[csonni]

After a new email address only about 1 year old, we are once again receiving SPAM. I would like to know how these Spammers actually get wind of our address and why we can't bounce their message back. The SPAM starts with diet promotions, then it gets to Viagra, etc. Eventually we will be getting messages how to enlarge your genitals. Our email address is supposed to be secure behind the walls of Forums such as this. The are a couple of others sites that require our address, but they assure us that it is secure (reputable sites). Any one else have expereience with this (I'm sure a lot do)?

 

[MrVermin]

Have you ever posted to a newsgroup?

Have you ever put your e-mail address on a your web page?

There are programs that troll the newsgroups searching for the "@" symbol. Once they see it they copy what is before and after it, then send out an e-mail to the result. If there is no bounce back, then it is considered a real address and Spam starts.

The other thing, is that if you receive spam, DO NOT click on the reply or send an e-mail to the "send here is you do not want to receive this again" address. If you do, then the program will know that it has contacted a valid address and will continue to send spam. So, just delete the mail without opening it.

When posting to a Newsgroup and you have to put your e-mail in the message, then put it in like this "youraddress at provider DOT com". Use full words for the symbols, people are smarter then programs and will figure it out.

MrVermin

 

[gordguide]

I don't get spam. Really. Haven't had a single, unsolicited eMail since I left AOL (tryout, to get things up, fall 1995). Got a bunch on AOL, though; it started pretty much the day I joined. So, I would add "no AOL" to the list.

I don't post to newsgroups.

I don't post my eMail to webpages. In the few instances that I have, it's cloaked (again, as had been mentioned in an earlier post).

I don't forward "jokes" to anyone else, because too many people don't know what BCC means or how to use it.

Be careful with chat programs; they are used to harvest addresses.

I have my .mac account, which I guard completely, and I have a web-based eMail account, which gets posted when you can't avoid giving an eMail address. It doesn't get spam either, but if it starts, I have a line of defense (just get another address; .mac is still safe).

Avoid the "popular" webmail sites; if you have an account with hotmail, you're going to get spam, plain and simple. Do a search and find a more obscure free mail site.

Don't use your real name or any combination of an English name or common word and number when you set up an eMail address. [email protected] is guaranteed to get spam, because they send mail to every possible combination starting with [email protected] and ending up at (for example) [email protected].

Even my employer and friends don't know my .mac address; they get the webmail address only. The only time anyone can discover the .mac account is when I contact them, first.

Don't enter contests, especially on the web. Never fail to check the box "dont send me stuff" when registering software or whatever (and use a webmail account when you register software).

Avoid or think carefully before signing up to a web-based "free" service that requires your eMail address, and only your address, to enroll. These people sell addresses for revenue.

When I install a new OS, it will often ask you for an eMail address for global preferences. I always enter a nonsense (but properly formatted) address. Now, if you have a program that really needs an address, it's easy to set it up manually (ie mail.app, outlook, etc). But once that address is in global preferences, any app can call it, without you knowing about it.

Thus, Internet Explorer will call it, for example, or perhaps you might set it in IE's preference pane. Now, as far as I can tell, IE has no business knowing my eMail address; it's a web browser, not a communications program. IE will give that address to eMail dialogs on a webpage (ie when you don't use your mail program, but instead use the webpage's eMail form). If that happens, they are free to return mail to me at "[email protected]", because that's what I have set there.

 

[csonni]

I don't subscribe to newsgroups (what are they, anyway?). I do get CBS briefing emails for news, but I don't think that's a newsgroup, is it? I don't have my own website, so no email available there. All I subscribe to basically, is Mac Forums. I have PopMonitor. I started bouncing the spam back, but they are returned with fatal errors. But, I didn't actually receive the spam. I wonder if that will get them off my back?

 

[Ohenri]

man, more like HOW DOES IT END.

these bots are getting better and better. One of my email addresses just got bombed. Now, it's totally useless. I mean, I don't even check it any longer. Not sure how it happened, but it was out of my hands... When I hit news groups, they get the dummy addresses. I use my .mac for tons of stuff - even work and trivial crap. But none that I can't handle. Just have to be smarter than them about it. Never enter emails in browsers (NEVER)... GG covered most of it though...

H!