In March, as part of a piece about an ongoing problem I’d noticed on Facebook, I wrote:
I know a middle-aged guy who is single, good-looking, and dates younger women. His Facebook friends list is littered with dozens of very attractive females. I was impressed that he knew them, even casually — until I started getting Friend Requests from many of them, too. There’s always a photo or two of a woman, always showing cleavage, often in a bikini or other skimpy wear. Sometimes her picture is accompanied by a photo of an iconic place like the Taj Mahal (she’s never in the picture, of course). I’ve even gotten Friend Requests from different accounts that had a picture of the same young woman! That’s because these aren’t real Facebook account holders. The photos come from free stock image companies — their credits are in the file tags of the photos.
In each instance, her “friends” are all male, and there is no information about the woman — no hometown, no occupation, no job — or if there is, it’s always from someplace I’ve never heard of that likely doesn’t exist. Sometimes, the woman’s name also has a man’s name under it, or a different woman’s name in parentheses. No real human does that.
Despite my turning down all those bogus Friend Requests, they keep coming — as if every time I’ve clicked “Mark As Spam,” Facebook sent out a message akin to “Send Me More Like This.” Over just the last two weeks, I’ve compiled a list of some of the lines they use to try to get me (and you) to click on their spam links.
On one for an account under the name Cassandra Bashevis, the post said, Melissa single for some days, and want to meet you, do you want? Click and Just press “Leave Yotube.” On the account supposedly of a guy named Dan Smith, there were pictures of three different blonde women, each of which said, You’ve been asked where to go? Here is the link. The same for a guy named Jon Decker, with three other women pictured and the come-on, Would you like to have me for breakfast?
Many of the others are very apparently not posted by people for whom English is their primary language:
- I am waiting for you boys. Come my page.
- When are you going to do your first step! I’m tired of waiting and make it myself! Let’s get acquainted!
- Hi to me so boringly amuse me.
- I am lonely girl, my love, where are you? I have for you here.
- You know how lonely and sad to sleep alone in a cold bed?
And there are some that have no subtlety at all, just a transparent attempt to get as many clicks as possible:
- Sexy Amazing Natural Girl Wait For You.
- Yay! Good news! Press on these link to see it all!
- You want me private chat? Registration is free, my profile.
- Very boring! Who would amuse me today?
I don’t know if these spambots are for porn sites or for Russian hackers and phishers, but they must be successful at some level or there wouldn’t be so many of them. It’s like the Nigerian e-mail scams — some number of people must have fallen for them, or they wouldn’t keep coming for more. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that men tripped over themselves to please an attractive woman (or, at least, her picture).
While I was typing this, I received another one, which used the line, Feel free to add me up. Now, that’s obviously a desperate request from a young woman who needs help with basic arithmetic, so I’ll leave you now so I can accept her friend request and explain that addition is commutative.