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Various Methods To Stop Spammers
Spam Abuse Net
UCE / Spam - Unsolicited Commercial Email
Without question, the single biggest complaint about the Web is "SPAM" (with apologies to Hormel). That trickle of unwanted, offensive "junk", that soon builds to a flood and chokes your incoming email. Today, some web users claim that under 10% of their email is work, family or leisure time related.
What can you do to deal with the 90% SPAM?
First, what do we mean by SPAM? Any unsolicted Email you receive MIGHT be spam. But, not all unsolicted email is spam. There are even legal, moral and web based definitions of spam.
"Having reviewed the spam in our database, we quickly realized that many spammers who make deceptive claims in their e-mail simply imitate what they see others doing, and do not necessarily know that there are federal and state laws that prohibit deceptive advertising claims in all media, including e-mail. To make certain that these spammers understand what the law requires, and to let them know that the FTC is on the beat, we sent letters to over 1,000 spammers identified through our database. These spammers most frequently sent "chain-letters" by e-mail. Some have expressed appreciation that the FTC took time to warn them that they were treading on legally shaky ground." Howard Beals FTC.
Should I hit "remove" ?
A lot of the spam comes with instructions on how to "remove yourself from our list". Yet, more often than not, the remove instructions don't work. Most respond that the removal address is invalid. The ones that work are even worse.
Spammers "Rule #1": The Big Lie.
Remove lists don't work. Even the United States government has noticed this: "We are also working on (spam) cases that involve claims that you can opt out, when in fact what clicking on the link to unsubscribe will do is simply verify that you have a valid e-mail address, so that you can then get lots of spam instead of a little," said Howard Beales, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Don't waste your time trying to jump through the spammers' hoops. Plenty of people have documented the fact that not only do remove lists not work, they do exactly what Mr. Beales says: they verify to the spammer that your e-mail address is good, and so then they put it on the premium CD and sell it to the next spammer for even more money.
Once your e-mail address is captured by junk e-mailers, it's impossible to get off the lists. So called "remove databases" or web sites operated by junk e-mailers that are supposed to remove you from their lists DON'T WORK; often, these databases are just an effort to get you to confirm your e-mail address instead. Also, these companies frequently sell addresses to others, so your e-mail address is already in the hands of dozens of other junk e-mailers even if the original company "removes" you from its send list.
If you are already on junk e-mail lists, you have only a few ways you can deal with it: - Change your e-mail address and try all the prevention methods listed on this page.
- Filter your current e-mail program.
- Buy a special SPAM Blocking Program from Coffee Cup Software
 or McAfee! - Use a throwaway email address for casual contact info. List of Free Email providers
Most e-mail programs, such as Eudora, come with a filtering component. Any time you receive a junk e-mail, you can configure your email to filter all future email from the sender's e-mail address, or with certain keywords or phrases (like "$$$" or "Mortgage"), or with certain words or phrases in the body of the e-mail. This works if you constantly reconfigure your filters per any junk e-mail you receive, and it's an okay solution if you are receiving only two or three e-mails a day; but filters are getting harder and harder to configure, as junk e-mailers constantly change their sending e-mail addresses and the phrases in their subject line (for instance, they sometimes add a space in between every letter of the words in the subject line).
Another down side of filters is that you still have to download all this mail; the filter just sends the junk straight to your trash. It doesn't solve the junk e-mail problem, but it does help keep it away from the mail you actually want to read.
Give filtering a try, reconfiguring your filters every day that you receive email. Don't just block the sender's e-mail address; read the e-mails and look for phrases that would be good to block that aren't used by friends and family (like "look at my web cam!"). But if after three months, if you are still being overwhelmed by junk e-mail, consider changing your e-mail address and trying all the prevention methods listed on this page. OR, consider redoing your filters, so that ALL mail except for mail sent by certain people (known friends, known email addresses) ends up in your trash. The problem with this, however, is that if someone changes their email address and forgets to send you a notice from their old email address, or, if a good friend from the past tries to email you, you will never get the message.
Never do business with a spammer.
What is FTC's View of Spam:
Stop by the FTC site or read the HRC page condensed from the many pages the FTC devotes to online fraud.
Anti-SPAM programs that Really WORK
Spam Arrest Take Control of Your Inbox. The Spam Arrest service has both a white list and black list. In addition it has an easy automatic way for folks to join your white list and an easy way to remove those you no longer want to hear from. Stop Spam and get in control with Spam Arrest - Free 30 day Trial
Coffe Cup Software has an Anti-spam program that really does work. Yes, there is set-up that the user needs to do. But, this is necessary for the program to know what YOU want stopped and who you want to let through - but it does stop 95% to 98% of the text based spam! Free Trial Offer - so you can test this great Spam Blocking Tool!
A New Wrinkle!
A new technique is now being used to get past SPAM Blocking filters. The spammers are now sending the content as an image. This is a method that gets by many of the email filters and is growing in popularity among spammers.
Complain to the Spammers ISP. Spam Punisher, from Elprime Software, is a great little program that makes it easy to report a Spammer to his ISP and get him closed down.
A word of warning: Spammers can (and often do) forge email headers. If you receive a reply that claims that the email did not come from that ISP, repeat the process and select a different IP address from the pull down menu near the bottom of the screen.
Email Addresses Can Be Mined From Web Sites
Do you own a web site or have a hosted home page? Does your email address appear on a web site? Those posted email addresses are collected by spiders or robots and sold to spammers. Learn how to protect your email address!
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Copyright 2006 H. R. Litman
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