"Ashley Madison" website hacked

Homicidal_Squirrel · Jul 20, 2015

Dioltach said:
Jealous people are jealous. They can't help themselves. Any suspicion will feed their jealousy, their jealousy will feed their suspicions, and nothing you can say or do can really end the cycle. If a jealous partner hears about the business with Ashley Madison, and then sees an e-mail claiming that your details have been stolen, no amount of logical reasoning or bluffing will make them believe otherwise.

That's a good point, but do you really think that these scammers would take the time to follow through on their threat if you didn't pay or would they spend their time on the people who will pay?

Morrus · Jul 20, 2015

Homicidal_Squirrel said:
That's a good point, but do you really think that these scammers would take the time to follow through on their threat if you didn't pay or would they spend their time on the people who will pay?

It's identical to the Nigerian scam, which appeals to greed. Jealousy, greed, whatever. All targeted at vulnerable people. The only difference is the words they use. The business model is exactly the same.

And the point is, if we figured that out on a D&D messageboard, then professional multi-millionaire scamming industries figured it out ages ago. They like you to think they're stupid; they're not. They're rich, and successful, and very, very clever.

Ryujin · Jul 20, 2015

Morrus said:
It's identical to the Nigerian scam, which appeals to greed. Jealousy, greed, whatever. All targeted at vulnerable people. The only difference is the words they use. The business model is exactly the same.

And the point is, if we figured that out on a D&D messageboard, then professional multi-millionaire scamming industries figured it out ages ago. They like you to think they're stupid; they're not. They're rich, and successful, and very, very clever.

They also work on volume, volume, volume. Sen out 1000 scamming emails and get one that bites, and you've made your money.

Morrus · Jul 21, 2015

Ryujin said:
They also work on volume, volume, volume. Sen out 1000 scamming emails and get one that bites, and you've made your money.

Yup. It's not 1000, though. It's millions. And they're carefully designed to target specific demographics. You look at the email and laugh at how stupid they are. They're fine with that. You just filtered yourself out, exactly as planned. The 0.0001% who reply? They're already self-filtered as prime targets.

Any time yiu think you're cleverer than the writers of illiterate-sounding spam emails, you're admitting they're brighter than you. You're thinking exactly what they want you to think. They are way ahead if you!

Now, your grandma, or your mentally ill next door neighbour, of that guy with Alzheimer's, or that unfortunate person who never got a good education. Because, hey, society? They might be handing over cash while you read this.

And they probably won't admit it.

Ryujin · Jul 21, 2015

Morrus said:
Yup. It's not 1000, though. It's millions. And they're carefully designed to target specific demographics. You look at the email and laugh at how stupid they are. They're fine with that. You just filtered yourself out, exactly as planned. The 0.0001% who reply? They're already self-filtered as prime targets.

Any time yiu think you're cleverer than the writers of illiterate-sounding spam emails, you're admitting they're brighter than you. You're thinking exactly what they want you to think. They are way ahead if you!

Now, your grandma, or your mentally ill next door neighbour, of that guy with Alzheimer's, or that unfortunate person who never got a good education. Because, hey, society? They might be handing over cash while you read this.

And they probably won't admit it.

... or university professor, or high level accountant, apparently. At least in my direct experience. Sometimes it's frightening being in IT support.

Homicidal_Squirrel · Jul 21, 2015

Morrus said:
It's identical to the Nigerian scam, which appeals to greed. Jealousy, greed, whatever. All targeted at vulnerable people. The only difference is the words they use. The business model is exactly the same.

And the point is, if we figured that out on a D&D messageboard, then professional multi-millionaire scamming industries figured it out ages ago. They like you to think they're stupid; they're not. They're rich, and successful, and very, very clever.

[sblock=Okay, so maybe I'm missing your point as it relates to what I was discussing with HoV.]

Homicidal_Squirrel said:
Oh... that's right. Well, these are people that can more easily be blackmailed into paying some money to keep things quiet. I can see why hackers would want to go after them.

Hand of Evil said:
The biggest issue with this crime, is you don't have to have used it to be a victim. They could say they got your information from the site and ruin your life as you try and prove you were not a cheater!

Homicidal_Squirrel said:
Where would they get your information from if it wasn't from this type of site? Even if they get your information, you can just call their bluff.

[/sblock]Or maybe you missed my point?
Is this scam going to catch some people who are more vulnerable? Of course it will. But I wasn't responding to that. I was responding to HoV's assertion that "The biggest issue with this crime, is you don't have to have used it to be a victim. They could say they got your information from the site and ruin your life as you try and prove you were not a cheater!"

Morrus · Jul 21, 2015

Homicidal_Squirrel said:
Or maybe you missed my point?

No, I'm expanding on it.

Is this scam going to catch some people who are more vulnerable? Of course it will. But I wasn't responding to that. I was responding to HoV's assertion that "The biggest issue with this crime, is you don't have to have used it to be a victim. They could say they got your information from the site and ruin your life as you try and prove you were not a cheater!"

For most people that's fine. For someone in the public eye, that's a death knell. We all know that the mere suggestion or accusation is enough to end a career. Truth has nothing to do with it; you just need to convince people you're possibly credible. This makes you possibly credible. Denial doesn't help.

We live in a new era of trial by lynch mob. It's based in social media, and it doesn't result in actual death these days, but it's the same thing. We didn't improve; we were just prevented from lynching people. We still do it at the slightest opportunity.

Homicidal_Squirrel · Jul 21, 2015

Morrus said:
No, I'm expanding on it.

you may have expanded in a direction that weakens the relation. But whatevs.

For most people that's fine.

For someone in the public eye, that's a death knell. We all know that the mere suggestion or accusation is enough to end a career. Truth has nothing to do with it;[/quote]Sure, that's true, but those would be special cases. Most people aren't in that type of situation. Hell, there are even some in the public eye that would fight it. Not everyone folds so easily.

yiu just need to civic d people you're possibly credible. This makes you possibly credible.

Morrus, how much have you had to drink today?

Morrus · Jul 21, 2015

Homicidal_Squirrel said:
Morrus, how much have you had to drink today?

iOS. It turns typing into an actual battle. What you read is what the ghost if ast eve jobs decIiided a I meant.

I just left that as my iPad presented it. Those were not the keystrokes I chose. This paragraph I edited. Autocorrect doesn't even pick full words any more!

Ryujin · Jul 21, 2015

Morrus said:
No, I'm expanding on it.

For most people that's fine. For someone in the public eye, that's a death knell. We all know that the mere suggestion or accusation is enough to end a career. Truth has nothing to do with it; you just need to convince people you're possibly credible. This makes you possibly credible. Denial doesn't help.

We live in a new era of trial by lynch mob. It's based in social media, and it doesn't result in actual death these days, but it's the same thing. We didn't improve; we were just prevented from lynching people. We still do it at the slightest opportunity.

Reminds me of how Anonymous outed some guys who were involved in the rape of a classmate, when she was too drunk to resist, and then posted pictures online, ultimately resulting in the girl committing suicide.

... Except that they outed guys who had nothing to do with the incident, who had to then suffer the online slings and arrows of outrageous forums.