Tag Archives: samuel pepys

Phishing ain’t that new – Samuel Pepys got there first

Samuel Pepys is not often associated with Nigerian internet scams, yet there is an uncanny echo of modern problems in his own forgery of 1661. In August of that year the famous diarist recorded that he “counterfeited a letter to Sir W. Pen, as from the thiefe that stole his tankard lately”. A follow up letter offered to return the tankard in return for 30 shillings, a trick than William Penn fell for. Pepys retired to a pub to spend the 30 shillings drinking with his friends, where they were joined by the poor Penn who was – perhaps thankfully …

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  • Tim Rogers
    Sorry Jack. You are so wrong. The gas will not stay in the ground because Norway will take their share and then ours. You may want to feel pure in heart but we ...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Why not start by making our obscure taxation set up transparent and consistentently progressive so that all may know how it actually functions and that all are ...
  • Tim
    Mick is right as to where John was a council leader (despite being a Sunderland fan). Can we correct the article?...
  • Nick Baird
    You can always look at any single tax in isolation and make arguments against it. So the first question is do we need to raise more tax somehow, and the second ...
  • Tim
    Hywel - the source of the "Norwegian gas is cleaner than UK gas" is here - https://www.petro-online.com/news/fuel-for-thought/13/sp-global/two-thirds-of-uk-and-...