Convincing Amazon Phishing E-mail

Received a fairly convincing–and shockingly grammatically correct–phishing e-mail targeted at my Amazon account this morning:

Date: 21 Aug 2007 11:50:27 -0000
From: “Amazon Payments”
To: [my e-mail address]
Reply-To: noreply@amazon.com
Subject: Billing Issue regarding your Amazon.com account
X-ELNK-Received-Info: spv=0;
X-ELNK-AV: 0
X-ELNK-Info: sbv=0; sbrc=.0; sbf=00; sbw=000;

Hello [my e-mail address],

Greetings from Amazon Payments.

Your bank has contacted us regarding some attempts of charges from your credit card via the Amazon system. We have reasons to believe that you changed your registration information or that someone else has unauthorized access to your Amazon account Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized listings placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your Amazon registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of Amazon policy to represent oneself as another Amazon user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. Amazon is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

To confirm your identity with us click here:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/flex-sign-in/%5B…%5D
[Actual host: http://www.amazon.com.204147.003p98j1.com/(etc)%5D

After responding to the message, we ask that you allow at least 72 hours for the case to be investigated. Emailing us before that time will result in delays. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.

Thank you for your interest in selling at Amazon.com.

Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

This message and any files or documents attached may contain classified information. It is intended only for the individual or entity named and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient or authorized to receive it, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately then delete it from your system. Please also note that transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free.

Looks like they read Amazon’s security warning page and tried to cover their tracks as much as possible, including having the redirect begin with http://www.amazon.com.

They state that “your account is not suspended” yet because that’s too easy to check, but it will be within 48 hours. Also they advise the recipient to not contact Amazon for 72 hours after clicking on the phishing link because it will only “result in delays”. Sinister.

A digg user referred to this kind of attack (i.e targeted at a specific user group) as “Spear Phishing”. Good term.

Most people with internet businesses should know to never click on an unfamiliar link, even–actually ESPECIALLY–if the source appears legit. You should always search the information independently on the supposed originating site (in this case I just looked on my Amazon seller homepage and saw that there was no such credit issue).

Brian Lehrer Show: Take My Books, Please!

The Brian Lehrer show this morning featured several booksellers in a segment about emotional attachment to books and how to cut the cord when they take over your life.

The pieces was related to a New York Times article by Alina Tugend (which will go behind a paywall soon) and featured: Fred Bass of The Strand; the dude from a Midwestern bookstore who torched his crap stock in an “art” “protest” against declining literacy (his 30-second, incoherent rant proved him every bit the pretentious d-bag I expected); and photographer Marc Joseph who authored a coffee table book on used bookstores called New and Used.

Several callers offered anecdotes from lives walled-in by books and offered tips on letting go.

Interesting listening for those in the trade.

Too late, I overcame my public speaking anxiety and called in. The lines were full. But I posted a comment here. I just realized I forgot two of the best ways to keep your shelves under reign. 1) Give books to friends who you know will read them. Then talk about the book with that friend. 2) Become a bookdealer.

Sin Show – Carny Smut

“They Sold Sawdust and Sex in a Rolling Love Circus!”

mmmmmm. Sawdust

After reading a great and inspiring article in Paperback Parade #56 entitled “Carny Cuties and Killers” by Kurt Brokaw, I’ve been tracking down genre novels set in the carnival/ sideshow world. My first was Fredric Brown’s Madball (which I read over vacation) and I just finished Sin Show by Don Holliday (likely a pseudonym of Victor J. Banis).

This one wasn’t mentioned in Brokaw’s article (it’s possible he wasn’t looking at under-the-counter lit) but it’s worth a read. In the book a carnival barker is trying to buy half interest in the show he’s traveling with, which is in danger of foreclosure from a corrupt small-town judge. The barker needs to raise a three grand stake which he attempts through blackmail, seduction and coercion. The barker is an amoral shit but he wants to save the show from the even bigger, towny shit so you kind of root for him.

Holliday doesn’t include any of the barker’s spiel which was disappointing but there’s some nice detail about 1960s carnival games. I also discovered a vintage put-down which I hadn’t heard before: when the barker saves a town pretty boy from two aggressive gay clowns, he tells the kid to beat it and that his “feet don’t fit no limb”. I have no idea what that means but I’m going to use it at the first opportunity.

There’s also a really funny sex scene where the barker is pounding away at an over-the-hill, yet stacked fortune teller while feeling around for her stash. “My hands tightened beneath the mattress for leverage as I drove and hammered and thrust and then . . . I found her dough.”

I wouldn’t read any of these vintage smut titles unless you can take the misogyny and racism with a cinder block-sized grain of salt. The attitudes aren’t any worse than films or television of the period, they’re just more explicit (which makes them more historically interesting IMHO).

Next up: Side-Show Girl by Steve Harragan and Jungle Girl by John Moore.

Man-Crazy Flappers

I found this great cartoon captioned “O poor man’s life in International House” in a 1933 yearbook (click on image for larger version). I believe it was the work of Maurice F. Bilton (who appears in the student gallery).

International House is a graduate and professional residence hall shared by several prominent NY universities. It’s meant to foster cross-cultural relationships and understanding. Looks like it was a madcap, screwball place in the 1930s.

Professional Courtesies

Ian Kahn of Lux Mentis, Lux Orbis published a useful post on bookseller to bookseller business etiquette. I don’t do a lot of face to face buying and selling so the only one of these folkways I’ve encountered myself (and abide by) is the dealer discount but this post is a great reference should these situations come up.

One rule that I made for myself is that when I trade in books at a B+M store, I always go over my credit so I’m giving them a bit of cash. It makes them more receptive when I keep coming back.

Bookmobile circa 1940s-50s

Reader Nathan just sent in this great image of a formidable 1940s-50s era bookmobile that he found in a batch of old estate sale photos. He hazards that it’s from Silver Springs, MD judging from the “Montgomery County” stenciled on the side of the truck and some details in accompanying photos.

According to Wikipedia the first Bookmobile in the United States was conceived and deployed in Washington County, Maryland so this beast of a vehicle has a long pedigree.

If Clint Eastwood was playing a tough-as-nails librarian in The Gauntlet this would have been his ride.

Anyone have any old photos from inside one of these behemoths of literacy?

Wee Naked People

I’ve been collecting Rockwell Kent ever since I first discovered his stunning illustrations for Moby-Dick (haven’t landed the Lakeside Press edition yet but one day…).

Looking through the Strand dollar tables, I came across a beat-up copy of Candide that Kent did for the Literary Guild in 1929. Not a work that moves me particularly, but Kent’s illustrations are gruesome and funny so I picked it up.

On closer examination I noticed that not only had Kent done a spot illustration for every page he also designed tiny nude figures that cavort in the type.

and the full page here.

Annoying as hell to read but a cool and unique example of book design. Wish I could make them into a font.

COMPLETE TANGENT WARNING: I heard another right-wing, douche-bag defending a “The Cannon” on the radio the other day. As usual he trotted out Melville. Have they read Moby-Dick? A protagonist who owns nothing, sleeps with Cannibals, and has an enormous love for nature; A ship of state run by a monomaniac who will sacrifice anything and everything for an irrational vendetta? Doesn’t really reinforce the party line. At least Ahab would have found Osama.

Bookshop Blog Contributor

I was recently invited to contribute to the Bookshop Blog, maintained by Zeeba Books of Montreal. If you’re not reading it already, BSB is a clearing-house for useful ideas and resources for the bookseller (both online and B&M). It’s only a few weeks old, but there are already a number of valuable articles posted.

My first post for BSB went up today. It’s a short testimonial on why you should always look through the ad pages at the rear of old books (thanks to the BSB editor for providing the graphic).

I’ll continue my free associative ranting here and send any self-contained, polished nuggets of wisdom I turn up over to the Bookshop Blog.