September 10, 2007

It's the case of the missing vowel.

In an email currently making the rounds, a missing vowel is the reason this otherwise regular "spam" message is raising concerns.  Fortunately, it is just spam -- annoying but harmless, according to CMPD Intelligence officers.

The message raising concerns: "Ola Hi Pearl stcks poised to explode, checksymbol chvc don't regret later Verna".  The missing vowel (the "o" in "stcks"), plus the way the message was written, understandably led some people who read it to interpret it as a type of bomb threat. The email IS NOT a threat.

According to CMPD Intelligence officers, it appears the message is wide-spread spam originating overseas referencing stocks that the receiver should invest in prior to the price rising. There have been numerous reports of this across the country, one prompting the evacuation of a Wal-Mart after three people received a similar message at the same time.

"In this case, it was a poorly conceived and executed message that is causing problems," says CMPD detective Doug Toggweiler.  "However, any time someone gets a message like this that concerns them, it's always a good idea to check it out."  Detective Toggweiler notes that  the text, sender and subject of the e-mail constantly changes, but the phrase "poised to explode" -- referring to stocks -- is consistent.

Advice for dealing with spam? Delete, ignore and use spam-filtering software to minimize the stream of electronic junk mail.