French Face - photo by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³
It’s funny how one doesn’t need to speak the language to recognize spam.
Got this in my email today. This is after my email information was stolen in a large-scale hack on numerous companies recently. I wonder why the Yahoo! spam filter didn’t catch it… I suppose it has to do with the language.
I also sometimes wonder if I get sent French spam because of my name. I’m told “Christine” and “Cavalier” are both common French names. One time I was waiting in line in Epcot Center in Disney World in Orlando, Florida, USA, and this middle-aged couple with teenaged kids started speaking to me in French. I stood there, dumbfounded, like a typical American. “Uhhh, I’m so sorry!” I said. “I don’t speak French!” The couple apologized. They had seen my name on my park pass (which was hanging around my neck) and they assumed I was French.
Every French person I’ve ever met has said I look French. An exchange student in college named Denis was so convinced I was French that he insisted that I didn’t know my own heritage. “Seriously, Denis,” I’d tell him. “No French. Italian, Irish, Romanian, Polish/Russian. That’s it.” “You are American” Denis would say. “You Americans lose your history. You are French.” My boyfriend at the time (who is now my husband) hated Denis. LOL.
OK, Denis and Random Couple in Disney World, maybe I’m French. But I don’t need to speak French to figure out “Désactivation” and “carte de crédit.” French banks, like all other legit banks, don’t send emails asking for security information. They own the information and YOU have to ask THEM for it, not the other way around. Always remember this.
Even if you aren’t French like me, take a gander at the spam email below. It won’t take you long to parse out the spamminess of it. Make sure to keep those “spam detector” skills sharp!
-Christine Cavalier
Désactivation de votre carte de crédit.
Bonjour .
Nous venons de désactiver votre carte de crédit.
Pour le réactiver, vous devez vous connecter sur le site de La Banque Postale et accéder à votre espace sécurisé de Banque en Ligne via le lien ci-dessous en saisissant vos identifiant et mot de passe ainsi que votre carte de crédit.
La procédure est très simple :
Cliquez sur le lien ci-dessous pour ouvrir une fenêtre de navigateur sécurisée.
Confirmez que vous êtes bien le titulaire du compte et suivez les instructions.
Accéder à votre compte (<-disabled link) Ce = Message est généré automatiquement, ne répondez pas à l'expéditeur. Si vous n'êtes pas destinataire(s) de ce message, merci de le détruire. La Banque Postale, Société Anonyme à Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance, au capital de 2 342 454 090 euros Siège social : 115, rue de Sèvres - 75275 Paris Cedex 06 - RCS Paris 421 100 645 - Code A.P.E 6419Z.
