Good to see that Canadian news is covering this.

Frankly, it was ridiculous of Australian police not to have been expecting the Chaser boys to pull a stunt like this - I mean, even I was expecting it! Also good to see that Alexander Downer has kept a sense of humour about it, despite the fact that it has made Australian security measures look about as effective as chicken wire. I can't wait to see the show next week!



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Aussie comedy troupe rides 'Canadian' motorcade through APEC summit security

Published: Thursday, September 6, 2007 | 10:29 AM ET

Canadian Press

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Members of an Australian TV comedy show, one dressed as Osama bin Laden, drove a Canadian-flagged motorcade through two security checkpoints Thursday before being stopped near the hotel where President George W. Bush is staying.

The stunt embarrassed Sydney police who have imposed the tightest security measures in city history for a summit of leaders from Pacific Rim countries, including Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who arrived Thursday.

Police arrested 11 cast and crew from the TV program, "The Chaser's War on Everything," and impounded three vehicles, the Australian Broadcasting Corp., which airs the show, said on its website.

Cast members put together a sham motorcade, hiring two motorcycles and three large cars on which they put Canadian flags.

Police waved the motorcade through two checkpoints before pulling it over near the Intercontinental Hotel where Bush is staying.

Cast member Chas Licciardello got out of the car dressed in a white tunic and cap and wearing a long fake Osama bin Laden-style beard.

"No particular reason we chose Canada," cast member Chris Taylor was quoted as saying on the Sydney Morning Herald's Web site.

"We just thought they'd be a country who the cops wouldn't scrutinize too closely, and who feasibly would only have three cars in their motorcade - as opposed to the 20 or so gas guzzlers that Bush has brought with him."

All 11 were charged under new laws passed a month ago with entering a restricted APEC area, a police statement said.

They were released on bail and are to appear in court next month. Each faces a potential six-month jail sentence.

Bush is a frequent target of "the Chaser," as are Australian politicians. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the stunt proved security was working.

"Whatever you think of the humour of 'the Chaser,' the honest truth is they were clearly not going to harm anybody in a physical way," Downer said.

"They presumably were, as is the nature of their show, aiming to humiliate a lot of well-known people."

The most ridiculous probably non-spam email I've ever received

I received an email yesterday in my old UBC account that I don't really use anymore. The email came from a guy named Kallum at a University of Guelph email address. Here's what the email said:

Good Day Ms. Kidd,

I've been trying to find a research article for a friend but have so far been unsuccessful at my university and others. Access to the journal Nature Clinical Practice Urology seems to be very elusive, but the UBC library appears to have it. I was wondering if you've some spare time and are willing, if you could please download the pdf file of the article and email to me.

Library link: http://gw2jh3xr2c.search.serialssolutions.com/?V=1.0&L=GW2JH3XR2 C&S=AC_T_B&C=Nature+Clinical+Practice+Urology

Journal Name: Nature Clinical Practice Urology
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
First Page: 38

Thank you for your time and have a Great Day.
Kallum

This was followed 5 minutes later by another email from the same guy:

Hello again Ms. Kidd,

Forgot to put the year of that article on which is 2005.

cheers
Kallum

Now, I am perhaps a little on the gullible side on occasions, and have a tendency to believe things that my friends tell me - failing to understand why they would intentionally tell me a lie (but that's another story). However, I also consider myself reasonably savvy when it comes to recognizing an email scam (after some coaching from Bryan and other geek friends). For example when I received an email this morning from TD Canada Trust asking me to click on a link and verify my banking details, I gave it no more thought as I sent it to the trash. And I almost never reply to Nigerian bank managers requesting permission to store millions of dollars in my bank account.

But for some reason the email from Kallum seemed vaguely legit - perhaps it was the follow up email that made me think it was above board (because email scams would never involve a follow up email, right?). Or maybe it was the fact that he talked about universities and journal articles (academics are never involved in email scams, right?). So then with little further thought, I STUPIDLY clicked on the link on the first email, just to see what kind of article he was trying to get hold of. Not 10 nanoseconds after I clicked the link I regretted it and tried to close down my browser before it could open the link. Luckily I was saved by my browser requiring a password (I was at work), so I hit cancel and the link couldn't open.

I talked about it with Bryan last night and we both agreed that it was highly suspicious email and I should never click on links in highly suspicious emails. But I couldn't help thinking that it wasn't a scam, but just a really stupid email from a really stupid person. So this morning I forwarded the emails to Bryan to see what he thought of them. At the same time I googled some keywords from the link, the journal name, Kallum's full name, email address etc. It didn't turn up anything that indicated it was a scam. In fact it appeared Kallum was a grad student from Lakehead University (never heard of it!), despite using a UGuelph email address. It all looked pretty legit, and Bryan agreed that it did appear to be legit, but seriously misguided.

It's not uncommon for me to receive an email from someone looking for a copy of an article that I have written, but this article has absolutely nothing to do with me, and isn't even in my research area. I don't understand how or why he would randomly email someone at a UBC email address to ask them to send him an article from the UBC library. And why did he have to randomly email someone on behalf of a friend? Maybe his friend thought that randomly emailing people was a dumb idea, in which case Kallum should have listened. Hasn't he ever heard of interlibrary loans or document delivery? And how could he assume that I was "Ms. Kidd" rather than Dr. Kidd? I could have been the V-P for all he knew! (Although I admit I am sensitive about that, having had a major Vancouver news station discuss my research and refer to me only as "Sarah"). Why did Kallum think that a total stranger would feel like clicking on the link in his email and then go to the trouble of finding a journal article and sending it to him. What kind of person would click on a link in a strange email ?! *Ahem*

Now if anyone who is more scam-savvy than me can tell me anything about this then I'm all ears. Is it a scam that I almost fell for, or just some stupid grad student?



P.S. Blair, can you see how this post has nothing at all to do with weddings? See I can talk about other things sometimes.

Coca Cola loves me

It's time that I was rewarded for my devotion to the product. I received this email this morning:

From: cocacola2007_03@hotmail.com
Reply to: coca_cola007@walla.com
To: Undisclosed Recipients
Subject: COCA_COLA COMMUNITY AWARDS


THE COCA COLA COMPANY.
PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD.

Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4TE,
United Kingdom

Dear Winner,

COCA COLA COMPANY OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION.

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual draws held by The COCA-COLA Company Worldwide Promotions and also sponsored by the CITIBANK and MSN LIVE, your email was among the 20 lucky winners who won a the sum of Nine Hundred and fifty Thousand US Dollars. (USD$950,000,00) in the COCA-COLA COMPANY PROMOTIONS However, your email was attached to ticket number(CC/7PWYZ2006) and ballot number (CC/BT:12052006/20).

The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies world wide. This promo is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).

Due to mixed up of some email addresses which is the determining factor and for the purpose of confidentiality, be advised to keep this award notification should be kept from public notice until your claim has been processed and your prize money remitted to your designated bank account as this is part of precautionary measures to avoid double claim or misuse of this program by some social miscreants.

In other to claim your prize winnings which is presently deposited with the official paying bank here in Europe, You will be required to fill out the Claims Verification form below and send it to the Fiduciary Agent Of THE COCA COLA Company for verification and processing.

1.Name............................
2.Address.........................
3.Age...............................
4.Sex...............................
5.Occupation....................
6.Country Of Resident.......
7.Nationality......................
8.Tel/Fax...........................

Contact Person:Mr. James Walker. (Fiduciary Agent)
Email: coca_cola007@walla.com
Please you are advised to complete the form and send it immediately to our Fiduciary Agent via email for verification and remittance of your Winnings.

Congratulations!

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There are so many things wrong with this I don't even know where to start. Well how about the fact that Coca Cola sent me an email from a hotmail address?