SPAM- Stuff Posing As Mail
Sep 07 '00
To start, I can tell you that if you now receive Spam in your e-mail box, chances are you'll never totally eliminate this nuisance. Your only hope is to contain it!
How Did They Get My Address Anyway?
Below are several ways that I have found to be a gateway for spammers. Although I can't list every possible source here, I'll try to reveal what I have learned through experience.
Bots
Using an automatic e-mail address retriever known in the computer world as a "Bot", short for robot, it can scan various sources collecting addresses as it moves along.
A good example would be right here on Epinions. Although against the policy of Epinions, it is possible for someone to write a program to scour every profile page snagging each and every address listed.
Am I suggesting you remove your e-mail address? No! I am just trying to make a point on how easy an unscrupulous individual can do their collecting.
My suggestion is to display a web based e-mail address anywhere that it is exposed on the web and save your POP mail for friends and family. This may not prevent all spam, but you've lessened your exposure to bots.
Large Recipient Lists
Ok now that I've told you to use POP mail for personal use, I am going to tell you that any e-mail that exits your machine and contains your address, is at risk.
Some of the more familiar would be the "Forward this to ten people and Microsoft will send you a check for $1000", or whatever.
If you have ever received e-mail with a ton of recipients listed, you'll know what I mean.
Sure you can suppress the list but it's just as important that friends or family also do this to be effective.
Posting On Newsgroups
If you've ever posted on a newsgroup and revealed your e-mail address, then let me be the first to tell you that you've made a huge mistake!
Bots scour newsgroups continuously for addresses, and the spam you receive can sometimes depend on where your posts were. If you're in the Alt.DVD newsgroup, you may receive an unsolicited e-mail for a DVD related offer.
Now you know where all those "Hey Big Guy! Want Some Wild Fun" spam letters are coming from! ;)
For this reason, most people do not use their real address or add a few characters to the end of their real address thus confusing the bot. For example if my address were rpllingrock@XYZ.net, I would display it as rpllingrock@XYZ.REMOVE.net. Then in my post I would tell the readers to remove the word "REMOVE" for your correct address.
Filling Out Them Darn Forms
Sure they tell you that all the information you provide is confidential! But that doesn't stop some companies or web sites from releasing your address to third parties. How do I know this? Well I signed up for a joke of the day site using a web based e-mail address, and this was the only time I actually used it. Within one week I was bombarded with unsolicited e-mails with anything from "Make A Million $$$" to "How To Keep Women Happy", I should have replied to this one. ;)
Most sites are on the up and up but it only takes one slip to blow your cover!
Don't Do It I Say!
When receiving an unwanted e-mail from an unknown source and it says in the body of the message to the effect " Please Reply To This E-mail with Remove in the Subject Line to Be Removed From This Mailing". Don't do it! Why? Because this is a golden opportunity for the sender to verify that your e-mail is active and valid, leading to even more junk.
The Evil One
If you are victim of the following, you are helpless in stopping your e-mail from being exposed. You see, your friends are unknowingly delivering you to the potential spammer.
I am convinced that my problems started with spam when I was sent a link to a funny picture. You may know what I mean. Someone sends you an e-mail with "A Joke Sent To You From: Jim Smith" in the subject line.
Ok, I know him, I open the message and it contains a link to a funny picture of rear ends in a river with the caption, "Moon River". On the page it says, "Send This Link To A Friend" and a form supplied to enter all of your friends e-mails. This should read enemies instead of friends. Once they submit this form, you are on God knows who's list and what e-mails you are in store for.
There are many sites like I described above with no privacy statement whatsoever. This means you are open game.
Keeping It Simple Was Stupid
I have found that when I sign up for web-based mail using a common word in my email such as rollingrock@hotmail , it's probably a guess by the spammer that yields me some trash. My account is nothing more than a haven for junk, I can't and don't use it.
Also I receive at least ten mails a week directed to someone they think is rollingrock. It may be a variation of the name like rollingrock1 that they think they're e-mailing.
My Epinions ID is a typo. Ok I admit it! When I signed up at Epinions, I hit the "P" instead of the "O". Days went by before realizing this. It was all but too late!
(I feel better now) ;)
I Want A Fresh Start
What I suggest is getting a web based e-mail client that you like and use it wisely. Ask friends and family to use it for personal messages and not for forwards of jokes, links, and chain letters.
Shop around. There are literally hundreds of sources to choose from including the biggies like Yahoo! and Excite.
Don't display it on any web page, newsgroup or mailing list. Keep it safe like you would your home address and you should do ok.
Overall
The best way to stop the unwanted mail is to prevent it in the first place. Sure you can use filters in your mail program, but this is just cosmetic, as the damage has been done.
One thing though, receiving spam is not the end of the world, just the end of your privacy.
If you doubt anything I've written about here, try doing just what I said not to do and let me know what happens. ;)
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