Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

IceEnclosure · Dec 29, 2005, 09:21 AM

So for years I've been able to avoid(without trying) spam on most all my email accts.

Until yesterday. In the past two days I've received about 20 random spam crap emails to my comcast acct. It sucks.

Do I have this to look forward to everyday on my main acct? Anything I can do?

Did some assface sign me up for a crap spam email list?

I rarely rarely use this acct for anything, as I like it nice and clean. I recently gave the email addy to a freakin' girl I was seeing. We're no longer enjoying each other's company. hmm.

Someone somewhere is smirking, I am not.

Doofy · Dec 29, 2005, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

I rarely rarely use this acct for anything, as I like it nice and clean. I recently gave the email addy to a freakin' girl I was seeing. We're no longer enjoying each other's company. hmm.

Bingo!

Unfortunately, however clean you keep your account you can never get around the fact that some people are either spiteful or stupid. Best form of defence is to run your own spam filters (i.e. email server with RDNS checks and Spamhaus).

IceEnclosure · Dec 29, 2005, 09:38 AM

****

Dakar · Dec 29, 2005, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

So for years I've been able to avoid(without trying) spam on most all my email accts.

Until yesterday. In the past two days I've received about 20 random spam crap emails to my comcast acct. It sucks.

Do I have this to look forward to everyday on my main acct? Anything I can do?

Did some assface sign me up for a crap spam email list?

I rarely rarely use this acct for anything, as I like it nice and clean. I recently gave the email addy to a freakin' girl I was seeing. We're no longer enjoying each other's company. hmm.

Someone somewhere is smirking, I am not.

Check if at the bottom there's a link to unsubscribe. If she signed you up for spam, then you will most likely be able to unsign-up.

Dakar · Dec 29, 2005, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

****

Actually, I'd say bitch.

Edit: Damn, that'd have been cooler if it had come out ***** instead.

RAILhead · Dec 29, 2005, 10:47 AM

If she uses a PC, then she may have added you to her address book/contacts list. If she did, and she has a virus, the virus snagged your email address and there you have it.

andreas_g4 · Dec 29, 2005, 11:17 AM

I'll second Mauri's assumption. Girls don't know how to sign up s/o for spam… And who dates a PC girl anyway?

Mastrap · Dec 29, 2005, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar

Check if at the bottom there's a link to unsubscribe. If she signed you up for spam, then you will most likely be able to unsign-up.

And this is the easiest way to get even more spam.

Anything you do to let the spammer know that your email address is both valid and live is a godsend for the spammer. NEVER click any links in spam mails.

And Maury is most probably right. PC address books are vulnerable to virus attacks and address harvesting.

Dakar · Dec 29, 2005, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

And this is the easiest way to get even more spam.

Anything you do to let the spammer know that your email address is both valid and live is a godsend for the spammer. NEVER click any links in spam mails.

And Maury is most probably right. PC address books are vulnerable to virus attacks and address harvesting.

Funny, its worked for me everytime. Some asshole signs me up for spam and then I click the link and get taken off the list and it ends. Easy.

Mastrap · Dec 29, 2005, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar

Funny, its worked for me everytime. Some asshole signs me up for spam and then I click the link and get taken off the list and it ends.

No it doesn't. Your name and address then gets added to a list of email addresses proven to be live and valid. These lists then get sold to anybody with the cash to buy them. You will then receive more spam.

Trying to unsubscribe from spam, and expecting it to work, is a waste of time. Anybody in the spam fighting business will agree with that sentiment.

Link 1
Link 2 (/. discussion of this issue)

wdlove · Dec 29, 2005, 01:33 PM

I just don't let it bother me. Learned to live with, easy to just push trash.

starman · Dec 29, 2005, 01:55 PM

$10 says it was a spider bot that found you. Comcast? I had a new account up for 12 HOURS before someone found me without posting the address anywhere.

nredman · Dec 29, 2005, 06:01 PM

sorry ice it was me - i hate all the pictures you post of the hot chicks

just kidding - sorry man

IceEnclosure · Dec 30, 2005, 02:02 AM

Originally Posted by starman

$10 says it was a spider bot that found you. Comcast? I had a new account up for 12 HOURS before someone found me without posting the address anywhere.

Weird though, for my whole internet existence (about 7 years) I've never had it happen to me. I thought I had a gift of some sort. Thing is, I'm okay with it being some bot that found me. I'm not okay about the possibility of the girl..

I sent it to her via text message on my mobile phone. Cingular. Could my text have been compromised? or was it that lying bitch??

IceEnclosure · Dec 30, 2005, 02:06 AM

Originally Posted by nredman

sorry ice it was me - i hate all the pictures you post of the hot chicks

just kidding - sorry man

thank you for your support in these trying times

TETENAL · Dec 30, 2005, 02:16 AM

I think it's unlikely that it was the bitch. Since when are they tech-savvy? I even don't know how to "sign up someone for spam". Most likely it was a bot that found your e-mail address. They are trying out random e-mail addresses at all possible domains. Sometimes it takes longer till they found you sometimes not.

Athens · Dec 30, 2005, 02:50 AM

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure

So for years I've been able to avoid(without trying) spam on most all my email accts.

Until yesterday. In the past two days I've received about 20 random spam crap emails to my comcast acct. It sucks.

Do I have this to look forward to everyday on my main acct? Anything I can do?

Did some assface sign me up for a crap spam email list?

I rarely rarely use this acct for anything, as I like it nice and clean. I recently gave the email addy to a freakin' girl I was seeing. We're no longer enjoying each other's company. hmm.

Someone somewhere is smirking, I am not.

or if you ever posted your email on the web or forum. Spamers have spiders that crawl the net for email addresses now. Also depending on how complicated your email is generators for popular email providers.

Athens · Dec 30, 2005, 02:50 AM

And if you used your email or checked your email on a PC infected with spyware

kmkkid · Dec 30, 2005, 03:13 AM

Only 20? Pffft. Try a couple hundred a day to my hotmail account. Then I have stupid foreign people adding me to their msn list and bitching at me in some jibberish saying I sent them viruses because my accounts been compromised and is just filled with viruses. Oh well.

That's why I have gmail now, not a single spam message so far

Athens · Dec 30, 2005, 03:27 AM

I get 300+ per day. Its all taking care of automatically

DigitalEl · Dec 30, 2005, 06:10 AM

I thought I was the only one not getting all this alleged spam. I get one or two a month, which I consider damn good considering what others go through. I have no special spam blockers or filters any stronger than the built-in Mail.app Junk Filter. This is on two accounts, one a .Mac and the other a Cox account.

That being said, I don't sign up for stuff using my e-mail addresses and am very protective of them.

DigitalEl · Dec 30, 2005, 06:10 AM

Love Calm Quiet · Dec 30, 2005, 07:50 AM

What I loved was Earthlink. As soon as I signed up to get their Cable service and my new acct name I went to their webmail to set things up.

There were already 20 ! pieces of spam (varied flavors) in my inbox.

I called them back to get an explanation. Frick and Frack at help desk just told me to use their spam blocker system. Rather than scroo with that I just stuck with my .mac acct.

B Gallagher · Dec 30, 2005, 08:03 AM

it all depends on how complicated your email address is. One of my friends has an email address which has the format <word><2-digit number>@... - he gets lots of spam. Another friend has <word><word repeated>@... - he gets less spam. My email (with the same provider) is <word1><word2><word3><word4>@.. - I've never got a single span on this account.

Another friend has <word1><word2><word3><word4><word5>@... - as far as I know he never gets any spam.

The more arbritrary an email address is, the less likely you are to be picked up by bots.

But perhaps I'm just lucky.

IFLY2HIGH · Dec 30, 2005, 08:25 AM

I've found that emailing the root bastards helps as well stating that they do not have my permission to email me, I explain that this is my personal email account that I'm paying for and they are not welcome to solicite mail to, their mail content is unacceptable at this account, and they will remove my email address or further action will be taken. I also include the protested piece of mail with all headers included and even their "whois" information. It takes more time for me, but the results are very nice when I no longer get spam e-mail.

I've also noticed that on some servers if you own them and have the access to the email accounts, setup #1 as a nothing box, collecting missed mail making it a catch all for undeverable mail, or as I have mine setup as a "black hole" lol, and make everyone else's #2+. I'd noticed that being on the #1 box I'd get all sorts of mail that wasn't even spelled right and should not have gotten to my box at all.

They have that rule about spamming fax machines cause it uses the persons resources, but really that's exactly what spammers do to. They cost my servers storage space, and the time of myself and others to hastle with the problem. Costs money for people to buy spam blockers ect, I feel it's well overdue for a law that should prevent the solicating of spam, and fradulant emails, I love those fraud emails.