HELP! My email is being spammed to death:-(

[swheeler]

Starting about a month ago I started getting a ton of spam emails/advertisement, like a 100+ per day sometimes. I just opened my email now, first 7 were the exact same ad on buying a 2015 Ford pickup(they must know I drive an old 07 F150?) then 4 or 5 from Doctor OZ for diabetes, testosterone boost and weight lose, etc., Asian women, VOIP phones and on and on and on! What gives? My email spam filter is on the highest setting and filters NOTHING! Fed up....

[Tackleberry41]

Just the nature of the internet. It tends to come in waves, you get tons, then it tapers off. I have 2 accounts, one is my shmuck account with a fake name, some site requires an address to continue, thats the one they get. You would be surprised the places that sell your email address. Usually easy to figure out you sign up at someplace new and start getting alot of spam. I don't even check the spam on my shmuck account, just let it pile up, eventually it will delete them automatically.

[rondog]

Spam emails? Really? Welcome to Hell brother.....

[swheeler]

Wonder why the spam filter doesn't work? I have unsubscrided to a 100 or so in the last month, but what a pain.

[williamwaco]

I use the cloudmark spam filter. It is very good.
Been using it for many years.

It misses one or two a day but gets most of them.


http://www.cloudmarkdesktop.com/

[gsdelong]

The worst thing you can possibly do is unsubscribe. Random email address are worth a fraction of a cent an email with a know live person is worth considerably more.

[fryboy]

and never ever ( let me repeat that - NEVER EVER !!! ) post your addy on the world wide web , or at least as it is, change it from something like johnQpublic@nowheresville.com to johnQpublicATnowheresvilleDOTcom or johnQpublic at nowheresville dot com, they dont have to be cap letters as small ones will work but it stops the web bot crawlers from picking them up ( gee i hope i didnt just cause some poor guy with that addy to get spammed ....oops :P )

[swheeler]

I just installed cloudmark, we'll see. Thanks to everyone that replied.

[swheeler]

Williamwaco: I take it I have to mark spam the first time for this to start working? I just posted here and went to my email inbox, 7 new, 4 same and 3 the same :-(

[StolzerandSons]

If you think your private email gets a lot of spam, try running a business with a public email and phone number listed on the internet.

[MaryB]

BINGO Your unsubscribing was actually the opposite! You verified your email was valid! NEVER use the unsubscribe, just spam file it into oblivion and ignore it!


Wonder why the spam filter doesn't work? I have unsubscrided to a 100 or so in the last month, but what a pain.

[Garyshome]

Go to g mail open a new account, or 2. 1 for your own stuff and 1 to give to everyone else.

[swheeler]

63 spams this morning, so I think it has slowed some but still too many!

[williamwaco]

Williamwaco: I take it I have to mark spam the first time for this to start working? I just posted here and went to my email inbox, 7 new, 4 same and 3 the same :-(


Yes and no the thing that makes it so effective is that they keep a database of everything all users report. If some spam has been reported before you will never see it. But yes, if you get a spam, highlight it and click on "Block"

[swheeler]

Thanks WWaco! We will see what the future holds ;-)

[RayinNH]

Scott you're just a popular guy :mrgreen:.

[Geezer in NH]

Tracking cookies or malware won't help.

[montana_charlie]

When you need to give an email address to continue;
signing a petition
doing a fake checkout to learn the shipping fee
answering a survey
voting for an issue

use Mailinator.com .
You just make up the first part of the address.
You can make up a new one every time, or you can always use the same one ... so you can check it occasionally to see what has come in for you.

That works when a site sends you an email that you have to click on to verify you got it.

So, say your made up part is 'junkie'. Your email address is junkie (at) mailinator.com

You can go to Mailinator.com and type in junkie to see what has landed in the inbox.

The service is free ... and anonymous. But, there are higher levels of service you could explore.

[bob208]

the wife works for century link. the spammers have found a way around the company's filters. right now I am getting 400-500 every three days.


she says don't open and try to unsubscribe. you will only get more if you are lucky. if not lucky opening it could download a virus.

[bangerjim]

Do NOT ever unsubscribe! NEVER! That only lets the a-hollles they have a good hot viable email address to send even more span to and to sell to other spammers.

Your address has been sold en-bulk to spammers. I got the same thing starting 3 weeks ago and it comes from EVERY country on the planet. 40% of them I cannot even read because they are not in the world's standard defacto language.....ENGLISH!

And.........it was my professional company address. I cannot change it. So I aliased it to another account (gmail) and am using my other email address for business and advising all customer of the change. I will have one of my office people go to the gmail address once a week and check for real emails and delete all the other carp.

My 3 server spam filters will not handle it all. 150 a day kept getting thru the domain blocking filters.

There is not much you can do. It will eventually fall off the end of the "fresh list" as long as you DO NOT unsubscribe or reply to/from anything!!!!!!!!!!!!

[David2011]

Sending e-mail to others with your e-mail address exposed is another way to get more than you want. A friend started including me in his circle of friends where everyone could see everyone else's e-mail address. Before long someone had an e-mail virus that stole all of their e-mail recipients and I was bombarded with the same sorts of pharmaceutical, dating and other unwanted e-mails. My e-mail provider went belly up and I quit sending e-mail to the friend from my new address. Problem solved.

If you send an e-mail to a group, put them all in BCC instead of "To" or "CC" so no one can see the other recipients. It's not a 100% solution but it's a good start.

David

[swheeler]

the wife works for century link. the spammers have found a way around the company's filters. right now I am getting 400-500 every three days.


she says don't open and try to unsubscribe. you will only get more if you are lucky. if not lucky opening it could download a virus.

Century link is my provider and the spam filter is not working. I deleted about a hundred today, it sucks!

[swheeler]

I opened a gmail account and have been unsubscribing to beat the band.

[MaryB]

I use a throwaway yahoo email for junk use. Rarely check it! Don't care what is in it! My gmail address is only given to people I buy from and friends.

[swheeler]

Something must be working, 43 this morning, much better I guess:veryconfu

[RayinNH]

Maybe they're getting the feeling you don't want to hear from them.

[swheeler]

Think I've got it about licked, 19 this morning.

[swheeler]

They attack with force last night while I slept, 75 this morning. I only recognized one spammer from before, whole bunch of "me", Amy, Barbara and other carp, they all got tagged spam and dumped. It's really getting to be a pain.

[RogerDat]

Wonder why the spam filter doesn't work? I have unsubscrided to a 100 or so in the last month, but what a pain.

If you click the "unsubscribe" link you simply confirm that this email arrived at a valid email account. Pretty much guarantees lots more spam to follow. Never ever use unsubscribe link unless you know it is from a legitimate business. Say you no longer want the specials emailed from Freedom Munitions and it has an unsubscribe link that one would probably be ok, you signed up at the store, you know it is a legit business. From spam email? Never ever click any link in those emails!

Look for an option to "only allow email from people in my address book" or "whitelist option" then make darn sure you add anyone you actually want to email with to your address book or the whitelist. That includes sites you do business with or places like this forum. When signing up at a new place such as a an ammo store or forum where they send you an email to confirm your account you will have to check your spam folder to get that one and add the address.

Also a good idea to have a throw away email such as other member described. Gmail or Hotmail account that is only for "business" separate from the email address you give friends and family.

Oh and never put your email address on a web page, spammers use programs to auto scan web pages searching for email addresses. Phone numbers too. See that from time to time in forum posts, or when someone is selling something online. Always makes me cringe.

[swheeler]

Opened a gmail account and unsubscribed a bunch using that address, seemed to work but a whole new crew of spammers are back. I called centurylink tech support, they had me email them at abuse.net, just waiting to see if I can get this stopped once and for all. They never admitted to a problem on their end and never answered as to why the spam filter provided with service did not work, it used to. It's a waiting game now.

[swheeler]

Anyone that has Centurylink can email abuse@centurylink.net, they will send you instructions on how to install another"new and improved" spam filter they provide. It has saved me a lot of grief, 7 unwanted emails yesterday and 6 in this mornings mail. I can live with that! Thanks to everyone that replied.

[Uncle R.]

Opened a gmail account and unsubscribed a bunch using that address, seemed to work but a whole new crew of spammers are back. I called centurylink tech support, they had me email them at abuse.net, just waiting to see if I can get this stopped once and for all. They never admitted to a problem on their end and never answered as to why the spam filter provided with service did not work, it used to. It's a waiting game now.

Don't unsubscribe!
Don't unsubscribe!
It only makes your spam problem worse, and might lead to nightmare virus infections or even things like identity theft.
Once again...
Don't unsubscribe!

Never click on ANY link in an email - especially an email from Spammers.
That includes "click here to unsubscribe" links!
Just say DON'T.

Hit the "block" button and dump 'em.

Uncle R.

[jonp]

Guess im lucky. I rarely if ever get spam in my inbox. It all goes to the spam box. I check now and again and delete most without opening

[swheeler]

The gmail account was opened just to receive spam, so unsubscribing using the gmail account was intentional. It looks like I don't have to worry about it anymore, the new spam filter is working and anything I have previously tagged as spam is being sent directly to spam, works for me.