Computer Safety - SPAM

SPAM Threats 

Spam or unsolicited email (UCE) really requires no introduction.  If you aren't sure what spam is, it's because you haven't been on the Internet long enough to check your email.  Spam is probably one of the most hated things about the Internet, yet for all it's hatred, it just never goes away.

Spam could be eliminated however by top level ISPs if they chose to do so.  Especially the big players like AT&T and Sprint.  However, since spam is responsible for consuming about 25% of their entire resources, and they bill the cost of these resources to their customers like Time Warner, BellSouth, Charter, AOL, etc., it isn't in their best interest to get rid of it.  

But then it comes to some of your lower level ISPs like those above.  Most take Spam very seriously.  

Others do not.  For example, Time-Warner's Roadrunner service is one that you can count on to deliver to you just about any piece of junk mail that they get.  The only filtering they do is to filter out some of the viruses.  However, it seems as though even here, their services aren't all that good.

In talking to one of Roadrunner's support staff about the subject, it was asked why they don't block at least the obvious spam, like that which sell drugs, porn, or attempt to scam people out of their money.  Roadrunner's response was simply that some people like to get that kind of email.  When asked why then should the rest of the public suffer, the response was generally that at Roadrunner, they don't make that value judgment.

Roadrunner's solution?  Send your junk email to abuse@rr.com and if they see it, at best they will put a block on that email address.  That however, is fruitless and they know it because spammers never use real email addresses anyway and they never use the same one twice.  Roadrunner's solution is nothing but a joke.

Pills, ointments, Rolex's, surveys, enlargements, and more

As P.T. Barnum one said, there's a sucker born every minute.  Where there is greed or sex to be found, fools are easily parted with their money.   

The fact is that there is almost nothing that is advertised via spam that is worth anything.  Most of it is a con, a ripoff, or just plain illegal.  Enlargements don't, Rolexes are not real, fake diplomas based on your experience won't ever get you a job, surveys are primarily there to get you to download adware, and "pharmacies" (if you want to call them that), that spam for pills probably won't send you anything, and that's probably better than what they would send you if they did.

As one senior wrote me, she received her pills from somewhere in Zimbabwe, and within hours, she started getting sick.  The pills not only were not her medicine, they were poison.

Financial spam

Over the last few years, there have been numerous attempts to get people to give up information by sending them email.  In Internet terms, this is called Phishing.  Like fishing, they are throwing out many lines in hopes that someone will bite, they hook them, reel them in, and fry them.

How it works is this.  You get an email from your bank, Paypal, eBay, or somewhere else that you have an account.  In that email, they sender tells you that someone is accessing your account or that they will suspend your service and you will be without your money.  Therefore, they want you to log in and change your password, enter your financial information, or otherwise put personal information into the system.

Then the sender sets up a website that looks an awful lot like the real bank or service provider and may even link to it.  It looks very official and not even people from the bank could tell it apart just looking at it.  

However, when you enter your information, it doesn't go to your service provider.  It goes to the phisher who then uses that information to steal from you or do illegal things in your name and with your account info.

Bottom line, never even click on those emails.  Your bank, financial institution, your ISP, Paypal, or eBay will ever send you an email saying they are going to cut off your service or ask you to click on something and enter personal information.  If you get something like this,  IT IS A SCAM!

Fighting spam

There is only just so far that you can go to fight spam.  First of all, unless it's a straight forward company or you know that you signed up for something with them in the past (which legally allows them to send you something), don't click on the link for removal.  For many, this simply means that they know for sure that you are a valid email address, and then they turn around and sell your email address as one that is definitely real.  Serious spammers don't take you off of lists.  They don't care.

There are a few things that you can do however:

1) Contact your ISP and complain.  This is particularly true with companies like Roadrunner that happily pass along every piece of porn, pharmacy email, or known scams to your inbox.  These companies need to hear in large numbers that their clients don't like it.  When they start to feel the heat from complaints or it actually starts costing them money, they are more likely to do something about it.

2) Delete all spam without opening it.  Even opening up a piece of junk mail that includes images could tell the spammer that you are real.

3) Unless it is from a known company, don't bother with the supposed removal process.  At best, it doesn't work.  At worst, it reports to the company who you are when you give them your real address.

4) Buy email filtration software.  Of this, there are several types.  The first requires that you add every person you want to hear from to your "whitelist".  Then, only email from these people will get through.  The second type "sniffs" your email to determine what is good and what isn't.  Rules are set up in the program and with these rules, much of your spam can be eliminated.  The problem here is with wrong guesses.  If you run a business, a wrong guess could cost you money when it trashes a valuable piece of information.

5) Never ever ever ever buy anything as a result of spam.  When you do, you are buying from someone who has chosen to break the Federal CAN-SPAM act.  They are a criminal.  By buying from them, you support this activity AND chances are very good that you will be ripped off.  

Most of these spammers would face some nice prison time if prosecuted.  They often use Asian email accounts and servers to send their junk in order to hide.  Many also supposedly sell prescription medicine without a license, and this sometimes even includes narcotics.  Yet another reason why they would go to prison.  So the chances of them sending you a quality real product much less any product at all is pretty slim.