Saffron Spam Scam?
Friday January 12, 2007
This morning I opened my email to find a courteous e-mail from two Sri Lankan Buddhist monks. They were interested, they said, in visiting my Buddhist centre (my Buddhist centre?!!!), where they hoped to spend a few fraternal days learning my traditions. Humble fellows that they were, these two pious men said they were willing to sleep on “any floor”, and would partake only of vegetarian meals, to be eaten before noon.
I am not entirely sure what traditions the two so-called monks were referring to – perhaps the daily ritual of arguing with the cat about when his dinner is due, which goes something like this:
Bod [entering the room]: Meow.
Me: Not now, Bod, it’s only four o’clock.
Bod: Purr, purr, meow, meow.
Me: Why don’t you go and do something nice for an hour and come back when it is the right time?
Bod [Leaping on the desk and walking all over whatever I’m working on]. Purr, purr. Meow. Purr.
Me: Push off you oaf!
Bod: Meow…
etc. etc. for the next hour.
Anyway, as I continued to read the email, I inevitably discovered that these reverend visitors needed a little assistance in getting here. In fact, they were keen to stress that they required my full assistance, adding that they “expected that I’d never refuse their request”.
Sorry, gents. Not this time. According to the Network of Buddhist Organisations’s notices page, these saffron-tinged spam e-mails have been in circulation since at least 2004, and are a part of a visa scam. Spam, eh? And I thought they said they were vegetarian.
If you get any such e-mails, the solution is very easy: just click delete.
Image: Cobalt123 on Flickr
#2 · Beej Cobalt
1 June 2007
Fun to read this post discovered via BlogPulse and glad to read your blog entry today!
#1 · Sujatin
19 January 2007
Hmm – yes – I’ve had any number of these