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Posted By: Bill Addiss Don't fall for this!! - 04/19/05 01:41 AM
First time I saw this one.
Don't fall for it!
Quote
Subject: I've_got your EMail on my_account!

Hello,
First, Very Sorry for my bad English.

Someone is sending your private e-mails on my address.
It's probably an e-mail provider error!
At time, I've got over 10 mails on my account, but the recipient are you.

I have copied all the mail text in the windows text-editor for you & zipped then.
Make sure, that this mails don't come in my mail-box again.

bye
Forgot to explain that there is a file that comes attached to this email.

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 04-18-2005).]
Posted By: Tom Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/19/05 11:50 PM
I recieved one of those e-mails today myself. i wonder if this bozo is trolling the electrical boards for addresses.

I did the usual with e-mail that has such an obvious come on- trashed it.

Tom
Posted By: pdh Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/20/05 03:49 AM
Lots of spammers are trolling lots of web sites using spider engines similar to what search engines like Google use, to find every email address they can. These spammers then trade their gatherings amongst themselves. If you have a million fresh emails, you can trade them off to get another million in exchange, often from many other spammers, and end up with tens of millions as a result.

Then those who actually send the spam try to come up with any and all clever subject or message to get you to act. They might try to get you to open or run an attachment, or access a web site. Sometimes it is as benign as knowing your address works and they can sell it for more money. Or it may be to infect your computer with spyware to pop up ads on you all the time, or turn your computer into a spamming zombie, or collect your private info like credit card numbers and banking access passwords.

Absolutely do no open any such email. It's dangerous enough opening mail even from friends because their computer could be infected, sending the same infecting agent to you because it uses all the email addresses in their address book to send to.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/20/05 12:32 PM
I got a copy of this exact scam yesterday.

It went straight in the trash along with all the others asking me to verify my PayPal and eBay accounts (which I have) and accounts at various other banks (with whom I have never dealt).
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/20/05 02:14 PM
So far, thank heaven, my e-mail woes have been limited to getting dozens of spam daily- just after I tried to get my "free copy of the NEC" from a Japanese site that posted the NEC. (I bailed from the ordering process when they wanted me to sign up for two subscription services).
Posted By: JFLS41 Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/20/05 04:23 PM
Its a free program online that you can check off the spam emails and send back to them with the same message that shows your email account is invalid.
Posted By: JFLS41 Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/20/05 04:24 PM
It's called MAILWASHER Free version of it. I use it with my ISP Email Account
Posted By: pdh Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/21/05 02:30 AM
JFLS41:

How does that MAILWASHER send stuff back? If your ISP's mail server has already accepted the spam, then you pretty much can't send it back. 90% of spam these days comes with a return address randomly chosen from the spammer's mailing list, so sending anything back to the return address means you're just sending spam to someone who isn't the spammer. How would you feel if people sent email "back" to you when a spammer happens to pick your email address for the return on spam that is going to someone who happens to be running that program?

FYI, I am active in a couple major anti-spam working groups. This kind of thing has been discussed for years, and the concensus switched about 4-5 years ago to not sending anything back after the original delivery connection is closed (which is in the past once you are picking your mail up from your mailbox at your ISP). More recently, I've been seeing cases of accounts being suspended because of these send-backs that are misdirected.

Now I don't know exactly how MAILWASHER really works because I don't use it. I'm only speculating. But to avoid some of the dangers, it is important to find out these details.

renosteinke:

That's a prime example of why I use a different email address for every place I sign up. if it turns out one is really releasing addresses for spamming, I can just that one off. Of course not everyone has the ability to do this even if they get a dozen free email addresses from their ISP (shutting one off is often a big hassle). By owning my own domain and running my own mail servers, I do have that ability. A few ISPs do offer that level of service to their customers, and even without having to own a domain (though that does help a lot).
Posted By: AZSam Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/21/05 09:28 AM
A neighbor who is a genius with cyberspace (writes programs for a govt. agency) gets the real address and bounces the spam with a virus imbedded. Has never got spam from the same source twice. I like his approach.
Sam
Posted By: JFLS41 Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/21/05 11:42 AM
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Everything you see is displayed in text mode which is completely safe, so viruses cannot run automatically and malicious information cannot be transferred to your computer. You can also remove emails with large files if you don't want to download them.

Check as many email accounts as you wish, whether it's POP3, IMAP, Hotmail or AOL very quickly as all the information is accessed simultaneously. Then leave MailWasher Pro running in the background to collect and examine your email allowing you to get on with other tasks.

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(Click to enlarge)

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(Click to enlarge)

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(Click to enlarge)

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(Click to enlarge)

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(Click to enlarge)

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And you can set up your own custom filters


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(Click to enlarge)

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(Click to enlarge)

Let's recap:

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Posted By: JFLS41 Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/21/05 11:47 AM
send a test email msg to jfls@comcast.net put test mailwasher in the subject line ill send a reply you can read the message it returns saying my email address doesnt exist
Posted By: Sir Arcsalot Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/23/05 04:44 AM
With some of the nefarious web practices going on, perhaps someone needs to create a program where you can just right-click and scroll to "Delete Sender".
Posted By: Theelectrikid Re: Don't fall for this!! - 04/23/05 02:58 PM
I just got seven of those. They all went in Apple Mail's JUNK folder, then into the trash, then forever gone. Anything I don't trust meets that same fate.
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