4 ms·
I'm pretty sure the Russian trail in this article is a red herring. I looked up "Валентина Сынах" Skype user and, as expected, their full phone number is +7904
by ashtuchkin 6y ago
I'm pretty sure the Russian trail in this article is a red herring.
I looked up "Валентина Сынах" Skype user and, as expected, their full phone number is +7904xxxxxxx (see full number in the article), with Russian prefix +7. Note, WHOIS records have US number +1904xxxxxxx. Not sure why the author only searched for the last 10 digits.
+7 904 code is a very busy area code in Russia shared by several major carriers, covering the majority of Russian regions, so the probability of someone having any particular 7 digits in that area is pretty high. For example there's someone else registered in Skype with number +7904xxxxxx4, just one digit apart. I haven't been able to find an English source, but you can look at the list of carriers and regions in Russian in [1].
Also, US area code +1 904 matches the address in WHOIS records (both Jacksonville, FL), so at least it doesn't look like someone just changed the first digit and used their own Russian number.
[1] https://www.kody.su/mobile/904 https://www.kody.su/mobile/904
- gorgoiler 6y agoVery interesting. Friendly heads up: seeing full phone numbers posted here feels quite uncomfortable. If you’re sure there’s no potential for getting it wrong that’s cool but it’s risky if you’re not 100% sure it’s harm-free. Maybe redact them?
- ashtuchkin 6y agoUpdated, thanks!
- Thorentis 6y agoBecause including a potential link to Russia gets more views and outrage.
- f055 6y agoCan't believe nobody here mentioned that his translation is a funny blunder. When you type "валентина сынах" into Google Translate you in fact get "Valentine Sons" but it's a mistake. There's actually a helpful tip showing the correct translation from Ukrainian of the person's name "Valentina Synakh" (Synah, to be accurate). Making a Russian connection out of this is a bit far fetched... But I guess that was the point.
- strategarius 6y agoRussia also advocating anti-vaccination movement [0] for quite a long time already, basically any conspiracy freaks, who can make US existence as a state more complicated. I'm Russian national myself is any. I do not support our regime of course, and left Russia a while ago. But US being so defenseless in the face of that threat surprising me. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45294192 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45294192
- anonu 6y agoDoes it matter if it's the Russians or others? Here is a case where you have completely unknown, faceless, nameless people going about astroturfing. One person, sitting anywhere in the world, with a few hours behind a screen can incite 1000s of people and generate tons of outrage. That seems wrong to me...