Revenge to junk mailers?

TenLeftFingers · 15-05-2003 8:49pm #1

I have just started receiving junk mail from similar accounts:

Marilyn1@millionaireintraining.com
Marilyn@etoast.com

These came in quick succession and I have a feeling I will get more. Is there a way to spam back?

Trojan · 15-05-2003 9:00pm

No, those are most likely fake addresses in any case.

Have a look at spamcop and google for "dealing with spam" for more info on how to respond.

Or just delete it like most people do.

Whatever you do, don't click on the links in the mail (they'll confirm you as a valid address), or follow their "Remove Me" instructions - same result.

Good luck,
Al.

TenLeftFingers · 16-05-2003 1:01am

Thanks Trojan,
I wasn't aware of that. Ill look into the spamcop.
Regards,
Merlin_bar

spod · 16-05-2003 1:48am

If you are getting spam it's well worth looking into a spam filter of some kind.

spamassassin is my filter of choice. Generally though it's something which is run on your own mail server, which doesn't apply to alot of people. SAproxy is meant to be quite a good pop connection proxy which is easy enough to set up on windows and runs spamassassin on your mail as you download it from your isps pop server.

As Trojan said, never reply to the mails. It's a good idea to have a couple of addresses, at least one for personal e-mail which you only give to friends and which you never post online anywhere or enter into online forms etc. and a second address from some free e-mail provider which you put in anytime you're prompted for an email address for something which you basically let spam build up in checkig it occasionally for genuine mail for you amidst all the newsletters from mp3.com and weekly offers from dabs and spam about slurry tanks.

Unfortunately for now it seems spam is pretty much inevitable. Although the recent arrest of a us based spammer is good news, doubtless 200 will spring up to replace him.

Trojan · 16-05-2003 9:25am

Good points spod, I didn't even think to mention filters etc

Anyways I highly recommend www.spamgourmet.com , a spam filtering forwarding service.

How it works:

- I sign up with spamgourmet & give them a real mail address.

- I get a unique username from them ("user" in this example)

- When I want to give my address to a website I give them an address of the form:

identifier.N.user@spamgourmet.com

identifier being some word to let me know where I signed up for the mail

N being a number 1 to 20, the amount of mails to receive at this address before blocking all others

user being my username

Example:

boards.4.user@spamgourmet.com

This is an address which I use to sign up to boards.ie, it will receive 4, and only 4, emails, and it will forward those to my real account. After the 4th mail it will automatically "eat" the rest, thus no spam.

Some cool features:

you can log in and reset the number of mails allowed (so if I get 4 to the above address, I can go back and tell it to let through another 5)

alternatively set it up so that anyone from the "boards.ie" domain will get through, regardless of numbers left

Instead of using @spamgourmet.com they have some other domains, like xoxy.net so it's not so obvious.

sci0x · 27-07-2003 1:23am

Here are a few more gr8 spam protection programs:

Cloudmark SpamNet for Outlook.
IHateSpam for Outlook 3.2
IHateSpam for Outlook Express 3.2
Spamnix for Eudora

And a few stand-alone utilities:
Firetrust Mailwasher Pro 3
Lyris MailShield Desktop 3
McAfee Spam Killer 4

mneylon · 27-07-2003 10:08am

We use a combination of filters and databases, as well as sendmail blocks. If you can stop the spam before it gets to your mailbox your life will be a lot easier IMHO

Boston · 27-07-2003 10:12am

Torjan, fecing exceelent stuff, exactly what i was looking for.

Gordon · 27-07-2003 11:26am

Just another word for those not in the knows (like myself):

Don't even open mail that you aren't sure of if you want to minimise your spam. Some junk mails have trackable pictures where - if you open (or autopreview in Outlook) your mail to view - you will download the picture and be tracked and your email will become 'alive' hence your email address will be put onto more spammers' lists.

BigEejit · 29-07-2003 5:47pm

Originally posted by Gordon
Just another word for those not in the knows (like myself):

Don't even open mail that you aren't sure of if you want to minimise your spam. Some junk mails have trackable pictures where - if you open (or autopreview in Outlook) your mail to view - you will download the picture and be tracked and your email will become 'alive' hence your email address will be put onto more spammers' lists.

D'oh ... those sneaky f*ckers ...

crowbar · 31-07-2003 9:39pm

yeah, nasty stuff. i filter e-mails containing the word "IMG" in it these days into my junk folder because of this.

is there any app that can fake a bounce back for things you say are spam? is there any point? i've often wondered if spammers prune bounced addresses from their lists.

i played around with those 'remove me' links once, i changed the link to contain some random e-mail address rather than my own. it's surprising how many of them happily accepted any old address (even the spammer's own address!) rather than remove you from their list as it says on the tin.

sceptre · 01-08-2003 2:55am

Originally posted by crowbar
is there any app that can fake a bounce back for things you say are spam? is there any point? i've often wondered if spammers prune bounced addresses from their lists.

iHateSpam certainly does. I'm sure at least some of the others do too. Not sure if there's much point to be honest

pdogs · 03-08-2003 10:06am

Another way to eliminate the positive feedback to spammers by the use of img tags is to use (or only preview) mails in text and not use rich-text/html formatting. The same technique also prevents triggering certain email worms/viruses using scripts/activeX and so on embedded in the html.

You can choose an option to preview/view in text if OE6 is first updated by installing SP1 or by using a mail client such as Foxmail 4.1 (my own personal favourite) which previews and views in text by default; there is a handy toggle button for when you want and believe it is safe to read the html-view.

When suspicions are high then mails can also be read in text by viewing the message source (in OE by RClicking >> Properties >> Details >> Message Source) which will also show up all the header information.

Text is safe, so as pretty as formatted mails can be, it could be the way back to a much safer eMailing environment.

IMO one should ALWAYS turn off the Preview Pane in OE; (view menu >> layout >> uncheck "Show Preview Pane").

mneylon · 03-08-2003 10:11am

Office 2003 doesn't download any of the images by default, so ....

tribble · 06-08-2003 2:34pm

MS Hotmail no longer displayes IMG's by default now.

It's taken them years (literally) to cotton onto the personalised IMG URL's in the spam.

tribble

raphaelS · 06-08-2003 2:51pm

My email is filtered by SpamAssasin, it works pretty well but sometimes spam can get through... in that case you can use Bounce Spam Mail: http://www.webattack.com/get/bounce.shtml

You will need to copy the message (header included) and this app will bounce the spam like if your address wasn't valid.

Now sometime the return email includes in the spam is not valid either and you will also receive a bounce back!

Raphael

billy the squid · 10-08-2003 5:56am

Probably more use to people with their own mail servers http://www.spamhaus.org its free voluntary and all

I found it when reading a story about spam on bbc

Cloud · 12-08-2003 1:56pm

As mentioned by spod above, I'd recommend SAProxy - sits between your POP3 e-mail client (Outlook, Pegasus, Netscape etc.) and your server - and free.

http://saproxy.bloomba.com/

sci0x · 19-08-2003 11:23pm

If none of these spam blockers work I would suggest changing your e-mail address. Make it long and use numbers as well as letters. Also dont use real words eg. use l8r instead of later for the name of the new address.

Revenge to junk mailers?

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