Adam Kuban: Kublog

Same thing just happened to me. Here’s the text: “Hello,
How much does a property management company cost? I am not sure what criteria are important. Can you please guide me. Would you consider giving me a couple pointers?
Thank you in advance.”

Just got one too. Although it seems to know a little about me. It asked how to set up export businesses from the philippines, which I am currently doing. That would be a pretty crazy coincidence if it were one.

I’ve just received a similar one

“Hi,
How much does a beer cost in london? Would you consider giving me a hand or at least some advice based on your experience? A little advice would go a long way right now. Thank you so much. Thank you, Janet”

Not sure what to make of it?

I’m a financial advice columnist. I’m getting the same odd sorts of emails, all are various financial questions: CD rates, credit cards, mortgages, etc. Email me privately please if you’ve figured this out.

I just received the following this morning from petrov.gazprom@gmail.com:

Hello,
What credit score do you need to rent an apartment in california? Would you consider giving me a hand or at least some advice based on your experience? Please help me. Thanks. Gratefully, Leanne

I love how this is becoming a repository of Petrov Gazprom spam questions.

What is the average cost per square foot for an addition?
Before I go ahead, is there any pointers you might have?  Any help would be appreciated.
I really appreciate your help.
Gratefully, Fred

I get ‘em every couple of days. No clue what the deal is.

Well, if this is becoming a repository for Petrov Gazprom, may I add ours?

Hello,
How much does a one week trip to greece and italy cost? I have been thinking about this for a while and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on the subject. Please help me.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Larry

We also got a strange email a couple of weeks ago from petersons.productions@gmail.com that seems to be the same kind of strangeness. I don’t get it!

Hi,
What to pack on a trip to italy and greece?
I was hoping maybe you could give me a few hints as to what I should be looking for and what to avoid. Any info much appreciated.
Thanks.
Regards,
Susan

Looks like they’re also sending these as winstonfinancial@gmail.com:

“Hi,
How much does a catering cost? Since you have experience, I was hoping you could give me some clues as to what you look out for. Would you consider giving me a couple pointers? Thank you so much.
yours truly,
Tony”

Here is the email I got. Looks like they know what kind of business you are in. I’m a real estate broker / manufactured home dealer.

How much a square foot of a house does it cost in california?
Before I go ahead, is there any pointers you might have?
Any help appreciated.
I am very grateful for your help.
yours truly,
Peter

Same deal. Have had emails from all the addresses listed here; winstonfinancial, petrov.gazprom and petersons.production.

“Hello,
Does having high blood pressure make you feel different? I know you are probably very busy but I was hoping you could give me a couple pointers. Any info much appreciated. I really appreciate your help. Sincerely,
Tony”

and

“Hi,
What should my bloood presure be? I am not sure what criteria are important. Can you please guide me.
Please point me in the right direction.
Thanks. Gratefully,
Tony”

My guess is that it is an attempt (probably successful) to collect unique content that will soon appear on some spammy “made for adsense” website. Rather than scraping our websites, they are scraping via email … which means they end up with unique content. Smart, but a PITA!

I just got this one:

Who gets the commission when home is for sale by owner?
There are so many factors to consider. Would you be kind enough as to give me some pointers as what to look for or avoid?
Any help would be appreciated.
I really appreciate your help. Sincerely,
John

It came from winstonfinancial@gmail.com. Glad I googled that email before responding!!

me too…this one knew i had written an academic book and asked something quite intriguing based on that. I guess this is someone trying to harvest ‘good quality’ email addresses – or someone with two much time on their hands…

Me too! I got an email last week asking me how much it costs to ride the bus in Los Angeles (so clearly this spammer is at least reading some of what I write) and then today asking about how many hours it takes to get to Rome (???)

The emails are from petersons.production@gmail.com but the name signed is “Terry.” What in the world is the point of that spam? Bizarro.

Crazy! Yesterday I received this from petrov.gazprom@gmail.com.

How much does an au pair earn?
I need a little help/direction before I can start. Any nuggets of wisdom would be absolutely great and very much appreciated. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
Thank you,
Lacey

Here is the one I got:

Hi,
How much does it cost at knowledge points? How might I best go forward? Would you consider giving me a couple pointers? Thank you for your help.
Regards, Lacey

I think that people just skim lists from the internet, then get a couple of somewhat related keywords and place them in there haphazardly.

The idea is that you will respond to help and, in doing so, accomplish a few tasks for them

1) Verify that this is a live, active email address.
2) Give accurate first and last name information in your from line.

People will answer because it sounds like a legitimate question from a person with poor speaking skills.

I know this is some sort of spammer because (s)he used an address only associated with paypal purchases from my website. However, as mentioned above, they are all somewhat consistent with the content of my site. Here’s the question I got:

Hi, Can muscle pain be worse in morning? How might I best go forward? Any help appreciated. Thank you very much. Thank you, Paul

Very strange.

Here was mine:

Hello,
Are boats expensive to maintain?
Would you consider giving me a hand or at least some advice based on your experience? Would you consider giving me a couple pointers?
Thank you so much. Thank you, Kim

Actually, I think these are autobots that get sent out to gather web content for some automated-blogs I have seen. These are “pre-packaged” blogs that people buy – they don’t have to even update them themselves — they are filled with these bogus “Q & A” posts – and the responses are often pretty vague,
– just what you might expect. I often wondered how they got the content – now I know.

I have a follower on Twitter that has a couple of these blogs (as an example, see: http://twitter.com/SteveStelzner) All his Tweets are questions like this – with answers as a blog post. Here’s an example – take a look.

http://boats.helping-us-with.com/officialblog/motors/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-between-2-stroke-and-4-stroke-outboards

I think this content is “collected” from unwitting folks who actually respond to these e-mails. It’s mixed in with some longer, better-quality pre-written posts, to give the appearance of something valuable.

I found this website by googling for “Winstonfinancial@gmail.com.” I am an attorney that writes a blog on estate planning and other issues and I got:

How much is the real estate tax in florida? I don`t know if you are the right person to ask, but any advice/pointers you might have would be very much appreciated. Please help me.
Thanks.
Thank you,
Joan”

WTF?

I was so excited that I got a question from someone whom I thought was a listener to my podcast, till I Googled the e-mail address. I suspected something was up anyway.

Hello,
What kind of math do you need for a right of way agent?
I have been thinking about this for a while and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on the subject. Would you consider giving me a couple pointers?
Thank you so much. yours truly, John

I’m glad to see that at least the questions are usually original. Anyway, if someone has an idea of what a right of way agent is, I’d appreciate some input. Just comment on the appropriate post.

I’ll make sure to give you credit in the following week’s episode.

Yup, got one too from petersons.production@gmail.com … again based on the content of the site

Hello,
How to pack for a month summer vacation?
I was thinking that your advice would be very helpful. I know you must be very busy so any pointers would be very much appreciated. Would you consider giving me a couple pointers?
Thanks. Thank you,
Leanne

Phew, I’m glad you guys cleared this up… I’m getting versions of the “how much does it cost to eat in Rome, Italy” and it was starting to drive me batty (a short drive).

I just received an email from petersons.production@gmail.com asking me about down payments on jumbo mortgages. Weird

I write for a blog for college students and got this one from winstonfinancial:

Hello,
How much does it cost to take the toefl ibt in usa? I don`t want to rush into anything so I was hoping you could give me some ideas as to what to avoid. Please help. Thank you so much.
Fred

Got one from petrov.gazprom@gmail.com:

==============
Hi,
How much does it cost to motorcycle tour europe?
What things should I be considering before going ahead? A little advice would go a long way right now.
Thankyou.
Regards,
Paul
==============

I replied. I guess I wait for the spam now…

I have got a weird question from Petrov Gazprom. I get a lot of questions about genealogy from people who come across my genealogy-related site, so I almost responded until I googled the email address! Very peculiar.

Hello,
How to call someone from america from england example? I have been thinking about this for a while and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on the subject.
Please help.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Tim

Oh Petrov…

I got a new “how much” email from iris.accountants@gmail.com. Seems like the SPAM filters have a hard time blocking these.

These come in to me regularly, ever since I wrote a blog post about a similar subject on a travel blog. Looking at google analytics, its also one of the most popular pages for that blog. Incidently, most of the traffic to that particular posting comes from people googling in “how much does a trip”.

So guess is that they do google searches for topics, then target the blog author. I’ve removed the post in hopes that one day it won’t appear in searches. Short of creating a new email address, don’t know what else to do. I get nearly 50 messages like this a week.

Good grief.

I too have received these emails. Unfortunately I responded to the first one I got because it seemed to come from a real reader in need of advice. Then I started receiving more similar emails, and I realized I had been spammed.

Then I did a Google search using the words of my response to that first email, and discovered that it had been published on a website. The site has Adsense ads on it. It’s a spoof website that has been made to look like Yahoo Answers.

If any of you have responded to any of these emails, search Google using the words of your reply. If you find that it’s been published on a website, PLEASE complain to Google and/or Adsense!! Email content is copyrighted! Maybe together we can get this site deindexed or at least banned from Adsense.

You need to report them to Gmail abuse. I just finished doing that for several of these senders. I Googled the “iris.accounts” email, which is how I found your blog post.

Anyone who receives these emails should report them to Gmail abuse. These people have been sending me the same stupid questions for over a month now. They won’t go away — so we have to get their Gmail accounts shut down. I’ve been going all over the Internet and trying to motivate people toward this end. We have to make their spamming strategy too labor-intensive for them, by getting all of their accounts shut down (as many times as necessary). It’s the only way to make it stop.

-Brandon

I’m getting these too…like, “Who pays the water bill in a rented house?” My guess is that they are just blanketing guessed email addresses, and if they get a response, then they know there is a live person at the other end of the email account.

Hilarious! I have a relationship blog and got this question from petrov.gazprom@gmail.com:

How can a person get a hole in their heart? I know you are probably very busy but I was hoping you could give me a couple pointers.
Please help.
I am very grateful for your help. Gratefully,
Julie

So weird that someone would be sending these random “spam” emails because I’m not sure what the purpose is.
Ha!

I found this site by googling winstonfinancial@gmail.com
I’m a real estate agent and got this email:

Hi,
When selling your house how much closing cost of the buyers should you pay? What Gotchas should I be aware of? Please help me. Thank you very much.
Kind Regards,
Larry

The spam operation sending these spams has now been placed on the SBL blacklist by Spamhaus, this record details the operation:

http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/sbl.lasso?query=SBL77368