He had a history of mental illness. And he just got married last month. Normally a nice guy, by many people's accounts. Not this Tuesday!
Also, for somebody who likes cars and works on them (he was training to be an auto repair person) he wasn't a very good driver... lots of traffic violations.
Weird.
I've been getting a lot of these messages from an entity called "Fifth Third Bank".
An interesting twist is that the email isn't text -- it's an embedded image designed to LOOK like text.
Dear Fifth Third Bank client,The Fifth Third Bank Technical Department is performing a scheduled software
upgrade to improve the quality of the banking services. By clicking on the link below you will begin the procedure of the user details confirmation.{link omitted}
These instructions are to be sent to and followed by all Fifth Third Bank clients.
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for cooperation.Fifth Third Bank Technical Service
I thought they'd made up "Fifth Third Bank" — what kind of silly-ass name is that for a bank? But they exist:
Fifth Third Bank is a financial services bank serving Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Michigan, and West Virginia markets.
Then there's this one from "Wellsfargo":
Dear Wellsfargo Customer,
We regret to inform you that we had to lock your wellsfargo account access because we have reasons to believe that it may have been compromised by outside parties. In order to protect your sensitive information, we temporarily suspended your account access. This is a fraud prevention measure meant to ensure that your account is not compromised. We encourage you to log in and restore full access as soon as possible. Never reveal your password to another person. You should periodically change your password in the User Option screen of online banking. Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate. Please click on the link below to complete the verification process and restore full access to your account:
http://www.wellafargo/customerserviceonline.html
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
Wellsfargo Customer ServiceRegards
Wellsfargo Bank and its affiliates.
Yep... they didn't even bother to try to spell "Wells Fargo" correctly... wonder how many people they'll snag?
Why, oh why, would any but the most demented spammer think people would respond positively to a message with the subject line "fecal"?*
*out of curiosity, I did preview it in Gmail, and the contents seemed to be a text dump from some short story, and an image touting some stock "pump and dump" scheme.
Puts Mel in his place; puts the whole thing in perspective.
So it surprised me to read where an L.A. rabbi invited Gibson to speak to his congregation on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most sacred of all Jewish holidays.Sure, Gibson had apologized for his remarks and reached out to the Jewish community. That is not uncommon after a high-profile misstep: It's called damage control. Yet, according to news reports, Rabbi David Baron of a Beverly Hills synagogue called the Temple of the Arts, invited Gibson to speak so that "you might directly express to the Jewish community your remorse."
I have a better idea. Leave the remorse on Yom Kippur between Jews and God, which is the holiday's intention. And let Gibson figure out his own demons.
Otherwise, you elevate this guy to a status that he didn't deserve before and doesn't deserve now. The biggest mistake in the whole Mel Gibson deal is to keep making the same mistake over and over.
From Doris Hastings today, with the subject line "bilateral toot."
The imagination boggles.
