A Portuguese-speaking lady called Soraia Costa has been in touch with me.
She has dropped me a line via Dropbox. Unfortunately I can’t speak Portuguese so I’m not quite sure what I can help her with.
Soraia shared an image with you!
Olá!
Sou a Soraia, tudo bem ? Encontrei seu email na web e deixo uma mensagem rápida, só para dizer e que estou online todos os dias
Vem ver-me na webcam, adoro umas conversas sem limites e com pessoas desconhecidas….
Até já ;)
Deixo aqui uma surpresa… espero que goste…
Beijinhos
PS : até posso entrar com uma amigas…
Clicking on the link to the image she has published on Dropbox doesn’t offer much more in the ways of a clue, unless – of course – she is trying to find someone who can take better photographs.
I mean, look at it – it’s terrible! They’ve completely cut Soraia’s head off…
Google Translate suggests that she found my email on the web, and that’s why she has dropped me a line.
Well, if she’s contacting everybody whose email address she finds on the web, she must be one busy lady. Perhaps that’s why she hasn’t got dressed properly and maybe it even explains why she doesn’t show her face in the photograph (perhaps she hasn’t had time to wash her hair?)
Soraia – if that is her real name – goes on to explain (via Google Translate) that she would love to chat on her webcam with me.
I’m online every day
Come see me on my webcam, a love without limits and conversations with strangers ….
I hope she’s not too offended, but I think I’ll give that a miss. Unfortunately spammers and scammers have made me skeptical about the online world, and I’m cottoning on to the fact that I should be a bit more wary online.
After all, if this Soraia *is* a spammer – the very worst thing you can do is help her fund a new wardrobe by signing up for her naughty webcam website.
It’s frustrating that Soraia sent such a bad photograph with her message. Because a quick Google search found someone else called Soraia Costa, but it’s hard to tell if they’re the same person.
Here she is in a (very odd) video:
I find it hard to believe that the woman larking about in this video feels the need to email random chaps like me on the internet.
Take care folks, and don’t be lured in.
PS. What a shame that Dropbox allows me to flag content as copyright-infringing but not report other forms of abuse.
Sure you can report abuse to Dropbox. Just forward the email to [email protected] I find that they pretty quickly pull down the associated account.
Thanks Tom. You're right.
I didn't explain myself very well. I meant that the pages themselves have a "report copyright violation"-type button, but not something to report malicious activity.
Of course, in this case the presence of the woman in her underwear isn't necessarily malicious. It's just a picture after all, and it doesn't ask you to take any action or visit any websites.
During the last three years I have seen many MalSpam with links to malware stored at Dropbox and Google Docs. The malware stays there for weeks if you do not report it. It is a shame these giants has no scanning neither prevention or warnings.
Your text is very funny, but I'm awfully sorry to tell that the "odd" video from Vimeo is actually in Portuguese. At least at the beginning. How do I know that? Well, I'm a brazilian guy. ;) And I´ve received the same spam message in my Dropbox account…
Hi Mr. Graham, how are you? Well I´m not feeling that good after not sleeping this night thinking why would you use a video from my professional work as an actress in your blog. Turns out I´m the real Soraia Costa, the one in the video, with my son in the first scene, that you´ve been exposing in your site for the last 2 years. My husband was very angry with it and wanted to write last night but we are polite people and we thought better to write when we are not so nervous. Look, maybe you don't think your joke was anyhow harmful, but it was, and maybe more than i can image, who knows witch producers were in google looking for my actress showreel and ended up in here (its the forth site that appears when you research soraia costa videobook in google). Do you have a wife or daughter? What would you think if you find something that you can't read because you don´t know the language but its a site that relates your woman to a hookers picture? First, that girl in the photo isn´t me – i wish i would have those breasts, second i do work as fashion photographer as well, check my instagram account and see that yes, i´m able to do great pictures and third you don´t know me, don´t know my history, did not contacted me to know if you could publish my video somehow or not. I´m a married woman since 10 years, i have an eight years-old-son, i have a respectful life and career, man, i´m a fighter, i went from wheel chair (yes, i had a stroke when i was 14) and still i´m handicapped and i work hard to follow my dreams. i wish i could sue you and make you pay me for this uncomfortable feeling you gave me and the possible works i´ve lost to be somehow related to a prostitute in the internet. you don´t speak portuguese but i do speak english, and german as well. i´m not a stupid bitch! 34 people were sharing the post… it was seen by how many more? As someone that calls himself award-winning by working with internet, you understand absolutely nothing about it and must know you should never ever publish my video in your website, specially remaining me to a woman that works with prostitution. I hope you make me a very beautiful post to apologize.
Hi Soraia
Thanks for the message. I'm sorry to hear that my blog post disturbed you.
Rest assured that I'm very happy to believe that you are not the same Soraia Costa who emailed me back in June 2014. Clearly someone is either using your name (or coincidentally has the same name) to lure people into a scam.
Indeed as I wrote at the time:
"It's frustrating that Soraia sent such a bad photograph with her message. Because a quick Google search found *someone* *else* called Soraia Costa, but it's hard to tell if they're the same person."
I don't know how many people the scammer contacted back in 2014, but hopefully anyone who received it will have read this article (and your message) and realised correctly that you are not involved in the scam.
Best wishes to you, your family and for your ongoing career.