<p>Just started a new e-mail address (old one was getting too many junk mail) 3 days ago. I have not used it or given it to any one, but I have two dozen spam mails.</p>
<p>How do they do it?</p>
<p>I believe that spammers use computer generated combos of letters, numbers, words,etc and if you respond in any way to a spam they’ll be able to “confirm” your email address. Decent spam controls on your computer should be able to pick up these mass email attempts. You might want to improve your spam filter or firewall.</p>
<p>jym thanks. They do go to junk box, but in 3 days - 2 dozen?</p>
<p>Sounds like one of these companies might have put cookieson your computer. Clean you computer’s cookies/history/cache and put better spyware protection on it.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to some other methods used by spammers: [How</a> spammers harvest email addresses](<a href=“http://www.private.org.il/harvest.html]How”>http://www.private.org.il/harvest.html)</p>
<p>A Pox on them and their houses.</p>
<p>“A Pox on them and their houses.”</p>
<p>LOL!!</p>
<p>From the article linked to by p2n. It’s the real purpose behind some of those awful forwarded emails, chain letters, petitions and urban myths that are spread around. I’ve been doing my own campaign for years to get people to stop sending me this stuff. My personal “favorite” :rolleyes: are the ones that threaten you with bad luck and misfortune if you don’t send along to ten other unfortunate recipients. Now I don’t believe this of course, but what I do object to is that my friend is in essence <em>threatening</em> me! It’s kind of a not nice thing to do, IMO. The fact that these things are ruses for the spread of viruses that harvest email addresses is another very good reason not to send most of this forwarded junk along. </p>
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<p>I rarely if ever open jokes or chain junk that is passed on by friends. I’ve politely asked then to stop sending me that stuff, but I think they have an address book and hit “send all”. I just ignore them. ANyone have a really kind, gentle polite but firm way of telling a friend, without offending them, to stop? I’ve said things like “I appreciate your thinking of me, but I already have don’t have enough time to read the volume of email I receive from my professional listservs, and my email fill quickly. And, with the onslaught of viruses, worms, etc that can infect computers, I make it a policy not to open chain or forwarded jokes, photos, etc”… Perhaps too obtuse? I fear if I am too blunt I will offend someone. Any “success story” samples out there?</p>
<p>jym, Sounds like you may have to be a little more direct in this case (specifically ask people if it’s possible to avoid sending you forwarded emails unless blind copied to you). “Could I ask you a big favor… I’m getting so much spam email lately and I hear it’s because of these forwarded emails people like to send. Is there any way you could either blind copy me or take me off that list?” is usually how I put it. Sometimes you have to remind people more than once.</p>
<p>I have a dumb question about spam: Why? </p>
<p>I don’t understand the garbage that comes. Someone has to be doing this. Why? I’m not talking about the cute little stories that cycle around several dozen times, or the legitimate sales pitches from companies I’ve done business with (we get ads from amazon.us, amazon.de, and amazon.uk – all of which sometimes resemble spam!) I’m talking about the garbage spams that have weird random titles, and a bunch of messy characters in the body. What is the purpose? Who sits around thinking up the titles? Where is the profit?</p>
<p>Yesterday I got a sexual disfunction ad with garbled text, and a title that said “soggy power drill.” Now, someone had to think up that title. Who does this kind of stuff? And why? I don’t get it. And does anybody ever really respond to these things? Surely someone with the minimal skills required to access their email account knows better than to respond to these things.</p>
<p>We have a separate email account that we use when signing up for something online - like to read the newspaper, or to fill out college scholarship questionaires! We check this account about once a month, and it is nearly all spam. We also use false names (real names, misspelled), so we can tell who is sharing our info!</p>
<p>The spammers get enough of a positive response from the literally billions of messages they clog the Internet with to make it worth their while. Many spammers made large sums from the activity. Of course, many were prosecuted for unlawful acts, too. Spam is a significant drain on what it takes to conduct Internet commerce…think of all that is spent in fighting spam, viruses, trojans, and spyware. </p>
<p>It’s a technology war.</p>