Tech: Illegitimately posted email addresses

Subject: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 12:00 PM

I've just hit a website which has literally thousands of email addresses listed world wide; one of which is mine. All anyone on a spamming excercise has to do is just scoop them up. Unfortunately, the site is American based and I'm in Britain.

I'm not posting the website address obviously. But if anybody has any ideas as to how I get this lot closed down, I'll be glad to hear from you.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 12:12 PM

Good luck!
There are loads of these databases for sale. They collect addresses from Usenet and web pages, with trojans and spyware from people's address books and chain letter headers.

This is why I hate non-blind cc mass mailings. ONE PERSON on the list can get infected and everybody in their address book winds up on one of these lists, and everybody in the message header when that message gets mined. I've been on those spam lists before. You can't really do anything about it since the list has been copied and spread all over the place already.

Change e-mail addresses and protect the new one as if it were your house key.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 12:13 PM

Red Tape Chronicles has a comment on an increasingly common Facebook scam, (full article at Here) and suggests reporting frauds to the US FBI at IC3.

You might check the FBI site and see if they'll let you make a report.

Websites listing (and selling) email addresses are actually quite numerous, and although the price per address has been dropping recently there are still lots of such lists available. Gettting a particular one closed down probably is unlikely; but giving your bit of evidence to those who can work at it may be helpful.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: Genie
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 04:47 PM

What's really frustrating is that they can, apparently, buy and use your own e-dress - one that you are currently using. I've gotten SPAM emails that had one of my own, active e-dresses listed as the sender. So who knows what else they are sending and to whom, using my e-dress?    And it's a pain in the butt to stop using that one and switch to another.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: treewind
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 05:08 PM

"What's really frustrating is that they can, apparently, buy and use your own e-dress"
I've had spam that said it was from me, and also bounce messages saying "my" sent spam hadn't been delivered to some random person I don't know.

Unfortunately it's trivially easy to put any email address in the "From:" header of an email and it always has been. You don't have to buy anything or hack anything to do that. I could send anyone an email that said it came from [e-mail] right now.

As for Facebook, I'm glad I've avoided it and will continue to do so. MySpace is not quite so bad; I did get phished once but it was quickly detected and sorted.

There's no point in trying to hide your email address. If anybody on the internet has it in their address book (e.g. your friends, relations or business contacts) it isn't safe; just one of them needs to get a malware infection and your email address is all over the spam market.

Anahata

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 05:53 AM

Google your e-mail address

Be sure to check the after search Include Similar Results

Most of your results will be based on servers in China or India (use the WhoIs database for ID of server locations)

Yahoo - has the Dangerous !!! Link !!!! so if you plan to visit the site (say like cowboylyrics) you will know to "Activate All Shields" before entering.

Even on the best run of forum boards e-mail addresses become available when someone carelessly forgets to 'shut-the-door.' A simple "Select All" - and Control C - might give you many hundreds - from just here on the Mudcat - when you browse page background "View Source."

I could display mudcat examples - but most would not like it.

Be Careful - Be VERY Careful - and use multiple accounts for multiple purposes. And even use multiple machines for multiple purposes.

IT IS NOT A CRIME FOR SOMEONE TO HAVE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS.

There is no reason for the website to be closed down.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 06:16 AM

"There is no reason for the website to be closed down."

Perhaps not, but these addresses are listed on the website. There is no reason why they have to do that.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitmately posted email adresses
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 11:22 AM

Sheesh, I just posted all this and it disappeared GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

The sole raison d'etre of all thos circular e-mails we all get, is to harvest e-mail addresses.
I have had them forwarded to me from friends I thought knew better, endorsed with the phrase, 'I'm not breaking this one'
SHEESH, how dumb can some folks be? The progenitors of these documents aren't stupid though. They pull at the heart strings, help this child, support our heroes, save the whales, etc etc.
All this can be achieved if you only forward this e-mail to at least 10 friends.
If you don't do what I do, and bin these stupid things the minute you get them. If instead you do what they ask, and forward the crap.
Then you are selling your e-mail address, and those of your friends, down the river.

Rant over

JM

BTW. Facebook odes the same thing, difference is, we volunteer to be shot at.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitimately posted email addresses
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 01:57 PM

One thing I soon learned was that the legit things that you sign up for are not the problem, it is the ordinary people who you email who don't protect their PCs.

When running a mailing list I shifted it to a new address on buying a domain. After the first mail out from the new address I was getting spam to the new mailbox.

When I was involved as webmaster for an organisation I used a two step system to keep spam out. 1/ Use a spam filter on the domain. 2/ forward to a webmail account with its own strong filters such as Hotmail.

To protect mailing list recipients I used a totally different email client to run the mailing list.

Once every few months I would switch the filters off for a week and plough through the spam to check for false positives.

Subject: RE: Tech: Illegitimately posted email addresses
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 02:00 PM

Excellent timing for your conerns, Mr. McCormick

OCTOBER is CYBERSECURITY Month at the Department of Homeland Security

dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1158611596104.shtm

As it is also at:

us-cert.gov/

You will probably find some advice at their page. There are some I never thought of.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

I like CERT best. Forgot that GUEST cannot make two blue clickys - so follow at will.