Bloody Spam !!

[David Price]

I seem to be inundated with spam lately, and before you ask, no I haven't been surfing porn.

The spam filter works to a fashion but isn't perfect.

Does anyone know how spammers get me email address?

I do not generally give it out.

However, it is only '4 letters'@btinternet.com.

Could it just be 'pot luck' by the spammers hitting the right 4 letters or is it more complicated than that?

Cheers

 

[Rob Farmer]

I get hundreds of the things everyday - mainly since my email appeared on this site. I've got BTs spamfilter running so I dread to think how many I would get without it. I think the record has been 1200 in three days. If there is anyway to cut them down I would like to know as well.

 

[cookie]

mailwasher or mailwasher pro, with the filters from the firetrust site, worked for me.

it will take a while to chomp through 1200 items though. i got 2500 while away for a few days & moved to plan B:

changed my email address. not had 1 spam mail in a couple of months. lovely

 

[Fanum]

Get a hotmail account..or Yahoo or whatever..they're all free and although you'll end up with a silly [email protected] cos there's so many taken, you can use it for all non-personal stuff, forums etc etc.........then change your main e-mail addy and keep it to close mates and family......

I still only ever get spam from ann summers and a wallpaper site i once got some templates from.....

And try the progs above...they can be quite effective....

Don't ever answer any spam, open it or even try the 'click here to unsubscribe' link 'cos that only shows they have a live one.....

Spam sucks

 

[David Price]

Yes, but how do they get my address in the first place?

 

[Fanum]

In a word....BOTS.

or in another...SPIDERS.

Just simple litle programmes that open and read many many forums, newsgroups, web pages, directories etc etc....they then automatically paste any email addies into a bulk mail programme and the spam is sent ...all with zero human intervention.

that's why you'll find a lot of people use things like nobby%hotmail.com*remove%* as their addy on posts and in particular, newsgroups....you and i would know what to do but the bots aren't clever.

 

[cookie]

Yes, but how do they get my address in the first place?

they guess the "4 letters" @btinternet.com

 

[gazza]

New Email

After going through this 6 months ago thought it time to do something about it. After advice from club members I removed all traces of my email address and finally changed my email address.
Not a 2 minute job changing primary email address but well worth it. Worked for me probably one or two a week now but using mailwasher (thanks cookie) bounces these back so the spammers think they have reached an invalid email.

 

[AdamZ]

Changing eMails

I went throught the pain of changing my email a short while ago and then thought that I would reopen the old one in hotmail after about two months. Thought that that woyld be enough time for the spammers to change their mailing lists.

But no, no sooner had I reopened it than they started filtering back in. Then I looked at the distribution lists in the header and basically they were trawlling every combination of email name that could be found in hotmail until they got a valid one.

With automation like that you don't need to be subtle. They just hit it with a hammer!!!

 

[emjay]

they guess the "4 letters" @btinternet.com

I have a btinternet address cos I have their broadband but I have never used it as I have others, never the less it gets stuffed with spam. Some of them have a list of addresses in the CC, I reckon they use software that generates email names knowing that almost "anything"@btinternet.com will find a home somewhere. Fact of internet life,

 

[David Price]

Thanks gents.

I'm glad it's not just me that gets it.

I tried asking btinternet to change my primary email account but they said I couldn't, without completely closing my account and starting again.

I'll just keep deleting all the crap then.

 

[exeter_lad]

I get spam on yahoo and hotmail. But never on my main e-mail which is with my ISP - Blueyonder (Cable - NTL type)

They must have good spam blockers.

 

[AdamZ]

I get spam on yahoo and hotmail. But never on my main e-mail which is with my ISP - Blueyonder (Cable - NTL type)

They must have good spam blockers.

I have Blueyonder and also McAfee Firewall and it is interesting to go to McAfee and check the sites that have been attempting to access my computer. 60% are Blueyonder addresses.

Blueyonder almost lost their license a couple of years ago because of the number of hacker attempts. Since then they have clamped down a lot.

 

[Rod Souter]

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