probably wasn't very technical with AV Equipment so if I needed any help, he was available. (I found out the previous librarian didn't like any av.) I thanked him for his offer and shared that I would call him if I needed extra help. Then I asked him if I had told him about my summer project in which I overhauled and replaced the engine in my car and offered to show him my pictures of me inside the engine compartment of my car. I don't think he ever assumed I was incapable of handling anything in the way of Library or AudioVisual or Computers again.

In my current position in a H.S., when teachers are in a slow period and we need a change in the Glass Display case, I sometimes bring in some of my pottery including musical whistles, wheel thrown, slab or pinch pot construction items. Or last year, our school planned a teacher hobby exhibit. I have my fine woodworking objects or furniture that I have made and other teachers have stained glass windows or quilts or other interesting things to share. It helps our students see there is more to people than they initially see.

We often get the "Gee, I didn't know you knew how to do that!" from both staff and students alike. And we can use it to promote life-long learning!

Thanks for your sense of humor and post.

Joy