Comments on: 419 spam received; put down, flipped, reversed.

419 spam received; put down, flipped, reversed.

heeeraldo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:31:19 -0800

Marian Bantjes, typographer, designer, and Layer Tennis competitor, received a 419 spam email and turned it into this print.

She's also written a number of interesting pieces for Speak Up; my favorites are the ones on design clichés, posters from the War Effort, the design language of heraldry and a (satirical) critique of the alphabet.

By: optovox

optovox — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:44:08 -0800

I want to buy one of these prints. I'm going to send him a check for $21,320,000.00 (Twenty-one million, three hundred and twenty thousand U.S. dollars), to be held in escrow while he sends me the print and the remaining balance.

By: grouse

grouse — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:54:52 -0800

The design language essay was pretty cool.

By: 2or3whiskeysodas

2or3whiskeysodas — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:01:10 -0800

Neato!

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:12:09 -0800

Holy shit, I know Marian—I even had dinner with her when she visited NYC some years ago! Great designer and wonderful person, and I absolutely love the print.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:22:43 -0800

this chap here did a thing with spam email which i quite liked.

By: kindel

kindel — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:43:52 -0800

i would like to learn more about the people who believe these e-mails . . .

By: grouse

grouse — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:02:16 -0800

Me too, kindel, I have some excellent investment opportunities I have been saving for just the right kind of investor.

By: stevil

stevil — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:36:56 -0800

Last summer I interviewed someone who had fallen for one of the scams. He seemed like someone who had never had much "luck" (either the kind you make yourself or the kind that comes from life giving you chances). He felt very wronged by his bank since they told him the check was good and then took the money back when the check was returned as fraudulent. It was stunning for me to realize that there are indeed people who fall for this, and to hear their explanation/rationalization, and just feel really bad for them.