Spam spam spam spam

[Ste1987]

In my Hotmail inbox, I seem to be being bombarded with spam, of late, mainly supposedly from legitimate companies such as Ikea and major gambling companies. Anyone else getting this?

[ging84]

I've certainly noticed it of the last few weeks, there are a few sites out there offering spam statistics like this one
https://www.spamcop.net/spamgraph.shtml?spamyear
They seem to suggest low rates at the moment.
I don't really know if that means lower detection rate or genuinely lower volumes.

[welshjon81]

Yes, exactly the same as you and I have no idea why. I think it started when I once used the "Just Eat" app and had to put in my email address.

It's very annoying. I keep registering each email as spam but they are relentless. Without starting a new email address, which I really do not want to do, I have no idea how to stop it...

[Ste1987]

welshjon81 said:

Yes, exactly the same as you and I have no idea why. I think it started when I once used the "Just Eat" app and had to put in my email address.

It's very annoying. I keep registering each email as spam but they are relentless. Without starting a new email address, which I really do not want to do, I have no idea how to stop it...

Aah fk I did the same thing, that'll be it!

The account getting the spam I use for signing up to websites etc. so this shouldn't bother me. However, the date and time set on the spam mail is often set to the future, so it automatically remains at the top of my inbox

[Buffalo]

I noticed with my hotmail account, if I don't do anything with the spam folder I get may 3 or 4 spam emails a month. If I bother to clear it it fills straight back up the next day. Before I clued to this I was getting hundreds of spam emails a week. Since not touching it (one day I just couldn't be bothered) it does back down to 3-4 emails a month again.

In that time nothing changed regarding number of email lists signed up to or anything. I now place spam folders with other foil hat conspiracies...! :radar:

[Who me ?]

Ste1987 said:

In my Hotmail inbox, I seem to be being bombarded with spam, of late, mainly supposedly from legitimate companies such as Ikea and major gambling companies. Anyone else getting this?

I haven't, but Swimbo has for some time, all from "name the major company" telling her that she's won/been awarded a gift voucher. Even some form major airlines all offering her free flights. All seemingly coing from differing parts of the world .I did try a spam filter, but they just kept coming, so I told her to delete on sight. Problem is that it's on Yahoo, where this spam is sent to her junk ail ,rather than to her inbox, so filters don't work, but fortunately the volume has decreased since she started to delete on sight. Strangely enough I don't get many ( via live mail on the PC), even with no filter, but I see a lot in my trash bin on Yahoo,so Yahoo is aparntly sorting mine out, but not hers.

[Murph7355]

I've also seen a massive uplift in persistent spam. Apple mail isn't any good at filtering them too at the moment.

[SystemParanoia]

i like to use aliases with gmail

[e-mail]

then i set filters for each alias i use and when spam comes in, i can see who sold my info and make a mental note never to use em again.

otherwise i use services like 10minutemail.com to create quick disposable email address to avoid the spam issue entirely.

[Who me ?]

Swimbo is sorry that she never did this. As in adding a code letter to her name/e mail address to signify the origin. She did order a few pairs of shoes from one on line place specialising in wide fitting shoes, and we wonder if some/ a lot of the spam postal/ e mail stuff came from there. Next time, she will create a new account adding a code letter to her name, and creating a new e mail address to include the code, so we will know where the spam came from, and perhaps embarrass the site - there's always the fake /rip off Britain ladies to give thenm some free unwanted publicity.

[SystemParanoia]

With gmail you don't need to create anything.

Just send yourself an email with an alias and you'll see.

[e-mail]

[poing]

SystemParanoia said:

i like to use aliases with gmail

[e-mail]

then i set filters for each alias i use and when spam comes in, i can see who sold my info and make a mental note never to use em again.

otherwise i use services like 10minutemail.com to create quick disposable email address to avoid the spam issue entirely.

I do the same sometimes, things like insurance quotes etc. The one I received the most spam in was the one I created to give to the passport renewal.

[rich888]

SystemParanoia said:

With gmail you don't need to create anything.

Just send yourself an email with an alias and you'll see.

[e-mail]

Wow, have tested it and it works - I really like this idea

Do you know whether this alias method works with all email addresses or just gmail?

[SystemParanoia]

rich888 said:

SystemParanoia said:

With gmail you don't need to create anything.

Just send yourself an email with an alias and you'll see.

[e-mail]

Wow, have tested it and it works - I really like this idea

Do you know whether this alias method works with all email addresses or just gmail?

No idea, but some sites don't like you putting a "+alias" in.

So with gmail you can put a "." Annywhere you want in the address part.

I.e

[e-mail]

Or

[e-mail]

And so on.

[rich888]

SystemParanoia said:

rich888 said:

SystemParanoia said:

With gmail you don't need to create anything.

Just send yourself an email with an alias and you'll see.

[e-mail]

Wow, have tested it and it works - I really like this idea

Do you know whether this alias method works with all email addresses or just gmail?

No idea, but some sites don't like you putting a "+alias" in.

So with gmail you can put a "." Annywhere you want in the address part.

I.e

[e-mail]

Or

[e-mail]

And so on.

Cheers for the info, I guess other users will just have to test it using their own email address, like you say, you can always send an email to yourself with the +tracking info to see if it works.

I really do like the ability to be able to track who has been selling my email address on. Perhaps a huge legal class action might stop the continual flood of spam emails, especially if it happens in the USA where the perpetrators have their cars and homes sold off in addition to spending a long spell in jail.

Perhaps the way forward might be to charge a nominal 1p per email which wouldn't really affect normal users, but to those those pesky spammers sending out millions of spam emails per day would be a major headache for them. Am sure Google could setup some kind of incoming pay wall to gmail addresses. Would probably lessen the load on the whole internet if these vermin were stopped in their tracks.

Slightly off-topic I'm suffering some grief from a nob in India who keeps signing up to mobile phone providers, airlines and Toyota India using my email address and despite me contacting them they don't seem to have the intelligence to contact him for a valid email address, so continue to send pointless emails to me which I now mark as spam and delete without reading - Toyota UK are you reading this? - you have lost a potential customer!

[TonyRPH]

The ability to put a "." anywhere in the address gave me many issues with an old Gmail address I have.

My gmail address was my full name with my middle initial (separated by "." or so I thought...) and then some woman in the US called tonya decided that her gmail address was tonya (same surname as mine) and I kept on getting email for her various purchases.

Google may think it's clever to do this - I don't, as I'm aware I'm not the only person who's had this issue.

[ging84]

TonyRPH said:

The ability to put a "." anywhere in the address gave me many issues with an old Gmail address I have.

My gmail address was my full name with my middle initial (separated by "." or so I thought...) and then some woman in the US called tonya decided that her gmail address was tonya (same surname as mine) and I kept on getting email for her various purchases.

Google may think it's clever to do this - I don't, as I'm aware I'm not the only person who's had this issue.

Are you suggesting there was an actual collision of email addresses, or just someone making a mistake with thier email address when registering for certain things?
I am guessing the latter, how is it google's fault some people don't know thier own email address, this could happen with or without dots being ignored.

[TonyRPH]

ging84 said:

Are you suggesting there was an actual collision of email addresses, or just someone making a mistake with thier email address when registering for certain things?
I am guessing the latter, how is it google's fault some people don't know thier own email address, this could happen with or without dots being ignored.

I don't really know TBH - a bit of research suggests that others have suffered so called "collisions" despite it being technically impossible according to Google.

Myself? I'm not convinced that the user supplied the wrong address, but of course I'll never know.

[rxtx]

Google have always said dots in the first part of an email address are ignored.

[e-mail] is the same address as [e-mail].

If someone decides their email address is [e-mail] and signs up for something using that address, it'll go to [e-mail]. People do assume their email addresses, I've had a year long "email relationship" with someone called Michael in Oakton, VA because he assumed his email address, and I got some quite important emails destined for him, which I forwarded, then explained how to fix his Mac's autocorrect.

The reason for this (whether you think it's good or bad) is so someone can't impersonate you by creating a similar address, just with a dot in there somewhere.

Edited by rxtx on Wednesday 19th October 22:58

[Ste1987]

I keep forgetting to use self-destructing email addresses on this site: http://maildrop.cc/

[TonyRPH]

Here is another example of a gmail address issue.

This was sent to tonyalan<mysurname>[e-mail]

I have tried sending email to that address and it never arrives in my gmail inbox...

And - I have never had an iPhone *or* been in the US...