Category Archives: Uncategorized

Death Threat Spam

This is a new one to me. Received the following (Full headers included for your amusement):

==================

Return-Path:
Received: from cabernet.rcbowen.com ([unix socket])
by buglet.rcbowen.com (Cyrus v2.3.9-Fedora-RPM-2.3.9-7.fc7) with LMTPA;
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:54:40 -0400
X-Sieve: CMU Sieve 2.3
Received: from redservicio.net (unknown [195.140.143.60])
by cabernet.rcbowen.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A097F13280C9
for ; Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:54:39 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=195.140.143.60)
by redservicio.net with esmtpa (Exim 4.67)
(envelope-from )
id 1JbLZt-0003Ei-Vr; Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:05:13 +0100
Received: from 195.166.241.58
(SquirrelMail authenticated user blessed2)
by 195.140.143.60 with HTTP;
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:05:01 -0000 (GMT)
Message-ID: <1880.195.166.241.58.1205784301.squirrel@195.140.143.60>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:05:01 -0000 (GMT)
Subject:
From: “KILL”
Reply-To: deadlykillers2001@gmail.com
User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.13
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
Importance: Normal
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Attn,

I am very sorry for you, is a pity that this is how your life is going to
end as soon as you don’t comply. As you can see we are the members of the
Deadly Networks in the world, which is responsible for the bombing of twin
tower?s in America on Sept. 11th and the bombing of London transport
services on July 7th (AL-QUAEDA NETWORKS), I don’t have any business with
you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do
it as I have already been paid for that.

Someone whom you called your friend wants you dead by all means, and this
person have spent a lot of money in this venture …

(Remainder of message snipped. If you want to read the whole thing, Google for “KILL” and “AL-QUAEDA NETWORKS”.)

========================

So, I did a little poking around, and looked up the host from which the message was sent. It was, as you can see from the headers, a Squirrel-Mail installation at 195.166.241.58. That address is registered via AFRINIC, and, unsurprisingly, resolves to a registrant on Victoria Island, Nigeria. Victoria Island is a center for banking and commerce, and, now, apparently, phishing scams and spam.

The premise here is that someone has taken out a contract on my life, and for a mere $15,000, I can buy their disloyalty. I have to say, I’m a little insulted. $15k is all I’m worth, and they don’t even know my name? Come on, folks. You can do better than that.

I attempted to submit a report of this via the contact form on Linkserve.net, but got an ASP form error. I guess they don’t want to be contacted.

Presumably, however, someone is stupid enough to fall for this scam. So … don’t let it be you.

===================

Complete whois information, in case someone closer to the source can hunt down these people and show them the error of their ways:

inetnum: 195.166.224.0 – 195.166.255.255
org: ORG-LNL1-AFRINIC
netname: NG-LINKSERVE-971217
descr: Linkserve Nigeria Limited
descr: PROVIDER
country: NG
admin-c: CO445-AFRINIC
tech-c: OC5192-AFRINIC
status: ALLOCATED PA
mnt-by: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
mnt-lower: MNT-LKS-AS8770
mnt-domains: MNT-LKS-AS8770
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered
parent: 0.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255

organisation: ORG-LNL1-AFRINIC
org-name: Linkserve Nigeria Limited
country: NG
org-type: LIR
address: Plot 308 Adeola Odeku Street
address: N/A
address: Victoria Island
address: Nigeria
phone: +234 1 2623900
phone: +234 1 2623901
fax-no: +234 1 2623906
e-mail: chima@linkserve.net
admin-c: CO445-AFRINIC
admin-c: OC5192-AFRINIC
mnt-ref: AS8770-MNT
mnt-ref: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
mnt-ref: MNT-LKS-AS8770
mnt-by: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

person: chima onyekwere
address: Linkserve plot 308 adeola Odeku street, Victoria Island
phone: +234 1 262 3900
nic-hdl: co445-AFRINIC
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

person: Obinna Chukwujekwu
address: 308 Adeola Odeku Street
phone: +234 1 2624802
nic-hdl: OC5192-AFRINIC
mnt-by: MNT-LKS-AS8770
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

============================

Morning At Olderkessi

From the Weekend Wordsmith prompt, “That’s What I Heard.”

Morning At Olderkessi
March 14, 2008

The clatter from the kitchen wakens
me, but I don’t open my eyes.
Not yet.

The acacia outside the window
claws gently at the pane,
a light scratching,
and the owl, who’s been there
all night, whoo-whoos one more time,
and flaps noisily off to find
somewhere to sleep through the day.

A cough, off in the forest,
as a leopard drags her kill
up into the branches,
and the chilling almost-laugh
of the hyena that follows
her, hoping to steal
a mouthful.

A snatch of a tune from the kitchen,
the sound of frying bacon
and the glub glub of the percolator
producing that foul black tar
the grownups need to get them going.

I burrow down further into the dark
warm Raymond’s blankets, listen
as the superb starling settles
on the parched grass, screams
“Come see! Come see! Come see!”
The ibis laughs mockingly,
telling its friends of this upstart.

Down at the creek, already,
the kangas slap on the rocks,
and the women begin the song
of their day’s work.

Far, far away, the train whistles,
and the sun warms my face.

Sticks and Stones


From Weekend Wordsmith

Sticks and Stones

March 14, 2008

All day we labored
with sticks and stones, to build
this edifice to our own ingenuity.
A boulder rolled there, and a few sticks
wedged in over here,
and the rushing stream became
a still, deep swimming hole.
Flushed by our success and exertions,
we floated on our backs,
watching the red-tailed kite,
so far up in the blue, we knew
him only by him cry.

He tore it down with a single word.
Our dam was making his cows thirsty.
The afternoon amusement
of four boys was causing a village
a great deal of discomfort.
What was, to us, a quiet place
to dip our toes, was their pantry,
and we had withheld the bounty
which was not ours.

Dinner For One

Dinner For One

March 12, 2008
From the Three Word Wednesday website – Apartment, Began, Numb

There’s nothing poetic
about an apartment.
Sure, there are times when
it feels like a home away
from home. Perhaps it began
that way for me.
But then you realize,
it is away from home.
You can only numb
yourself to that for so long
with cute Welcome Friends
doormats, ceramic cats on the mantel,
and another new wok
in which to cook
dinner for one.

Sledding

Today we went sledding on the big hill by the reservoir. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do, given that I’ve been sick most of the week, but a lot of fun.

Now I’m feeling perfectly wretched, and I think I undid whatever getting-better I had done. Or perhaps this is just the last throes of whatever it is that I’ve got.

There was a pretty good crowd of people out on the slopes, about evenly split between kids and adults. However, I don’t think I saw *any* college students out there, which strikes me as very strange. When I was in college, we went out there to sled every time there was any snow at all. And if we didn’t have sleds, we stole trays from the cafeteria and used those.