Hello Klaus,
I think what you have is culture clash - you are
encountering some things that are very common in the US, but
perhaps not so well known in Germany:
KH> # describe PREST_NON_ACCREDITED 'Prestigious Non-Accredited Universities'
KH> "Prestigious" and "non-accredited" don't seem to fit together for
KH> describing a university. Someone suggested to me spammers using this
KH> phrase tell the truth ("non-accredited") and count on victims being too
KH> stupid to recognize this clash. Is that the case?
Yes, this is a commonly encountered phrase in spam that
promotes what are essentially phony degrees - I
actually have a procmail recipe that kills all mail with
that particular phrase before it gets to SA, and have never
seen a false positive with it. I think it is the fact that
Prestigious + Non-Accredited don't go together that makes it
such a reliable spam indicator.
This business of mail order diplomas has been around for
years. In the US it is pretty much legal to sell something
worthless like this as long as the seller doesn't
misrepresent the facts - so that is the incentive - these
spammers are actually trying to stay on the right side of
the law, even though they are selling something that you
would think is ridiculous. And yes, they count on the people
who buy from them being stupid, but it's not that stupid -
there actually is no law in the US requiring that
universities be accredited, so a fake degree may be just the
ticket someone needs to get a job they don't otherwise
qualify for. See http://www.geocities.com/kl3434us/ North
American Association of Unaccredited Colleges and
Univerisities (sic) [No, that's not a joke site - it's real]
Obviously, these universities are NOT prestigious, but the
people who buy them are not nearly as stupid as the
employers who hire them without checking out their
credentials.
KH> # describe BUY_JUDGEMENTS Buying judgements
KH> Another unknown phrase to me. I take it that "judgement" means a court
KH> order at the end of a law suit. How can you buy this? Or does it refer
KH> to some transferrable financial claim as a result of a law suit?
Exactly what you think - it's a transferable financial claim
- basically the person who won the lawsuit is selling the
right to collect from the debtor. What happens is that X
owes Y money; Y sues and wins, but X either has no money or
has hidden his assets, so Y is stuck with a piece of paper
but no money. Y needs money right away, so Y sells the
judgment to a collection agency for a small percentage of
the total amount, in cash - and the collection agency does
whatever it has to do to collect the full amount.
KH> # describe GENERIC_VIAGRA Mentions Generic Viagra
KH> Is "generic Viagra" a kind of clone of the "original" product Viagra
KH> but without the right to use the brand name? I haven't encountered the
KH> term "generic" in association with drugs, yet.
Yep - in the US the word "generic" is commonly used to refer
to drugs that are manufactured by a company other than the
original patent holder, often at a considerable discount.
It is very common terminology, because often prescription
medications in the US are very expensive and many insurers
will pay or reimburse expenses for "generic" drugs, but not
the extra cost for the brand-name product, assuming that a
generic version is legally available.
-Abigail
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