We all get some SPAM in our Inboxes – despite the best efforts of our email hosts, be they Google or otherwise. But another type of message is starting to gain traction and I receive a number of these a week now – normally from recruiters is has to be said – and they are akin to the Click-Bait links you see all over the web (you know, the ones that normally end with ‘you’ll never guess what happens next’). So, what am I talking about? Well, from this mornings Inbox we have ‘Exhibit 1’;

email click bait

I’ve blurred the sender (although as I type I don’t really know why) but the subject line starts ‘Re:’ which would indicate that this is a reply to an email that I’ve sent – standard email client functionality. But I’ve never emailed (or even heard of) the sender or their company.

It’s just a rouse to get me to click on the message and read what they have to say – because the premise is that we have done business in the past.

Now, I may be getting old but I know if I don’t know someone and I’ve never heard of this guy. Add to that the fact that I can see the initial content of the email and that I have never, ever hired C# developers and it was pretty clear what this was – basically just SPAM sent by a low-end recruiter (not tarring all with the same brush here, I deal with many good ones) in an effort to appear to be known to me and to have an understanding of my requirements – neither of which is true.

It’s really no better than the email below it – which did slip though the SPAM filter.

The thing is this is not limited to low-end recruiters, I’m seeing this all the time now. Is this how people and companies think they can get an edge these days?

OK, maybe it’s not really a scourge but certainly a bit on the sly and under handed side of the wire.