Mill Reached out And Touched Me!!

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by mdg1775, Nov 11, 2001.

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  1. mdg1775

    mdg1775 New Member

    Beware:

    When you do a search on Ask Jeeves and Lycos you get emailed from mills advertising that they can help you. The following is an email that I received today:

    Graduate without attending classes or taking a leave of absence from your current job.
    Prepare for the professional advancement you deserve.
    CALL 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX

    This University Degree Program removes the obstacles that cause adults to abandon all hope. You may know employers continually hire, promote and reward raises to new employees. They may have ZERO skills or experience, but they are continually promoted just because they have this piece of paper.

    The degree earned by our students enables them to qualify for career advancement and personal growth. This acclamation also breaks down the walls that prevents you from receiving the more fulfillment and proper Compensation.

    With our service, you are provided with an official graded transcript. Duplicate transcripts will be filed in the graduate's permanent record with our colleges. Degree verification and official transcripts will be provided in writing when requested by employers and others authorized by the graduate. Our College and University transcripts meet the highest academic standards. Our University issues a degree printed on a premium diploma paper, bearing the official gold raised college seal.

    Your degree is closer than you think.
    No one is turned down.Confidentiality is assured, and we are awaiting your call today!.CALL 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX Call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including
    Sundays and holidays.If you can't call - we can't help you.


    [Note: This message has been edited by Bruce]


    [Note: This message has been edited by Bruce]
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    The Jeeves and Lycos connection is interesting. I hadn't realized the "U of San Moritz" (and 7 or 8 other names) marketing was targeted in that way. A year ago, these people were getting over $1 million a month, in their bank account in Cyprus. By now, probably much larger.

    PS: Probably a good idea not to include the phone numbers when posting here; why make it easier for them to get clients.
     
  3. PSalmon

    PSalmon New Member

    What is the connection with Ask Jeeves and Lycos? I received a very similar email (from an address with .ru extension) though I have never used Ask Jeeves and haven't used Lycos in years.
     
  4. Chip

    Chip Administrator



    I suspect it's a coincidence. Unless you actually gave out your email address to Jeeves and/or Lycos while doing your search, there is no possible way for the engines to retrieve your email address. The only information the search engine gets is pretty basic -- your IP address, what browser you're using, and whether you have a PC/Mac or *nix box.

    Keep in mind that these folks are really aggressive with their spamming, and buy addresses from everywhere on the planet they can find them, so it's much more likely that you got added to their junkmail list at random from somewhere your email address was available than from a search engine inquiry.

    (Incidentally, that's one of the reasons we stopped making email addresses of participants available on degreeinfo many months ago... we discovered that a few unscrupulous people were harvesting addresses and spamming people.)
     
  5. mdg1775

    mdg1775 New Member

    Sorry to put phone #'s!

    I made the connection between Jeeves/Lycos because those are the only two sights that I visited other than my usuals recently and I ended up getting the email!
     
  6. Tom Head

    Tom Head New Member

    My 84-year-old grandmother once signed on with a national ISP so that she could e-mail her sister, niece, and brother-in-law. She set up a new, obscure-looking e-mail address, used the account only for e-mail, and gave her address only to those three people. In less than a week, she was getting spam.


    Cheers,

    ------------------
    Tom Head
    www.tomhead.net

    co-author, Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning (Ten Speed Press)
    co-author, Get Your IT Degree and Get Ahead (Osborne/McGraw-Hill)
     

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