There's A Lot of Stink Going on With Emails This Week. Beware!

Be Super Careful with Emails you Get & Send

British Airways Scam

First, the BBC reports that British Airways customers are getting phishing emails from an email address, BC.CustSrvcs@email.ba.com, asking receivers to confirm an upcoming flight. I'm sure it's a tantalizing flight meant to get people to hand over their personal information, since this is a classic phishing scam. Phishing, if you don't know, is how scammers get your financial information so they can steal your money: they lure you into giving it to them. They fake email addresses and sometimes even create entire look-alike websites on different domain names. Always call the company directly first. Don't use the numbers or email addresses provided in the scam email itself, please.

The Cascade Bicycle Club - Not a Scam, but Creepy. Damned Creepy.

Then the Seattle Times reports about a really inappropriate email actually sent out by the Cascade Bicycle Club. Talk about strategic email marketing! Was this part of an integrated campaign?

Let me introduce myself. I’m Bike “I’m smarter than you” Bot, the Director of Cascade’s Intelligence Agency.*

I’m not human. I’m an internet program that’s been trolling through how many emails you’ve been opening from the Cascade Bicycle Club and how many actions you’ve been taking.**

And I have to say, I’m a little disappointed (like Siri gets when you ask her a dumb question … you know the tone). You’ve opened fewer than one out of four emails from Cascade, and you’ve never, ever signed a petition, sent an email to a decision-maker, or attended a lots-of-humans-in-the-room (ick) Cascade advocacy event.

Gosh and yuck is all I have to say. In this day and age, when most of us are really concerned about living in a police state with massive surveillance of every citizen, this is not funny. Not. One. Little. Bit.

And Wisconsin Governor Accused of Abuse of His Power and Making Bigoted Remarks in Emails

Another day, another political scandal! According to the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Governor Scott Walker is in the hot seat as 27,000 pieces of personal emails have been released from his work email. Apparently he wasn't just doing personal fundraising and campaigning while on the clock, but also took time out to bash (in writing) gays, African-Americans, and many other groups. He was mixing campaign work and public duties, he says, because he doesn't have a personal email, plus "everybody else does it." He doesn't think it's a big deal. Oh, he's up for reelection.

More Wisconsin Old-Boy Network Stuff

The chief legal counsel of Gov Walker's Dept of Transportation thought it would be really funny to send the governor a jokey email. It was written in the style of a phony press release and recommended that the state provide jobs for welfare recipients by legalizing prostitution with references to oral sex and venereal diseases. Slow clap, John Schulze. Way to go. That's how to have compassion for the millions of people suffering under your (that's the plural) collective actions against the poor and declining middle class populations of this country. Did you know 2/3 of our returning veterans are forced to accept food stamps to feed their families?

Finally, Country Star Dierks Bentley Bares All

Not really. He was trying to promote his new album's availability on iTunes by sharing an email he received from them. Unfortunately, he's probably not so good with PhotoShop because his email address was clearly visible. You know what happened next. His inbox exploded with emails from fans. Time for a new email address, Dierks.