BS: Spam crazy

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 06 - 02:33 PM

Bert, don't be a stubborn dunce. Go back to Joe Offer;s post.

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 16 May 06 - 02:29 PM

"NEVER READ THEM, no matter how curious you may be."

Good advice----sort of.

I get over a hundred LEGITIMATE emails that I want every day, from three email distribution lists. And then of course I get a lot of spam.

All of this comes through Yahoo.com, and truthfully, Yahoo.Com does a pretty good job of identifying spam, and it gets shunted off to my JUNK subdirectory.

BUT! There are inevitably some unidentified, and left behind in the INBOX. Some of those I can tell immediately by the subject line or stated sender are not legitimate, and I click the icon that declares that message to be spam and shunts it to SPAM. But sometimes the subject line suggests that the message just MIGHT be an email from one of my lists. Even if I'm sort of convinced that it's likely to be spam, I don't want to declare it spam at that point, because of Yahoo's trainable email spam identifier routine; I don't want that routine to decide (on the basis of a wrongly icon-clicked message or few) that that sender (one of my lists) is a spam source.   In that situation I really must, I feel, open what might be spam. If it is, I IMMEDIATELY spamify it.

Of course I never open an attachment in an email that I'm not really sure is non-spam. And of course I never click the "unsubscribe" button on a spam message.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: jacqui.c
Date: 16 May 06 - 01:17 PM

I've got one pertaining to be Yahoo, telling me my account is about to be closed or other similar nonsense. This all comes in to the bulk area of my Yahoo account! I just ignore the whole lot and delete without opening.

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 May 06 - 07:50 AM

A Typical for one Bert.

Samples of the email being sent by criminals, disguised as American Express "official email." This is the notice provided by American Express to warn their customers that this is NOT COMING FROM AmEx, and that they are attempting to get it stopped.

If you care to browse the TrendMicro site where this is posted, you are quite likely to find that nearly every company on your list, or with a name likely to be highly recognizable by persons who might receive the phony emails are being victimized similarly.

Note: AmEx was chosen more or less at random, although this particular phony has been publicised by American Express recently.

If a mugger runs around saying his name is "Bert," does that make you guilty?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Paul Burke
Date: 16 May 06 - 05:09 AM

(1) use Mailwasher Free. This is especially useful if your mail server does a spam check, and flags it as suspected spam. I've used this for a while now, and though I get many spam messages, I simply don't see them as they get filtered out.

(2) Use Thunderbird. Free again, this has trainable filters that simply delete stuff you say is spam before you see it. You start off getting everything, but as you train it you see less and less until only the most inventive abusers get through, and then only for a short while.

Why do they do it? It's a bit like life. You started off when one spermatozoon out of a hundred million got lucky. With spam, they only have to find one dupe out of a hundred million and it's all worthwhile.

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 16 May 06 - 04:42 AM

Spam spam spam spam,
Spam spam spam spam.

We 'aven't got any spam.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 May 06 - 12:41 AM

I use an early free version of Mailwasher to do what Bill D does.

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 May 06 - 07:26 PM

Sounds like you might be the victim of a "Joe job" (which has nothing to do with Joe Offer—apparently).

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Bill D
Date: 15 May 06 - 07:07 PM

I was receiving myriads of spam with the gibberish headers..

"vocations merrily disenchant Huxtable" and similar...inside would be ads for Vi*gra or something.

Note...I **NEVER** actually downloaded these. I read them (the headers) on the server, then did a mass delete so they never touched my PC.

For some reason, I see a VERY much reduced number of these lately. Maybe they crossed me off their list since I never replied? I have two email addresses I use...(my server grants me 5 on the account, my wife uses one)...of the two I use, one has a pretty simple surname with a #, (like Jones123) and that one got 90% of the spam. The other is a version of my business name "somethingextree" and it gets very little spam. The spammers do 'harvest' email addys if you carelessly post it on some sites, but they also use programs to run thru combinations of common words and numbers and send emails to likely possibilities. Since mine is UNcommon, it gets few hits.

If you were willing to take the trouble to change your email to an unusual string of characters, it would likely reduce the spam a LOT. If it requires you telling 279 of your closest friends & relatives the new one, it may be more trouble than it's worth...but....

As to that trick of checking email online and deleting the spam, I HIGHLY recommend it. There are many, many of this type. Here is just one PopPeeper ...it is highly recommended by the site. I personally use a simpler program that just looks for you and lets you delete stuff. Pop3 Scan Mailbox

There are MANY other tricks, including never posting you email anwhere in precise form....but using 'at' instead of @ or adding in a weird word BillBALDERDASH at someplace.com

hope the problems ease...

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Bert
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:27 PM

Well I get spam with their names and advertisements on it, so somewhere in the chain of events they are making money from that spam.

I just call them and let them know that they are not ever going to make any more money from me.

They are at the head of the chain and if people let them know it is going to cost them, then they will stop.

So please write to the boards of those companies in which you own stock and let them know that spam is costing them customers.

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:25 PM

I've received email spam disguised as something from a couple of the companies listed; but on at least 4 occasions when I contacted the companies directly they confirmed that they had not originated any messages of the kind I received.

It's almost certain that your received spam is in the same category. Those who send it will go to great lengths to make it look official, and to look like it came from "somebody you know." There's a good chance that the emails for at least half - maybe all - of those on your list came from one singe source.

It's also almost a 100% dead-sure bet that they all came from a machine owned by a friend who doesn't even know his machine is infected. The spammers quite likely are using a "friend's" address book to forward spam email.

Odds are currently about 3:10 (30%) or better that the perpetrators behind it are organized criminals. Some say more than half of current spam traffic is generated by organized crime groups, using "zombie" machines they've infected.

All they want is your money, but they'll settle for your credit card numbers, passwords, account numbers, or whatever they can use to steal it. In some cases they'll settle for name, address, and Social Security Number (in the US), since that's all they need to create a forged identity for someone to commit crimes using your name.

Your only recourse is to DELETE IMMEDIATELY.

NEVER READ THEM, no matter how curious you may be.

ABSOLUTLY NEVER CLICK ON ANYTHING IN ONE OF THEM.

And DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT clicking the box that says "Click here to be removed from our mailing list."

And you might suggest, gently, to all of your friends, that they get their machines intensively scanned and cleaned up.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:17 PM

Are you sure those firms Spam, Bert? There's a Spam company with an address in Cheyenne that uses all sorts of brand names to promote its real products, but I doubt that legitimate firms would find value in Spam. I tried to check the address in Cheyenne - looks like it might be just a mail drop, if that.

I was surprised to get Spam from the University of Phoenix - apparently, the Cheyenne firm was soliciting on their behalf.

One other thing about the Cheyenne firm - thir e-mails are a single graphic that's a clickable link. Takes a hell of a long time to download when my dialup connection is sluggish.

-Joe, who owns stock in four of the brands Bert named-
(Hewlett Packard
Taco Bell
KFC
Compaq)

Subject: RE: BS: Spam crazy
From: Bert
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:04 PM

I have a personal boycott of firms that spam.

Here's just a few of them...

Starbucks
Chile's
Toshiba
Motorola
Jenn-Air
Weber Grills
Hewlett Packard
Visa
Taco Bell
KFC
Compaq
Old Navy

Well that's a few of the well known ones. None of them will ever get a penny of my money.

If we all did the same they would soon stop.

Subject: BS: Spam crazy
From: Alan Day
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:53 PM

Every day I receive about fifty spams.The current favourite is returned mail,some bastard using my email address to get his Email returned to me with an attachment.I might have got fooled by one or two at the most initially but not hundreds later.I just cannot understand the mentality of people or companies that start these spams off.Some recieved with no message or writing.Some with gibberish, it goes on and on.Is there someone out there who thinks it funny to send these out,or is it some madman or women who's life is dedicated to cause annoyance.Is it all being generated by people selling anti spam devices ?
Yours ,sexually inadequate,too small,needing a partner or a friend,with banking difficulties,needing market information,in need of medication and pissed off.
Al