[Veltliner]

I received an email asking me to test the iPad vs the Kindle, and keep both.

Of course I didn't believe in it for a minute. It's just another one of these "free Apple xxx" scams.

eTabletTesting - BETA product review & testing

Does anybody know how this scam works? I'm reluctant to even click on a link on this page.

[Snow-i]

I must say, if it is a scam site...its pretty well designed. I'm interested to know the outcome of our investigation.

[The Final Dakar]

Reading the FAQ it looks like they want to farm as many emails as possible.

[Veltliner]

I know it looks pretty good. Imitates the clean design of Apple sites.

But you don't need "testers" to "test" bestselling devices like the Kindle and the iPad.

So, logically, it must be a scam.

[MacMama67]

People have been receiving emails about this site from my gmail account, even though I had never visited the site. I'd sure like to know how to make it stop . . . any advice?

[Spheric Harlot]

Several possibilities what might have happened:

1. Somebody harvested your e-mail address (off a website, through your own cooperation, by spying out somebody's address book, etc.). Nothing you can do.

2. Somebody you know running Windows has caught a worm (virus) that is using addresses from his address book to use as "From" addresses when sending out spam. Once that person has thrown away his computer (or otherwise eradicated the worm from his machine), it will stop.

3. Somebody has actually hacked your GMail account and is using it to send spam. This is the least likely possibility, but log in to GMail and change your password immediately just in case.

[Big Mac]

Scenario 2 is most likely, btw.

[-Q-]

I've had scenario 2 happen more than once. It's doubly annoying in that your good name/address is being associated with spam, but you're also getting the bounces from the bad email addresses in the spammer's distribution list.

[Spheric Harlot]

AND it lands you on the odd blacklist, as well.

[Phileas]

Up here in Canada the site reverts to a mobile subscription for trivia questions - at $2.00 a pop. Assholes.

[Spheric Harlot]

Heh.

Over in Germany, it just keeps trying to redirect, and failing.

[Veltliner]

I just sent a warning to the person I got that spam from that her computer might have a virus.

[Spheric Harlot]

It's very unlikely that that person has a virus.

It will be somebody ELSE who has both of you in their address book. Sometimes you can look through the email headers to figure out the originating IP (if it hasn't been spoofed), and by looking up the associated domain, you can get a clue.

For example, I got spam from somebody I knew. Looking through the header, I found that the originating address belonged to freenet.de. There was actually only one person who knew both me and the guy ostensibly sending me the spam message with a freenet mail account. His computer turned out to have a virus.

This only works if the virus is simple enough not to fake the email headers.

[Veltliner]

Actually, I got a thank you mail from that person.

She has a virus a month ago and thought it was gone. But it wasn't. Her computer is still cranking out spam.

[Spheric Harlot]

Okay - it's still fairly unlikely you actually got that email from THAT person, though.

Maybe you got lucky and the virus is an extremely boneheaded one.

[Veltliner]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Maybe you got lucky and the virus is an extremely boneheaded one.

That's the kind of luck we usually want to avoid. Because its other name is Bad, not Brad.

[Spheric Harlot]

Well, the other kind - the more likely one - is that somebody else whose address book contains BOTH your addresses is sending out spam.

It's rare that a virus actually uses the real host's account as a "From" address.

[Veltliner]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

It's rare that a virus actually uses the real host's account as a "From" address.

Interesting detail.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Veltliner 

Interesting detail.

Well, that would be rather dumb, wouldn't it?

It would mean the virus is found out (and thus defeated) the second the first of her contacts replies and complains about the spam - like you did.