So email spam is obviously a big deal these days. With viagra offers, celebrity nude pics, and Nigerian princes looking for ways to send you millions, our inboxes are filled with what seems like an endless supply of unsolicited garbage. Usually the spam is obvious as it’s generally some automated, poorly written email with very generalized information and from some incredibly bogus person or company. However, sometimes you’ll get these types of emails and they are much better disguised and are from somewhat legitimate companies.

Take for example the following email from Luke at Motive Interactive:

I am contacting you today to find out if you have any available advertising
innovatory on your blog.

Motive Interactive is releasing our next version of our Affiliate Marketing
Network and we
are looking to sponsor your blog with a paid review as well as a 125X125
sponsorship.

Possibly you have some other ideas and I would love to talk with you about
them.

To be clear this is for Motive Interactive to place advertisements on your
blog to promote our company’s new release of our Network.

Thank you for you time,

Luke [last name removed]

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Spore, one of the year’s most anticipated computer games was released Sunday. It’s a game that has been in development for what seems like an eternity and now that it’s out, it has received a lot of attention from the video game masses. Sadly, most comments, critiques, and discussions seem to be focused not on the game itself, but on the anti-piracy software that the game’s publisher, Electronic Arts, has incorporated with the game.

What is this apparently evil piece of software? Digital Rights Management (DRM) of course. You see, DRM has become a dirty word for most gaming geeks. With software, movies, and music becoming easier and easier to steal online, various entertainment publishers have decided try and fight back by developing various software protections that they hope will discourage these digital pirates from obtaining their goods.

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Well, the time has come to wrap up my series on fake profiles. I could go on and on about the various ways shady individuals use fake profiles to exploit unsuspecting Web-goers, but I believe I’ve covered the big problem areas by tackling MySpace and other social networks, online dating websites, and Craigslist scams.

You may not think fake profiles on the Web are a big deal, but recent news shows otherwise with a Craiglist fake profiler being sued and the case where faking MySpace information may become a federal crime. As long as there’s money in creating fake profiles online, there will be seedy people there to do it.

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I’ve discussed fake profiles on social networking sites like MySpace and dating websites like Match.com - so it’s about time I take on Craigslist.

Like MySpace and Match.com, Craigslist is targeted for fake profiles because it’s a potential advertising resource. Many Craigslist users aren’t necessarily net savvy, which makes them perfect victims for fake profile scams. With Craigslist, a scammer can easily create a fake profile, post a fake ad, and make a decent amount of cash in a very short amount of time with very little risk.

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It was just last week that I discussed the infiltration of fake profiles on dating websites. Well, it looks like a new court case may be tackling that very same issue, though this time the problem isn’t with an affiliate marketer using fake profiles for profit, but rather a Craigslist griefer looking to humiliate people with fake causal sex postings.

Jason Fortuny, the person resonsible for posting the fake profile, has the same attitude toward his online actions as many of the so-called internet marketers I’ve talked about previously. Perhaps the best example is this disturbing quote from Fortuny:

“If I made the mistake of telling secrets to someone I didn’t know online and it got out…I’d be kicking myself pretty hard. I would most definitely be shouting expletives at my computer screen. But that’s the risk we all take online, as well as in life. Whether it’s someone’s e-mail, picture, or personal ad, there’s no guarantee of identity, and no guarantee that you won’t be betrayed. And there never will be.”

That right there frightens the hell out of me. He agrees that being tricked into exposing your information and being humiliated online would be terrible - basically admitting that he did exactly what he’d hate have happen to himself. His reasoning seems to be that since the internet is already a risky place for your information, he may as well contribute to the problem by scamming people and humiliating them. This makes absolutely no sense. Just because there’s a bunch of people beating up on a kid in the corner doesn’t mean you should join in.

Many of the online dangers out there are perpetuated by individuals with the exact same attitude - that others are doing it, so why can’t I? It has taken the courts a while to catch up to the digital age - and while they still have some work to do - they are definitely making some progress. Sure, some things like the RIAA attacks are where the law has taken a few steps back, but hopefully there will soon be some accountability for these people who decide stepping on others is an acceptable means to an end.

Fortuny you decided to harm others for your own amusement. For that, I hope this court case finds in favor of the victim and if at all possible perhaps set a precedent for future scammers to be wary of.