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Mystery Mail

Discussion in 'Security and Privacy' started by bentley, 2004/01/30.

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  1. 2004/01/30
    bentley

    bentley Inactive Thread Starter

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    I'm a fanatic about keeping my email addresses separate. I have one I use for any commercial or "public" email, for use with online ordering, subsriptions, and message board use. Then I have a completely separate one that I use strictly for personal email, and only give it out to friends. I'm also a fanatic about virus and spyware control, and keep things updated and very clean.

    I get plenty of spam in my public email box, but until yesterday, in over two years of use I had never gotten any junkmail in my personal one. I didn't really think about it until after I'd deleted it and emptied the trash, but today I got another one. I hate to think this might be the start of something. I'm not particularly worried about it, except that plowing through the spam is such a pain.

    Is there any way that email addresses can be captured on the fly, or can anybody think of how this might have happened?
     
    bentley,
    #1
  2. 2004/01/30
    reboot

    reboot Inactive

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    Your private addy is in someone elses address book, and they got hit by a trojan, or someone simply used YOUR private addy when they needed one for some internet form to fill out.
     
    reboot,
    #2


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  4. 2004/01/30
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    1. spammer got lucky with an email address generator.
    2. someone who has your address in their address book had a worm and now your address is out enmasse.
    3. someone you sent a message to forwarded the message to someone else, who forwarded it to others, and forwarded it again until ends up on spammers list. (addresses are viewable in the mail header of forwarded messages)
    4. you have been spam free for too long and God is reminding you that you are human and the www is not.
     
    TonyT,
    #3
  5. 2004/01/30
    bentley

    bentley Inactive Thread Starter

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    Yeah, probably true. And the worst of it is that, long before email existed, I used to be in the direct mail business...
     
    bentley,
    #4
  6. 2004/01/30
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

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    Possibly a payback?! :D
     
    noahdfear,
    #5
  7. 2004/01/30
    BillyBob Lifetime Subscription

    BillyBob Inactive

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    The same thing is happening to me. Up until the last few days I would get maybe one or two a week.

    I checked my mail about 1/2 hour ago and there were 15 ( fifteen ) TRASH items.

    I use MailWasher and they all went bye-bye right off of the server. They never make this machine.

    BillyBob
     
    BillyBob,
    #6
  8. 2004/01/30
    leeleeleelee

    leeleeleelee Inactive

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    Christmas and New Year break is over? :D :D
     
    leeleeleelee,
    #7
  9. 2004/01/31
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Mydoom makes up a lot of email addresses, so that could be the cause..
     
    Arie,
    #8
  10. 2004/01/31
    brett

    brett Inactive Alumni

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    5. Somebody entered your address in order to "Send this page to a friend. "
     
    brett,
    #9
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