darrenbarefoot.com

Weirdest Email of the Week

This week, I was the recipient of eight bizarre emails to a Gmail account I never use or give out. They were all from a numerical email account that looked like this: 2194985492@clarotorpedo.com.br (I changed a couple of digits). Each contained a photo taken with a phone camera, and no accompanying text. All eight photos were pictures of jewelry displayed in sundry shop windows.

Clearly this is just a case of mistaken identity, and I emailed the sender to notify them of their mistake. Still, it’s a little mystery in eight photos. I’m fairly certain they were taken in Brazil because:

  • Obviously, the ‘br’ domain on the email address.
  • ‘Clarotorpedo’ almost certainly comes from http://www.claroideias.com.br, a Brazilian cellular company.
  • North American mannequin generally don’t have nipples. I think. I’ve got no supporting evidence on this point.
  • I don’t have the CSI magic that enables you to read a fly’s tattoo with a 20-year-old security camera, but I do have Photoshop. When I tweak some settings on and reverse this photo, I get this decent view of the reflected background. A sign is visible. I can’t be certain, but it appears to read “something e something”. I don’t know a word of Portuguese, but I do know that apparently ‘and’ is spelled ‘e’. Of course, the photographer could be traveling somewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, because the letter could also be a ‘y’.

You can also see the photographer and her phone. Can anybody identify which phone that is?

Any other conclusions we can draw? Don’t worry, I’m not going to start stalking some poor Brazilian woman–I just dig the mystery.

4 Responses to “Weirdest Email of the Week”

  1. Andrea Says:

    I hope you scanned the photos for viruses, in case it’s some weird worm. :)

    I’m pretty sure the numerical part of the address is the phone number of the sender. You can probably text message them. You can also use the number to pinpoint the city. Looks like Rio to me.

    But, on the, uh, point about the mannequins…you can find them all over Vancouver. I think even Sears has such mannequins.

  2. Ray Says:

    Yeah, most mannequins these days have nipples. Big honking ‘look at these’ nipples, in fact.

    If your woman had nipples as big as some of the mannequins I’ve seen you might either:

    a) run screaming
    b) never leave the house

    Depending naturally on your predilection for large pointy nipples.

  3. Wilson Says:

    I’m pretty sure that the top line in that barely-visible sign is “Carga e descarga” (loading and unloading). The bottom line is probably an indication at what times are allowed for loading and unloading shipments.

  4. steven Says:

    The Phone is a Motorola C650. I have the same. Carga e Descarga is right.

Post a Comment

PREV: How Much Do CFL Players Make?
NEXT: How Are You Recording Your Skype Calls?

This is darrenbarefoot.com, weblog of Darren Barefoot. You are viewing Weirdest Email of the Week.

Do you want to drive more visitors to your website?

Increase your company's visibility online?

Understand the world of blogs, Facebook and social media?

Then check out my Social Media Marketing eBook: