howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
always had them but over the last month or so they have become a plague, sometimes 40 or 50 a day. i was told that facebook had made changes that meant members details could be accessed by people trying to sell something, i don't know how true that is but decided to close my account to see what would happen. they take about 2 weeks to delete people in case they change their mind so they are still coming thick and fast.
have any other members seen a dramatic increase in their junk e mails?
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
i havent howard,just my useall contacts.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Nowt to do with Facebook - your e-mail is just found online (like your Doverforum profile) by search 'bots' and gets added to various databases that people can apparently buy to spam people from You'll never stop it, even if like Vic you don't e-mail anyone, if it appears online somewhere it can be found and used.....
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
all a bit of a pain as they all have attachments which i dare not open to see if i can unsubscribe. why so suddenly though?
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
You can hide your facebook e mail (I do) it's only visible to me. But as Paul says it can be found on here and elsewhere. Some days I get loads of junk and then sometimes not, thankfully 99% of it goes in to super spam folder, but I have to check it as I have found legitimate e mails in there.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
It is the same with the phone,so what I have done is get BT to block most of it,but also I got a call blocker which cost nearly £60 but it stops all calls from the UK and overseas, but lets your family and friends in,must say it has stoped the lot.
Guest 768- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 43
If you use Gmail, Hotmail or another of the generic 'free' email services then the spammers don't even have to buy your email address from another's list - they can just guess it. Most want an email address with a real name so you ask for
john.smith@whatever.com but that's already taken so you get john.smith778@...... a small java prog would cycle through all of those and all the other possible firstname / surname combinations as well as common nicknames - and would note those addresses that didn't result in an Unknown User message.
One indicator of this is where you start getting spam emails the day after you register the address when you haven't even told your friends!
Both Gmail & Hotmail (and others) provide a spam/phishing service if you look at the relevant webmail page and will block keywords or domain names/email addresses you flag.
Android phones usually require a Gmail address so I have used the format firstname.initial.surname@.... with success, neither of my children (nor the wider family members) suffer spam email.
Non me minoris aestimo
Guest 730- Registered: 5 Nov 2011
- Posts: 221
I use Mozilla Thunderbird for email and I find it's built in spam filter works well. I've had about twenty today so far and they've all gone straight into my junk folder.
Guest 768- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 43
I too use Thunderbird as my preferred mail prog, and having a third-party spam check works well. Unfortunately most users won't use an email client, prefering the webmail interface instead.
A quick look at the spam/deleted folders shows 10 unwanted emails in September across the five email accounts that land there, the worst one is an old tesco.net account I have for historical reasons (I also use it on dodgy sites so only have myself to blame). My son's hotmail account however runs at 10 per day currently. At 14yo he's apparently already entitled to a gold plated Rolex compatible Visa card with superb PPI benefits.
Non me minoris aestimo
Guest 761- Registered: 10 Jul 2012
- Posts: 115
#7 Really useful thank you Paul, my main email address is on my own server so not a problem but certainly worth considering my choice of name for others.
Another thing that I found works well is if you get lots of spam for certain things - such as pharmacutical companies offering cheap viagra (common spam so I have heard but have ABSOLUTELY no experience of!
) then create a 'rule' in your mail client that sends any mail containing that word to your spam folder - just be careful which words you chose or you could end up sending genuine mail there!
Guest 768- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 43
Servers ! I have one in my lounge. The server's domain name isn't used for any email addresses, but it could work as an email server as well as (deep breath) a media server, file server, webserver and local DNS.
My domains are registered through 123-reg so I use their servers even though I have an alternative available.
Non me minoris aestimo
Guest 761- Registered: 10 Jul 2012
- Posts: 115
Wasn't quite correct - I have a VPS. - but most wouldn't know the difference...
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
thanks for the very informative posts on this but i still cannot work out how for years they have run into single figures daily to 40 or 50 in an instant.
Guest 768- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 43
I couldn't justify a Virtual Private Server when I have a physical one but my hosting package for topsy.org.uk topsy.me.uk paulturvey.co.uk (and several others) includes 500 email accounts across the ten or so domains for an annual of £70 - a business expense too. Everything else I do on the home server, one use is as a 'cloud' document facility - getting hold of my files regardless where I am on the planet or what device I'm using using the web interface (apache) or via ssh
Anyway, we're straying from the advertised programme ...
Non me minoris aestimo
Guest 768- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 43
Howard - the numbers do go down as well as up, the US, UK, Russians and others are keen on finding the servers that spew out the spam and shutting them down. There was an estimate a while back that said spam email accounted for 5% or so of all internet traffic, so there's a financial benefit to stopping it.
Non me minoris aestimo
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
interesting paul, surprised the russians are so concerned i thought some of the main culprits operated out of there.
Guest 768- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 43
It's all about image and global co-operation .....allegedly
Non me minoris aestimo
