warning spams

[Ianm2]

sorry if this is wrong section...

Just a warning, I am getting many scams to one of my myriad email addys

paypal, ebay, visa, bank of america,

I don't even belong to the latter 2,

the former 2 have been wound up!!!

be careful!!

Hello

Yes I've had the Ebay scam several times, which tells you you've bought something (which you haven't) and must urgently fill in your user name and password. Always check the URLs they are often very obviously not ebay.
At the moment I'm getting endless Spam from an American shares thing, they come from different senders each time but all have similar styles.
A couple have had parts of topics that I've recently e-mailed people about as if they'd been reading my e-mail. It could be coincidence, but it's a bit worrying.
Has anybody else had a similar experience?

Richard

[John Caswell]

Hi all,
I get a lot of spam for shares, Viagra etc and they are usually about 10-20k. most are deleted without opening. There doesn't seem to be much you can do about them, perghaps someone more familiar with systems can comment as it appears even the IPSs are fooled

John aka Dr john

[prince of darkness]

Originally Posted by John Caswell

Hi all,
I get a lot of spam for shares, Viagra etc and they are usually about 10-20k. most are deleted without opening. There doesn't seem to be much you can do about them, perghaps someone more familiar with systems can comment as it appears even the IPSs are fooled

John aka Dr john

Same here. What I find particularly irritating is the fact that most aren't even sent to my e-mail address!

[andrew ivimey]

I get the American shares thing - it looks like it is using a random word generator as most of the text is gobbledeegook, so perhaps the emails are generated similarly and every once in a million they hit on a real person's email.

But what is the point of that?

It is amazing how much of the contents of a computer even with firewalls etc etc can be read by other people all over the world. Assume you are being bugged, you probably are. But perhaps there is safety in numbers as, if the CIA, or anyone else is 'monitoring' everyone's internet doings, and the contents of their computers, how on earth they find the proverbial needle in a haystack nasty person is mindboggling.

They only found the 7 / 11 perpetrators when they knew who or what they were looking for.

Sad, sad, sad.

Hello

Yes, the one I'm getting is the shares and viagra ****.
I've found a partial solution, as you say the e-mails are mainly randomly generated i.e. go to xxx@aol.com or ichard@aol.com rather than richard@aol.com (not my real e-mail). On my mac I've gone into the advanced settings for SPAM filtering and set it to Junk anything that doesn't have my correct address and it dealt with 7 out of 10 SPAMS this morning. The other 3 had my correct address. This brings me to the other point, whatever you do don't click on any links on a SPAM or in my case don't bounce them as all it does is tell the spammer that you exist and then they tell their spamming friends!

Richard

[Hugo1]

I get up to 50 spam e-mails every day, including most of the ones mentioned, but BT Yahoo filters them all out, only very rarely missing anything. Usually Outlook mops up the missed ones. Looking at the online fmail older where the spam is stored, I rarely find anything that's been incorrectly filtered. Clearly some ISPs are not as good as BT Yahoo, and this is one reason why I am happy to pay 'over the odds' for their service.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Richard Howell

On my mac I've gone into the advanced settings for SPAM filtering and set it to Junk anything that doesn't have my correct address

Hi, this puzzles me too, why do I get stuff which doesn't have my address? More to the point can I set OE to delete incorrectly addressed mail? Have had a look but can't see a rule for this.

Originally Posted by andrew ivimey

It is amazing how much of the contents of a computer even with firewalls etc etc can be read by other people all over the world. Assume you are being bugged, you probably are.

Probably old hat in the computer world but it was reported in the Mail this week that many people haven't re-set the password on their Router. These all have simple passwords by default and a rogue site can use a script to re-route the dns to fake bank sites etc. I think it could also let others in on your wi-fi though I don't have one. I do have a router though, as many folk now do, and no I hadn't changed the password - but did so when I read about it. Easy, open your browser and go to the router IP address given in the manual, log on as admin or whatever the default is, then change the password and save on exit.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by andrew ivimey

But perhaps there is safety in numbers as, if the CIA, or anyone else is 'monitoring' everyone's internet doings, and the contents of their computers, how on earth they find the proverbial needle in a haystack nasty person is mindboggling.

They only found the 7 / 11 perpetrators when they knew who or what they were looking for.

Sad, sad, sad.

One can get paranoid but no doubt big brother has to move with the times or we'll be sitting ducks for every loony who wants their own way.

Consider the future when cash doesn't exist. All goods will be charged through a till linked to a computer which then logs the sale to a credit card. Analysis programmes could then run and link folk who buy lots of sugar and fertilizer...

Log on to MS update and let it scan for installed OS version. It may also log other programmes installed. Analysis may link a group who use the same programme or passwords...

[Richard]

Ah, if all else fails, read the instructions , found this on MS site, wondered why about the spam graphics messages, still don't know about the incorrect addresses though...

Increased Protection from Spam

Another Windows XP SP2 enhancement to Outlook Express helps prevent spam by limiting malicious users from capturing your e-mail address. You've probably noticed that junk e-mail often contains graphics. Sometimes as the graphic displays, it relays a message letting the sender know your e-mail address is valid, possibly making you the target of even more junk e-mail and spam.
By default, the Outlook Express now blocks external graphics from loading until you grant permission. It's a good idea to block any graphics that you receive unless you know and trust the source.
To view the graphics in an e-mail message received from a source you trust
1.
Open Outlook Express, and then open the e-mail message.
2.
If there are any blocked graphics in the message, you will see a message advising, Some pictures have been blocked to help prevent the sender from identifying your computer. Click here to download pictures.
3.
Click the message bar. The graphics will load for viewing.