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Spam

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by Sunny, May 13, 2008.

  1. Sunny

    Sunny Chief Advisor

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    I am getting hammered with spam tonight. It is really strange- I have received like FIFTY messages all from "Mail Delivery Subsystem" with the messages "Returned Mail" or "MAil Undeliverable".
    But I didn't send any mail. Here is a sample of the content of one of these emails :

    The original message was received at Wed, 14 May 2008 11:22:55 +0900
    from 205-212.3-85.cust.bluewin.ch [85.3.212.205]

    ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
    <spencer@phonx.com>
    (reason: 550 5.1.1 <spencer@phonx.com>... User unknown)

    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
    ... while talking to oberon.bzold.plala.or.jp.:
    >>> DATA
    <<< 550 5.1.1 <spencer@phonx.com>... User unknown
    550 5.1.1 <spencer@phonx.com>... User unknown
    <<< 503 5.0.0 Need RCPT (recipient)





    Some of them have my email address in the content, this one does not. I do not know ANY of the email addresses that are in these messages- what is this sudden influx of what I deem spam- and is anyone getting these? I didn't post my email anywhere (that I know of!)
     
    Sunny, May 13, 2008
    #1
  2. GeauxTigers

    GeauxTigers Member

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    Someone is likely sending out a mass spamming and using one of your valid email addresses as the from or reply-to address. For any invalid recipient, the bounce is going to end up going back to you and is likely what you are experiencing.
     
    GeauxTigers, May 13, 2008
    #2
  3. Sunny

    Sunny Chief Advisor

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    that sounds viable. so what do i do? ride it out? get a new email address? beef up my spam filter?
     
    Sunny, May 13, 2008
    #3
  4. GeauxTigers

    GeauxTigers Member

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    I've had this happen several times over the years. Usually it just lasts a few hours. I suspect that's about how long the spammer is active until his/her ISP catches on and kills it. Unless you see this for an extended period, I'd just ride it out. I am not sure beefing your spam filter will help much as these are in a sense legitimate mails. Note that the spammer is not spamming you, it's one of his/her many victim's mail server that's sending you the mail. What you could certainly do is make sure your email address is not visible on any web site that could be found by spammers/robots/etc. Hint... check your forum profile and your home page that is linked there.
     
    GeauxTigers, May 13, 2008
    #4
  5. Sunny

    Sunny Chief Advisor

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    doh!
    openband is calling me back tomorrow. i forget how to even get in there anymore.
     
    Sunny, May 13, 2008
    #5
  6. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Yea, just ride it out... From now on, it will actually probably get worse. You see, once your email address is used as a 'From' on outgoing spam, it just makes your address even more 'visible' to other spammer lists, etc.

    So unfortunately, in this case, there's nothing you can really do. Going forward, you might want to think about what spam detection options you have. If you're using a system like Gmail or Yahoo, you already have pretty good spam detection built into those, although you might want to check the options to make sure you're utilizing them to their full potential. If you use a 'web mail' interface to read your email, you're pretty much at the mercy of the provider when it comes to spam detection.

    If you use an email client to read your email, such as Outlook, Thunderbird, etc, then you can enable some spam filtering in your client itself. If you have a choice, don't use any of the Microsoft email clients (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc) and download Mozilla Thunderbird. Thunderbird will do everything you'll need, doesn't have the security issues Outlook has, and provides you with some pretty good spam filtering when turned on.

    Good luck!
     
    Mr. Linux, May 14, 2008
    #6
  7. Sunny

    Sunny Chief Advisor

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    thanks guys!
     
    Sunny, May 14, 2008
    #7
  8. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    mmm, love backscatter. There are nice ways around it (they save the message IDs of the messages you've sent out and it will only let you get bounces/replies for mail you've actually sent out), but only if your provider has a good mail system :)
     
    boomertsfx, May 15, 2008
    #8

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