SPAM email

[Margaret N]

I notice that in May some members posted messages on this site regarding the subject.

My question is for the first time ever I am suddenly getting offensive spam emails. I never open them I just delete them.
I had five today and they are only appearing on my windows 7 using Gmail. Is their a spam filter anywhere? They do fall into my Spam folder and they are clearly from the same person different names same style each time, same subject.

These do not appear in my gmail on my Tablet same address and I wonder why.

They do not appear on my TT mail account either and that is linked to my gmail.
I have so few emails and so few addresses in my contacts so where have they come from?
Maybe it is just having a 'common name' that makes it an easy target.

I feel that I will need to change my email address soon as I am not happy about this.

Do people using Apple Mac get Spam?

[Anne in Carlisle]

If they go into your Spam folder why bother about them? Just keep emptying the folder.
With my tablet, the spam folder is not usually showing so its not until I access emails on the PC that I find the spam folder has caught a load. Everyone gets them and imho its not worth the hassle of changing your email address unless you get hundreds a day.
Anne

[Guy]

Yes Margaret, people using Macs get spam.
They can also get viruses & trojans despite the myth that they are immune.
This myth arose when Macs were not popular and so it was not worth the bother of creating a virus as the "children" who create such things would not get kudos from their associates, but that is not the only reason.
Now that Macs are getting popular viruses for them are more common, for instance in April 2012 roughly 600,000 Macs worldwide were affected by the Flashback trojan an earlier one in 2011 Mac Defender kept throwing up popup ads on the screen.

There were also specially created viruses such as Inqtana, Macarena and Clapzok that were created specifically to prove that Macs were vulnerable (These were carefully created in secure conditions and never released in the wild).

Cheers
Guy

[TrevorFranklin]

Following Guy's comment on the old myth of MACs being virus free

ALL
Computer operating systems, MAC's OS , IBM (PC) Windows etc, and even ANDROID and Apples Ios phones are liable to get spam and viruses, ANY computing equipment that uses the Internet is at risk of infection and should have good quality protection installed.

Phones are fast becoming the latest victim, as users do not consider them at risk of anything, yet they do connect to the Internet.
Ransomware; where your phone gets locked unless you pay an unlocking fee is the latest scam (I call it a scam, as you can repair the phone's system without paying any type of fee).

Be aware, make sure you are protected.

[Margaret N]

Thank you all for your useful and interesting comments.
Anne, I have had a fiddle with the settings on my Samsung Tab and can now see the 'Spam Box' and yes it was full. Not so easy to empty I can put them into the bin and empty that. My laptop is best as it says Delete for Ever which I prefer.

I am almost certain how I have come by these particular ones. A lady I was in contact with sent me three emails and their was a problem with them when I asked her about the security on her PC she told me 'We do not have Spam/Viruses in our village!
Cheers,

[luddy]

If you have Gmail, then i wouldnt bother deleting Spam as Gmail automatically deletes it every 4/5 weeks or so. Also if you delete it yourself, i believe it will show the spammers that the account is active.

[Margaret N]

ludddy,

Someone told me that last night so thanks for confirming it. They also told me that even using the 'delete for ever button' they are still on the server. At least not on my laptop.
All my gmail falls into my talktalk (AOL) mail box but these do not. So AOL must sort spam and remove it where possible.

The mail is definitely from only one person using a different name exact same style and 4 a day at the same time each day. I never open them. Mind you I am not faintly interested in the product!!!

[margaretmarch]

ludddy,

Someone told me that last night so thanks for confirming it. They also told me that even using the 'delete for ever button' they are still on the server. At least not on my laptop.
All my gmail falls into my talktalk (AOL) mail box but these do not. So AOL must sort spam and remove it where possible.

The mail is definitely from only one person using a different name exact same style and 4 a day at the same time each day. I never open them. Mind you I am not faintly interested in the product!!!

Spammers usually have automated programs to send their emails and sometimes they simply generate email address and get lucky when they hit a target. I'd just let gmail sort it but as additional protection you can customise the spam filters by going to setting in gmail and select filter tab. Here you can put words that occur in the offending mails but be careful they are not words that would be in legitimate mails!

Margaret

[DoctorGeoff]

OK, here is the way that it works:
A harvesting program searches the net for email addresses.
These get compiled into a huge file.
Each one is tested for validity - when you get a blank message from [No Sender] and [No Subject] this is a test.
The remaining addresses get compiled onto a CD - and sold! last price I saw was $50 for 20,000 addresses.
Somebody with access to a big computer buys the CD and offers "marketing services", usually stating how many addresses they have.
Your actual spammer contracts with one of these people to mail his/her message to everyone on the list.
An auto-remailer program goes through the file sending out the same spam time and time again.
(Often the program will select an address from the file and make it look like that is the sender's address. That is why you can get spam from yourself)
Typically, the spammer is in the US, and the mass mailer is in a 3rd world university or in Russia.

What you can do is insert something into your email address when you publish it - like "fred@NOT-NEEDED.rmcs .co.uk" very few mass mailers will go through a list of addresses by hand - they rely on the blank message to test for validity. Oh, and my example is totally false - there never was a "rmcs.co.uk" e-mail domain. Now my "home address" has been in various parts of the net for 20 years, so too many people have it, and I do not want to change.

Geoff

[Margaret N]

Geoff,
This is the only time that I have received Spam. Thank you for your excellent information and the start of all this was from a contact which looked perfect but the page was blank.
I do not part with my email address easily and I do not wish to change my email address as I understand that I will loose sight of my Mail Folders.
Thank you.

[Ann from Sussex]

This is interesting. A few weeks ago I had an email,supposedly from someone I know who emails a newsletter to me each month but there was no subject title. I assumed he had just forgotten to give it a subject. When I opened the email it consisted of a couple of lines in what looked like Russian. I deleted it but today I have just received 4 spam emails, all at the same time, all with UK_ in their address and all having a subject which addresses me by name. I think Geoff's explanation is relevant! I always check my spam box when it shows there is something in it because, just occasionally, something I want gets put in there. I never open the unwanted stuff though, just delete it immediately.

[Margaret N]

I posted a discussion on the Gmail site last evening 11.8.2014 and told Google that a company of their size should be able to filter these particular offensive emails out of the system.
I have just noticed today that PCW have a statement saying that GMail is going to be filtered more carefully (no connection with my comments). It has not happened yet as I have just had Four more. I can delete for ever if I click on each one but I do not wish to risk opening them. I cannot see this icon that people mention to report them but maybe they need to be open.

I am worried that if I change my email address I will not be able to read my present folders.

I think everyone should have a blitz on GMail and bring pressure to at least give us more options to block these emails.

[Ann from Sussex]

Margaret, I am getting spam in a quantity that I've never had before and I am not with Gmail. There are 6 or 7 a day, they all address me as Ann in the subject line, come from a variety of addresses but all are sent within a few minutes of each other. At least BT recognises them as spam and have the facility to delete everything from the spam box with one click so I don't open any of them. They are a nuisance but I reason that if I ignore them for long enough they will stop eventually.