An urgent ticker-tape from Hell: Pete George needs assistance (Dec. 27, 2013)

1. Morrissey11

   27 December 2013 at 2:30 pm

   An urgent ticker-tape from Hell
   Pete George needs assistance

   I have just received an email, ostensibly from Pete George, the well-known politico and ex- Standardista. I wonder if I should help out the poor fellow, who seems to be having rather a hard time of it….

   NEED YOUR HELP

   Good Morning,

   Just hoping this email reaches you well, I’m sorry for this emergency and for not informing you about my urgent trip to lugansk (ukraine) but I just have to let you know my present predicament. Everything was fine until I was attacked on my way back to the hotel, I wasn’t hurt but I lost my money, bank cards, mobile phone and my bag in the course of this attack. I immediately contacted my bank in other to block my cards and also made a report at the nearest police station. I’m physically OK and fine but I’m urgently in need of some money to pay for my hotel bills and my flight ticket home, will pay back as soon as i get back home.Kindly let me know if you would be able to help me out

   This disturbing letter was accompanied by a warning from the Gmail people: “Be careful with this message. It contains content that’s typically used to steal personal information.”

   How much money should I send Pete George? A grand? Five grand? Any ideas?
   • RedLogix11.1

     27 December 2013 at 2:51 pm

     Scam unless absolutely proven otherwise.

     Besides the real PG would have included a turgid page and half of whinging on the latest perfidy at The Standard…
     • phillip ure11.1.1

       27 December 2013 at 3:47 pm

       and he would have spoken of his (faux)-‘balance’..

       ..in that particular situation..?

       ..surely..?

       phillip ure..
   • marty mars11.2

     27 December 2013 at 5:21 pm

     smells scammy especially as I’ve seen that wording, word for word, before.
   • lprent11.3

     27 December 2013 at 5:28 pm

     Got one of those this morning. Looks like PG’s email has been hacked. Virtually identical to several others over the years.
     • phillip ure11.3.1

       27 December 2013 at 5:34 pm

       and if it were his sychophant/bell-ringer..

       ..dunny-brush wd help him..

       ..surely..?

       phillip ure..
     • BM11.3.2

       27 December 2013 at 6:32 pm

       It’s a facebook scam.
   • mickysavage11.4

     27 December 2013 at 8:09 pm

     I received this email as well. I had a similarly worded email from Bob Harvey not that long ago. He was apparently in Mumbai and someone had stolen his wallet and yadeyadeyada …

     Happens all the time.

     Make sure your passwords are secure …
2. Rodel12

   27 December 2013 at 5:40 pm

   Don’t believe it….send PG an IOU…. but For emails like this, reply and ask a personal question that only the authentic person could answer.(Not birthday or grandma’s name)- say ‘what was the name of your second best friend..your 2nd pet? your teddy bear?’
   • veutoviper12.1

     27 December 2013 at 7:50 pm

     BUT, but, but ….. would you know the name of PG’s second best friend , his 2nd pet, his teddy bear?

     Personally, I am very sceptical – I even had an email from God on Boxing day. What to do, what to do?

     I deleted it and cleared my Deleted box, so will never know what God had to say to me ……
     • Rodel12.1.1

       27 December 2013 at 8:24 pm

       Don’t think PG had two friends.
       God has i think.
       • veutoviper12.1.1.1

         27 December 2013 at 8:41 pm

         LOL!
         And I did not make the God email up – actually got it, despite very good spam block etc ….

         But, seriously now, had a look at PG’s websiteYyourNZ and he can’t be overseas anyway as he had a post up yesterday, suggesting that Clare Curran’s postion as Labour rep for Dunedin South may be in doubt. Supposedly according to an article (unlinked) in the ODT.

         That seems to be at odds with an email I got a few days ago from the Labour Party with a status report on selection of candidates for the 2014 election. This reported that both the Dunedin North and Dunedin South electorate candidate selections were currently uncontested with nominations closing on Feb 28.

         Hello, there CV – and anyone else down Dunedin way. What is your understanding of the current position?
         • Colonial Viper12.1.1.1.1

           27 December 2013 at 10:47 pm

           VV. No one, including myself, has put in a selection nomination against Clare Curran that I know of. More I cannot say at this stage 
           • veutoviper12.1.1.1.1.1

             28 December 2013 at 9:44 am

             Thanks CV. I will continue to live in hope………….
         • McFlock12.1.1.1.2

           27 December 2013 at 11:11 pm

           only online odt hits are for half-sentence speculations in articles about Colin King, from Audrey Young pieces in the Herald.

           Upon which PG has apparently expanded into full posts? Big surprise. Interviewing his own eyelids, most likely
     • weka12.1.2

       28 December 2013 at 12:11 am

       PG’s teddy bear is called Lynn 
       • lprent12.1.2.1

         28 December 2013 at 1:54 am

         I’m aware that Pete has an unnatural fetish with me (as witnessed by his rants about almost anything that I have time to write). And on the odd occasion I have been known to see exactly how far I can twist him into a complete nutter state. However associating me with Theodore Roosevelt is a bit much…

         Of course because of the work over the last few months, the shaving has become its usual irregular thing. But my young great-nieces and great-nephews appear to think that makes me santa claus rather the bushy dark thing that Theodore used..

         (you do realise that the cadaver has no idea what I look like right?)
       • Rodel12.1.2.2

         3 January 2014 at 11:08 am

         And God’s teddy bear……? is it DC?
         Then whose teddy bear is Cameron?
3. lprent13

   28 December 2013 at 4:01 am

   Test message. Testing updated server config.

   There is still a problem using public and private subnets… A mildly expensive problem when the spam attacks happen.
   • lprent13.1

     28 December 2013 at 4:10 am

     Testing failure and fallback.

     Works fine – about 35 seconds from failure to access a web server to dropping to the backup web server. Main constraint is that I don’t want to do it too fast as we do normally get some spiky load.

     Next, see what I can do with the database server