Barking at shovels

Is the return address valid, though? It could just be a name-collection service.

But I prefer the theory that she's a Pope.

The call to action in her message was for you to reply to her email if you were interested in the link exchange. My guess is that you would then get a more personally-tailored pitch that involved you sending her your credit card number.

Yes, we got the same thing. I'm trying to research this. See below:

Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term file storage cabinet on Google and found dascodata.com ranked 27. Since I publish a related website about Computers - Services (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

My site is one of the best resources for info in our category (I think you'll see that my site is pretty clean and high quality, and I only request to link to other quality sites for exchange). Because of this great info, I get a pretty decent amount of visitors...so if I link to you, your site should get some nice traffic as well.

So you know, I've already linked to you and will keep it there for a few days until I hear from you. If you're interested in swapping links for good, please reply back so I can get you all of the pertinent information.

Thanks!

Dora Casso
RAC IM: 856526.

Received the same email only for nautical gifts ... what a wierdo !

Thanks for the letting the world know that this Dora Casso woman is a spammer and saving me more time. You did the whole Internet community a favor.

Who has all the time to randomly email this people?

I have the pleasure to be,

The Selfproclaimedgenius

Obviously a spam designed to do a DOS attack on google and other search engines while we all check it out !

Bet this site has had an increased hit rate :)

Cheers

I got one of these this morning too. But mine said:

"Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term devotion short on Google and found deathandmrsbrady.co.uk ranked 36. Since I publish a related website about Education (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site."

My site is for my short film, which has nothing to do with Devotion or Education.

I got here by searching for Dora Casso too!!

I just got the same spam but claiming to come from Carrie Soefel for "bible study help", copied to our general help centre e-mail address. Looks like a form of harvesting "live" e-mail addresses to me.

Hi All
Be warned about this email from 'Casso' and DO NOT hit reply in your email client.

This is without a doubt SPAM mail and is intended to compile a list of live emails so that it can then send you lots more spam, some of which could be lethal to your computer's system.

Spammers are becoming very clever and are finding ways of trickin you into replying.

Enjoy your life and don't let them fool you!

Rab - ex-spammer (sorry!)

Looks like Dora is giving you some notariety! I got the e-mail that told me she was linking "Guinea pig hair loss" to her Health and Beauty site! (I think I get the award for weirdest match-up, don't you?).

Count me in, too. Our Rotary Web Site did, in fact, in January have the words country, club, and medallion that "Dora" mentioned.

But it just seemed too flukey and my B.S. detector was firing off at full tilt.

So, like others, I found this site, too.

She sent the email to me (the webmaster) and two other addresses that, by necessity, are readable on the home page.

Thanks for the confirmation that this is the spam I thought it to be!

mts

Guys, it looks like she exists.

My client responded to her email and she listed his company in a fairly relevant directory.

Her email: dora@doracasso.com
The directory: http://www.highindex.com/Health/Conditions_and_Diseases/Cancer/Breast/Treatment/

Yes, weird.

Mark

Well, what do you know.

Am trying to guess why she didn't mention the site she's actually advertising for in the spam -- perhaps because that would open them to liability for something or other?

I wonder if "confuse people into inquiring what in the world you're on about" is an effective marketing strategy.

I got this as well and here is the skinny:
doracasso.com, though not a valid site, IS registered as a domain name, by:
Bill Richson
billrichson@yahoo.com
922 E Meridian
Tallahassee, FL 32318
954-398-6583
The e-mail is probably overloaded from people who know how to trace domains (like me) but perhaps the number is still valid. I suggest calling him at all hours of the night and offering to sell him toothbrushes.

Happened to me too. Said I was ranked 19th. But my ranking was higher so I immediately got suspicious. I'm going to check out this "highindex" site and see what's up with them.

I did a trace also on the email I got this morning. It seems to be coming out of China. Who know where it really is coming from. I really doubt Bill has anything to do with this.

I just got the same e-mail three times, with the string "green sheet".

I produce a comic strip. Not a "website about Business (strictly informational" or otherwise). I did have a short series last year called The Green Sheet Chronicles, so I can see where the bot would pick up that string.

I'm glad I did a search on the string "dora casso". :)

hey all you dora casso fans out there...

i just got one too - saying that a site i built ranks 26 in the search 'basket edible fruit incredible' the site isnt even searchable & it's not about fruit.

what i dont get is if it's spam why did they make it so obviously bogus?

...and mark, are you in league with dora? or maybe it's just some wierd sales pitch for the directory?

I got one this morning as well. 3-23-04
She said she was searching day mothers skits... and that is actually pretty close. I sell plays and skits and I do have a mother's day skit. But my ranking on Google is 19, not the 28 that she mentioned. Thanks for having this here to clear it all up for me.

hey i just typed dora casso in google and got this funny link

www.heartstringsfiberarts.com

it's a knitting site and one of its links is to...

Dora Casso's Hosiery Resource web site with a nice article on Denier - www.hosieryresource.com

reckon it's related???

hey im part of this exclusive club. What a bizarre pastime. Wont be emailing back

Marc

Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the
term dave henderson on Google and found michaelchapman.co.uk ranked 8. Since I
publish a related website about Real Estate - Agents (it's strictly
informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to
your site.

My site is one of the best resources for info in our category (I think you'll
see that my site is pretty clean and high quality, and I only request to link to
other quality sites for exchange). Because of this great info, I get a pretty
decent amount of visitors...so if I link to you, your site should get some nice
traffic as well.

So you know, I've already linked to you and will keep it there for a few days
until I hear from you. If you're interested in swapping links for good, please
reply back so I can get you all of the pertinent information.

Thanks!

Dora Casso
RAC IM: 717819.

I got the same thing read on

Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term aztec party rental tent on Google and found maywood.com ranked 24. Since I publish a related website about Advertising (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

Now this prove it's a bot, why? because I do not work for Maywood.com, but I am a supplier of their products (www.bravoparty.com) and my e-mail does show up in one of their pages o the site. and this e-mail is adressed to me @bravoparty.com and CC to other e-mail from the same page.

Found your site on google also looking for Dora Casso :)

Did a search on doracasso.com
MX - mail.doracasso.com [211.152.14.82]
did whois on whois.apnic.net andit showed some address in China!

WINDOWS XP [VERSION 5.1.2600] EXPLOIT!!
---------------------------------------

Those in the know will (er!) know how to use this payload. Concurrently, those who aren't in the know won't (know how to use it, that is!):

77 68 79 20 64 6f 6e 27
74 20 79 6f 75 20 67 6f
20 6a 75 6d 70 20 69 6e
20 61 20 6c 61 6b 65 20
70 6c 6f 6e 6b 65 72 21

Good luck kids!

xavier

As proprietor of this blog, I ought to say I don't believe hack-attacks against suspected spammers are a good idea. It's too easy to hit innocent bystanders.

And anyway, for a spammer, Dora Casso is kind of entertaining.

I just got that same email. Glad I searched on her. It's an interesting read here, I'll give it that.

Aww, and for about two minutes I thought I was special! I run a site which provides a PHP site updater script. Mine was fairly accurate, except for the usual complete lack of a link (or surely a working return e-mail address? Did anyone e-mail this weirdo back?):

Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term file multiple php upload on Google and found php-update.co.uk ranked 22. Since I publish a related website about Computers - Services (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

My site is one of the best resources for info in our category (I think you'll see that my site is pretty clean and high quality, and I only request to link to other quality sites for exchange). Because of this great info, I get a pretty decent amount of visitors...so if I link to you, your site should get some nice traffic as well.

So you know, I've already linked to you and will keep it there for a few days until I hear from you. If you're interested in swapping links for good, please reply back so I can get you all of the pertinent information.

Thanks!

Dora Casso
RAC IM: 855055.

BTW, what's a RAC IM? Doesn't ring any bells with me - and as usual, for that bizarre-o search, my site is nowhere near 22 :)

This looks a lot like the output of a programme called ARELIS - http://www.axandra-link-popularity-tool.com/screenshots.htm .

This is a tool used for link page management (reciprocal links, in the main), and it can even be used to create large directories. You can search for sites with a particular search term and mail their owners (email addresses extracted from pages, no doubt).

This Dora must be trying to build some kind of link farm, linked to from all over the web, so that she/Bill has a site with a high Pagerank that can affect the ranking of future sites that will no doubt pay to advertise in the new directory. i.e. it's probably an Search Engine Optimisation thing - build it and they will come ...

Tom

I am not conversant in what you call spam & related matters but this message from "Dora" making me think for a moment that Google had discovered my site, intrigues me. Could it be a clandestine Google employee, bringing attention to Google? Perhaps not? I see, from your page, many messages are being broadcast by "Dora". If a machine was composing these messages solo, would it, for example, pick out the search term, "column geologic", which is employed but 2 or 3 times and in obscure places on my site, and then always with the words reversed? Would it then match it with "Doras" given Site Topic of (in my case), Construction? A geologist might almost be drawn to a site dealing with construction. Or was the author punning on "construction site"? Even a novice such as myself could see it didn't add up, yet it had points of interest. I take the liberty of observing that certain phrases, such as the abovementioned "column geologic", might or might not indicate that the composer's first language is not English. As an uninitiated person, I throw in the suggestion that here we have the work of someone like a student prankster, who perhaps has been given a dare, or who is aiming for the Guinness Book of Records.

I guess Dora is contacting everyone. Here is what she sent me

Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term lectionary sermon on Google and found ???????????.org ranked 33. Since I publish a related website about Education (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

My site is one of the best resources for info in our category (I think you'll see that my site is pretty clean and high quality, and I only request to link to other quality sites for exchange). Because of this great info, I get a pretty decent amount of visitors...so if I link to you, your site should get some nice traffic as well.

So you know, I've already linked to you and will keep it there for a few days until I hear from you. If you're interested in swapping links for good, please reply back so I can get you all of the pertinent information.

Thanks!

Dora Casso
RAC IM: 953114.

Got one for in reference to my site www.theprojects.ca today.

Has anyone tried replying? Maybe it is a virus??? The pertinent info could be a file...

What a strange list our activities would all make! I manage a site for accessible loos in England. The term "Dora" searched for to ascertain that itaal.org.uk was listed at no. 11 was "counsel right". I can't think why anyone would want to use that search string for toilet facilities for people whose needs are not served by the "bog standard" (sorry!) provisions. But you have to admit, whoever he/she/it turns out to be, his/her/its interests are certainly broad! Thanks for the info on this, chaps. It has saved me much time and aggro, and given a lot of fun in a prevailingly frustrating world!

I've just had the most entertaining few minutes reading this page. Thank you to Dora!

For the record, Dora's interests span the e-learning industry, or as our dyslexic friend would say the e industry learning.

"Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term e industry learning on Google and found interim.me.uk ranked 13. Since I publish a related website about Computers - Services (it's strictly informational, ...

...
Dora Casso"
RAC IM: 810111.

Mine was

term: Web Authentication
found: unixpapa.com
rank: 2
about: Computers - Security

Pretty plausible really. I composed half a reply before I decided I smelt a rat and did a web search. I think that's the closest a spammer has ever gotten to fooling me. Though many of the messages seem absurd, there seem to be enough plausible ones being sent out that I bet that they are getting lots of replies.

I am also contacted by dora Casso... and she send me a www.highindex.com directory where she listed my web there... but when i seach the directory,,, i can no longer find my web listing...

I also got a Dora casso e mail today:
Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term unique wood gift on Google and found driftwood-dreams.co.uk ranked 30. Since I publish a related website about Gifts (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

My site is one of the best resources for info in our category (I think you'll see that my site is pretty clean and high quality, and I only request to link to other quality sites for exchange). Because of this great info, I get a pretty decent amount of visitors...so if I link to you, your site should get some nice traffic as well.

So you know, I've already linked to you and will keep it there for a few days until I hear from you. If you're interested in swapping links for good, please reply back so I can get you all of the pertinent informat

I smelt a rat cos there was no link to her website and looked her up on google to find this..
i thought it was odd as I do papier mache and am not even on unique wood gift..........

What is her purpose? is she causing any one any harm? I am curious any answers much appreciated.
I hav been getting strange replies lately to my site of virused e mails which hav nothing to do with me so wondered if this was linked?
any ideas?
anita

Well, I am feeling pretty foolish here because I did reply. Here’s what she (he/it) sent:
----
Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term herba life on Google and found newlondoncountyguide.com ranked 1. Since I publish a related website about Health (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

and so on.
-----

I was so excited about the number one ranking that I went to Google right away. Sure enough I am listed as number one for Herba Life. I thought she just forgot to include her link so I replied asking for it. Whoever did it had to have been on my site because the email was also addressed to the Herbalife dealer's email address in the ad.

If this is a spammer, it will be hard to tell since I can get as many as 400 spam emails a day. But, if I hear from her (him/it) again, I'll let you know.

Hi All,

I visited this link a few weeks back when I got my first Dora Casso email. Guess what, I belong to a forum and a person on there has received a very similar email but from "Beth Perry". It follows the same pattern as the Dora Casso email and the domain BethPerry.com is registered with the same people who registered DoraCasso.com. Hmm, think there might be a link here?

PS, there is definitely a link I think, 'cause both domains were registered on exactly the same day, have the same technical contact, though different in different names. I reckon we go with the toothbrush sales pitch at midnight.

Miki

I too have received one of these email oddities. Same text, but a search for "bible object lesson" and from a "Carrie Soefel"

Now my site IS about bible stuff, but I'm as mystified as the rest of you. Her email address is soefel@karlsonsite.com, which doesn't exist.

I like the idea of toothbrushes at midnight, although I would wait till after the witching hour. Waking up at 4 am is always much worse...

Received mine; Apr 1. Total scam.

Yep, also received one from Dora yesterday on April 1st. This time the search was "relaxing piano music" and the link was for her Health site...

Thanks for all this info.. I was nearly convinced. The bit that was suspicious was the "I'm not a competitor" and the site she found was personal.

Looks like that karlsonsite.com has the same admin contact too.. Tsk.. some people have too much time on their hands.

I got the same thing, only with the information that my site ranks "# 32 in Google for bolster pillow sew". Ok, it *is* a sewing site. Unfortunately, it's historical, rather than home sewing. (And it ranks 45th for that search, as of this morning. I had to check.)

I started looking around for her site, since it wasn't mentioned in the email. I found this. *sigh* And I was feeling so very special and loved for a minute there.... I could have been influential to the hoards of young bolster pillow sewers out there. ;)

There were two things that made me suspicious. First off, the URL, which several people have mentioned. But also, really, how dedicated would a human have to be to find and mail the *32nd* google hit for a search term like that?

This is just one of those things that makes me really wonder what some people are thinking when they sit down to write code. I mean, there has to be a plan here, right? Is someone sitting up in the middle of the night, cackling maniacally, announcing their evil plot to collect email addresses by telling people their google rankings for odd search terms?

I got a Dora Casso letter as well, but it does at least seem personalized. "She" is claiming that I have the #3 site for "preacher kid." This seems plausible, as my Tori Amos page is named "Preacher's Kid Gone Bad!"

It hadn't occured to me to search that way. "Preacher kid" as listed does me no good, but in fact I find my site listed as #6 for "preacher's kid."

Perhaps this was just a random phrase picked from my site.

I received three emails from this woman yesterday. This time, I was "ranked 11 in Google for the words 'great preacher'"

I replied and she asked me to link to a different site, from the one which she had listed me on. www.biblestudyspot.com/preacher.html
This is a resource that once you follow any links, it prompts you to call a phone number. Is this the catch????

I also received and email from her, she wrote that my site was ranked 36 for the term "buy ny yankee ticket" on Google and found heathernova.us ranked 36. Since I publish a related website about Entertainment - Event Tickets (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

Well ... we don't even sell tickets on our site!

And btw, she ended with RAC IM: 1095026.

I received the same email, telling me my site was no 4 in a google search for "maximus probation.", which is rather strange as my site doesn't contain either word.

This is obviously a scam. I avoided any contact.

I believe I am the lucky recipient of the weirdest Dora Casso spam of all. She/he informed me that the site I edit, JamesKopp.com, is ranked 49th on google for "media pro violence" -- whatever that means. Should I feel flattered or what?

I too just got one of these email...

I can't believe they ranked me so high... :)

Here is one received on April 8th 2004:

Hi there! Sorry for an e-mail out of the blue, but I just did a search for the term hipaa data storage on Google and found dwreview.com ranked 23. Since I publish a related website about Computers - Services (it's strictly informational, so I'm definitely NOT a competitor of yours), I'd like to link to your site.

My site is one of the best resources for info in our category (I think you'll see that my site is pretty clean and high quality, and I only request to link to other quality sites for exchange). Because of this great info, I get a pretty decent amount of visitors...so if I link to you, your site should get some nice traffic as well.

So you know, I've already linked to you and will keep it there for a few days until I hear from you. If you're interested in swapping links for good, please reply back so I can get you all of the pertinent information.

Thanks!

Dora Casso
RAC IM: 1098081.

I got one yesterday. 'Ranking 27 on Google for "wood carving sculpture"'. This was very convincing- my site does feature scuplture carved from wood. I was getting lots of hits like this last year from MSN search but these abruptly stopped about six months ago. I was very close to hitting that reply button. In the end though, as a matter of principle, I don't reply to anything like this before I've checked it out on Google- so here I am . Thanks everybody.

I think this is the making of a new cult following... such as Senjor Mysterioso.

I'm ready to start printing " I've seen Dora Casso" T-Shirts.

Anybody with me?

I too received email that is identical to the above except it said we were ranked # 20 in google for insulkated mugs...what a waste of time. Except I responded since I did not see her website in the email. We'll see what happens. I hope it wont be bad.

I got a good one today... " just did a search for the term leeds met on Google and found lmuwalkingclub.co.uk ranked
17. Since I publish a related website about Business - Marketing "... Hang on - we run a university walking club, how’s that related to "Business - Marketing". Still, this has to be good publicity for all the websites mentioned on this page!

Beth Perry comes to Hobbit Land!!

'm a web master, and I was just searching Google for moving to a new house. I found your domain, job.co.nz ranked 40, which is pretty cool.

My site is all about Home and Garden - Moving, too . Maybe we should link up? I wouldn't be stealing any of your sales, because all I do is write informational articles...not selling anything on my site at all. And most of my visitors write back to say that they love the fact that I only write good, quality info. As a matter of fact, I've got a pretty loyal following of people that come back over and over again (they use the site as a reference), so if you link to me, you should get some pretty good traffic from it -- which is always nice.

Anyway, let me know if you'd like to swap links. I've already linked to you, and will keep it up there for a few days until I hear back. Hope to hear from you soon!

Beth Perry
RAC IM: 1187863.

I got a "Beth Perry" e-mail today. It was clearly not real, but funny, because it said that she'd found my site at #14 in a Google search for "atkins pizza recipes." Well, my last name is Atkins and my site is called Pizza Pants--but definitely not related to "Health" as she/it presumed. These are very odd. I'm glad I found this site.

Okay, I couldn't resist (and I DO know better)... so I emailed "Beth Perry" and here is the response I got:

"Hey -- it's Beth. Thanks for the reply.

Like I said before, I'm already linked to you. You can link to me here with this code: Strollers

I added you into this directory of hand reviewed sites called High Index. I submit things to them as an editor, and got you up as a featured listing in the following category: http://www.highindex.com/Home/Consumer_Information/Home_and_Family/Children/Baby/Strollers/

You can click on that link if you want to check it out.

Thought you might like that. Anyway, I'll leave you up there for a few days until i hear from you. If i don't hear back, I will have to take the link down. Thanks again. I look forward to swapping links with you soon!

Beth"

Well, neither the babystorez.com site or the highindex.com site have very good page ranks with google (1 or 2 out of 10 at the most)... so definately looks like someone is trying to boost their page rank and their traffic. I hardly think that I will link to some oddball's site when they don't have any traffic to offer me and when I would offer them some (it would be different if I knew them or they weren't so weird).

Funny enough, in 'her'(?) first email she mentioned that she writes articles, none of which I could find at babystorez.com which she wants me to link to. Couldn't really find any mention of her there...

Very strange or clever (maybe this just might work for whoever it is, to whatever extent that they want it to).

I've been Dora Casso'd and everyone else has said it previously.

Well, thanks to this site I do at least know that I just signed up for one hell of a ride by replying to that email. Could be worse, though, since I replied with my website email account which is spam- and virus-protected.

Oh well. Thanks for the information, though.

well, it's nice to know we're not alone, and to think I almost replied! God bless the Internet!

Here's what I got from Beth Perry:

I'm a web master, and I was just searching Google for power transmission product. I found your domain, zf-group.co.uk ranked 17, which is pretty cool.

My site is all about Business - Industrial, too . Maybe we should link up? I wouldn't be stealing any of your sales, because all I do is write informational articles...not selling anything on my site at all. And most of my visitors write back to say that they love the fact that I only write good, quality info. As a matter of fact, I've got a pretty loyal following of people that come back over and over again (they use the site as a reference), so if you link to me, you should get some pretty good traffic from it -- which is always nice.

Anyway, let me know if you'd like to swap links. I've already linked to you, and will keep it up there for a few days until I hear back. Hope to hear from you soon!

Beth Perry
RAC IM: 898134.

What's that RAC IM number

Well, I said right at the top there that we needed a Dora Casso support group, and this appears to be it. Congratulations. Thought you might like to see this post from WebHostingTalk, in which Dora's motives finally become hilariously clear:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/thread/257376-1.html

"Thanks for your reply! Like I said in my first message, I've already linked to you. I'm one of the editors for a search engine directory called High Index. It's an index of hand reviewed websites online...and since I appreciate your content, I've added you as a Featured Listing in this category: http://www.highindex.com/Arts/Movies/Titles/G/ If you like, click on the link to check out your listing.

"In exchange, please link to the site i wrote. Don't link to the High Index page above! (it won't be the most meaningful experience for our user) Rather, I'd like it you linked to the site I wrote: penisenhancementinfo.com..."

DoraCasso is owned, as mentioned above, by Bill Richson, but here's another piece of the puzzle:

Bill Richson is the registrar for many domain names owned and operated by Traffic Logic, an SEO company. They seem to specialize in building sites related to their clients', then getting those new sites ranked in Google and going on and on about how great their clients are. ("Click here to get some great wooden trains!")

Spam? You decide.