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Old May 9th, 2007, 09:40 AM
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i_have_too_many i_have_too_many is offline
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e-mail spam

Ok I have been flooded with this c**p for long enough, I really wish there was some way to keep it out of my inbox.

I have received mail about winning the lottery, job offers, helping out someone who has inherited lots of money, and recently, death threats. When will the madness end!!!

I even get e-mails in foreign languages.

When I had pups for sale I would get e-mails from people who "really wanted" a dog. They would offer to send me a cashiers check for 5 times the amount the puppy is selling for, then want me to wire them what is left after I took out the puppy price, this was to pay for shipping. I mean, how gullible do they think people are?

Unfortunately there is no way to block the sender because they always come from different e-mail addresses.

So, my question to you is, what is the worst, stupidest or rudest spam e-mail you have recieved?
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Old May 9th, 2007, 10:46 AM
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Lukka'sma Lukka'sma is offline
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I get all the ones you mentioned as well. Also the viagra at reduced prices, offers for enhancement surgery for mens wobbly bits, the list goesn on. I stopped opening these emails long ago though. Most of this stuff goes into my bulk and just gets deleted, but if it finds its way to my inbox I just delete without looking at them.
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Old May 9th, 2007, 10:47 AM
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One that freaked me out had the title "You are infected" "You r infected" I would get them sent to me from different addresses just about every day, I never opened them of course, just tossed sent them straight to the trash.



I heard of the death threat ones, but haven't gotten one yet.
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Old May 9th, 2007, 12:12 PM
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Check out http://www.spamfighter.com/. It works! Of course a few creeps get through but from 20-30 spams a day, I am down to maybe 5 or 6, big improvement.
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Old May 9th, 2007, 12:20 PM
HunterXHunter HunterXHunter is offline
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Don't you find it ironic that the threat title is "e-mail spam" and the user who started the thread was "i_have_too_many" ?




You know...that's ONE thing that I rarely get, and that's spam. I've managed to fly under the radar of these spammers so I'm sorry but I don't know what I can suggest...actually, there is...

If you've ever installed software, you may be one of those people who just flies through the install screens by hitting the "Next" button. And while most of it is useless crap, sometimes they take advantage of this tendency and try to sneak in some extra (already checked) check boxes that have you agreeing to have your e-mail addr. be distributed or for additional little toolbars be installed etc. So next time you install things, take a little longer to skim through the stuff before clicking "Next"
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Old May 9th, 2007, 12:27 PM
Rick C Rick C is offline
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Have several e-mail accounts . . . .

Use one to sign up for memberships or to post on internet chat sites like this and expect the spam to rain down . . . . and the other for friends, relatives, business.

I have a Telus e-mail account and the spam landing there depends on how often I've used it publicly in the last three months . . . . it rises and falls depending on how publicly I use it.

Yahoo has a pretty good spam filter, it seems, because I almost never get any spam even though I use it for forums like this and to sign up for memberships (newspapers primarily) on the net with it. Virtually zero.

Try setting up a Yahoo.ca e-mail account.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca
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Old May 9th, 2007, 12:30 PM
HunterXHunter HunterXHunter is offline
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Hey good one Rick C. That's actually what I do too. I have certain e-mail accounts that I use to fill out the "E-mail Address" portion of forum registration or other less critical stuff. And I have my own personal domain email address and univ. e-mail account for more important (i.e. financial related) stuff.
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Old May 9th, 2007, 01:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papillonmama View Post
I heard of the death threat ones, but haven't gotten one yet.
They pretty much say

"Attention

I have been hired to eliminate you (the dont really say kill until later in the mail) and I feel obligated to let you know before doing so, blah, blah, blah. I will not follow through with it if you send me $30 000, yada, yada, yada. Do not come out of your house for 48 hours, I am watching you, so on and so on. Do not contact the police, I will know and will have to do away with you then, I know your family and are watching them too."

They never address you by name, or say anything that would make you think that they actually know who you are. I got 2 last week and deleted them, well as you can tell, no one killed me

It just really bothers me to think that someone may actually fall for this, and if they can get one person to respond and send them money each month, that means they are getting...hold on here, let me get the calculator out...Da da da dah $360 000 in one year I wish I could make that much money that easily (and I bet they dont have to pay tax on it either )
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Old May 9th, 2007, 02:13 PM
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crazy, i saw it on the news that people had fallen for it. I know that I would never fall for something so obvious.

hunterxhunter- I just had to fix my mother's computer because of the "next" button trick. the silly thing was that it was an adblocker.

Rick C- I agree, yahoo.ca has an excellent filter. It's so good that some of the people who write to me get messages sent to the bulk mail just because i never opened their last message.
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  #10  
Old May 10th, 2007, 12:55 PM
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i actually don't get spam at all anymore. i strongly recommend that you use Mozilla Thunderbird as your email program. You can get almost ANY web based email into it. It uses a different type of "smart" filtering. I love it!
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Old May 10th, 2007, 01:12 PM
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SableCollie SableCollie is offline
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An older woman I know got an email from someone in south africa I think...it said that someone with her last name had died and she was going to inherit a large estate with money, but the person sending the email needed money from her first for whatever reason. She believed it, luckily she brought me the email and asked what I thought before she sent any money. I told her it was a scam, but she didn't believe me at first! So I googled the name of the person who had supposedly sent the email, and I found tons of sites describing it as a scam sent to many people, and the details are changed just a little bit each time. So she finally believed me, but I am sure there are people out there who do fall for these things and send money.
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Old May 11th, 2007, 12:35 PM
marsupial mama marsupial mama is offline
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I have had all the usual junk about viagra and other pharmaceuticals, those dumb stock market ones with the random words in the subject line, and a few obscene ones too - UGH.

The worst was a fwd from an ex-acquaintance (she never made it to friend ) who sent some horrific images that i don;t even want to describe, but with no info on where or when or who to protest too. When I bawled her out she couldn;t even see why I was so upset.

I also occasionally get political stuff with awful images from war zones and pleas to get involved in activism etc. I hate those. I know what is going on and am well aware of man's inhumanity to man. The result now is that I stay away from a lot of political and activist e-mails and websotes because i don't want to see the pictures. so they drove me away. I lost friends over that one too.

And I sometimes get chain letters that are so corny, and they quote religious texts etc to try to fool you. Sometimes they started in one faith tradition and you can see where someone has done a hack job to make it sort of fit into another faith tradition. Sad.

After years of reading about it, I even got one from the Nigerian "diplomat" or whatever he is asking for help to transfer funds. ...>>> DELETE!!

I think in some programs you can set it to filter out e-mails with certain words in the subject line. I once spent an afternoon at my mom's typing in a list of obscenities and body parts to block at least some of the junk she has been getting.

And Yahoo seems to be pretty good. If spam gets through you can report it and you never get it from that particular addy again, and they thank you for letting them know too
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  #13  
Old May 11th, 2007, 09:00 PM
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CyberKitten CyberKitten is offline
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Do not give out your actual email address online (My work one is listed at the hospital and univ for example) tho a certain org I belonged to once placed both my personal email AND home phone on its web site - can we say changed both very quickly, Gawd!! It was a political party but not surprisingly, lol)

Also, I use Mailwasher.net to delete the email before it even hits my server and like Rick suggested, have several accts -one for work, one for friends and ppl you know well, one for online stuff with ppl you do not know - that would include here until you get to know people - and keep the work, personal, online and other uses separate.

Try not to give out your email address to often - as in signing up for things. Use an online one like an@gmail.com or @canada.com or hot mail addy for online stuff or when you have to fill in forms for info or say eBay purchases.

That's what I do and thus far, I rarely get too much spam any more. I do belong to a few Listsers but they are work related and many Listservs now (like Yahoo egroups) have a feature that allows you to receive email in your inbox or online at their site. Select the latter option and you won't get every single response someone has!

Another option to Mailwasher (an app designed by some kid in NZ) is to use one of the online ways of checking your mail whether through your own ISP or the mailtoweb version and then just delete the ones you do not want when you use the email application.

Good luck!!

(and after reading about the you have just won or inherited money emails, NEVER respond to those and never open an email from someone you do not know unless it is one you are expecting from someone who told you about it or there are other circumstances!)
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  #14  
Old May 16th, 2007, 10:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick C View Post

Try setting up a Yahoo.ca e-mail account.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca
I just use an e-mail address of someone who annoys me

When I have the time, I send a few to www.spamcop.org. They go through the mail, find out the sender and report them to the proper servers. I also have an e-mail address for the stock market ones (the "pump and dump" scams). They break several securities rules, so on the slim chance I forward them to the commision in charge of them (I'm on Mrs. Schwinn's computer, or I'd post it...I can't remember it).
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