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How's Your Spam Recently?

Gord_in_Toronto

Penultimate Amazing
Gord_in_Toronto
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
25,534
I keep reasonably tight control of my Internet activities and really only get a little volume of spam (who knows what is filtered out upstream?).

I always read my email first as text and go to the HTML version when I think I know the sender. For the curious ones I'll read the message source for added edification and amusement.

The mist recent read:
Good afternoon!
I've enclosed the invoice for my journey costs during the business trip. Kindly take care of this for compensation following our travel guidelines.
Januar-tt-MUNGE524727MUNGE8219-24
Thanks.
Click to expand...

It was sent from Stephen Buckley <jessie>@an apparently valid innocent domain. I note that poor Stephen has to use jessie's email.

There was no attachment but there was a link in the HTML to doubleclick.net with another domain embedded in the query parameters. That domain seems to be that of another innocent party. I guess if I had clicked through I would have gotten to a page asking me to submit a payment somehow.

The whole sad sorry state of things is documented here (worth a full read): Spam Statistics (2024): New Data on Junk Email, AI Scams & Phishing

162 billion spam emails are sent every day, with 49% of the 333 billion daily emails sent, considered spam (numbers recorded for 2022).
Click to expand...

Is the Internet broken? Will spam ever be stopped/prevented?
 
I have an android phone using the Google 1 VPN. I looked up bidet kits for toilets (Tushy). The following day I started getting Tushy advertisements on YouTube TV. I had never seen a Tushy commercial prior to that. So apparently Google's VPN has exceptions for Google.

Anyone surprised?
 
It is extremely rare for me to see an email spam.

As far as I can see, it is aggressively filtered out by my email provider.

My landline number is a different story though. 99.9 % of calls are really stupid scam calls.

I don't answer that number anymore, all calls go to the built-in voicemail function.

This doesn't appear to make a difference.

Most recently, every spam call comes in with a new, nonsensical number, typically 12 or 13 digits.
This is to prevent blocklists from working I suspect.

Ideally the NBN (the broadband supplier that also carries 'land line' telephony) would give me the option to block all calls that don't originate on Australia's internal network, but they don't do that.

Nor will they pass on the actual caller ID (the one used for billing).

I assume that they won't do these things, because they want to continue to support Australian companies that pay for offshore nuisance callers. (i.e. call centres in the Philipines, India etc.)
 
ZiprHead said:
I have an android phone using the Google 1 VPN. I looked up bidet kits for toilets (Tushy). The following day I started getting Tushy advertisements on YouTube TV. I had never seen a Tushy commercial prior to that. So apparently Google's VPN has exceptions for Google.

Anyone surprised?
Click to expand...

A VPN won't do anything to stop embedded Google ads. Tushy is a Google ads partner.
 
From the site I posted up thread:


Using AI to protect people from spam

Email providers and cybersecurity companies often use AI to detect online spam and filter it into junk folders or prevent it from accessing a victim’s computer. In fact, Google says its AI-powered spam filtering technology blocks more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware from reaching users’ Gmail inboxes. Google also states that their AI-enhanced filters block almost 10 million spam emails every minute.
Click to expand...

Using AI to block Spam? I just throw away the key. Have you ever tried opening one of those cans without it? :eek:
 
I get very little email spam. Most of what I get is due to the activities of another person who thinks it is his. In the old days rjh.01@gmail.com was a different email address to rjh01@gmail.com. Now they are the same. But most of the email spam I do get is addressed to one of those which I never tell anyone about. On rare occasions I get legitimate emails addressed to the other person.

I have also noticed that the amount of spam I get has been reduced this year. Has anyone done anything recently to stop people sending spam? This person did do something but I never noticed the results.

This video is mildly NSFW. It discusses, among other things releasing cockroaches into an office. This office is not one where you would tell your relatives you work there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsLJZyih3Ac



NB: My actual email address is not what I have specified above.
 
I still get at least 10 or 15 Spam emails a day. (not counting the ones Hotmail's Junk Mail catches) AND not counting ones to my website email.

I also get around 6 or 8 junk phone calls too, (from out of town or labeled "Likley Fraud" etc

I remember when I first got my phone number in the Yellow Pgs 99% of the calls I received were at least somewhat important, and well over HALF of them nete some measurable profit. (this predated the internet)

Now? 90% of my emails are junk or updates of some kind, and virtually ALL phone calls!
My phone is on silent no vibe all day every day.

I don't even answer the phone unless someone texts me first, or I happen to see it while it's ringing and recognize the number as someone I would want to speak with.
 
Ron Swanson said:
I still get at least 10 or 15 Spam emails a day. (not counting the ones Hotmail's Junk Mail catches) AND not counting ones to my website email.

I also get around 6 or 8 junk phone calls too, (from out of town or labeled "Likley Fraud" etc

I remember when I first got my phone number in the Yellow Pgs 99% of the calls I received were at least somewhat important, and well over HALF of them nete some measurable profit. (this predated the internet)

Now? 90% of my emails are junk or updates of some kind, and virtually ALL phone calls!
My phone is on silent no vibe all day every day.

I don't even answer the phone unless someone texts me first, or I happen to see it while it's ringing and recognize the number as someone I would want to speak with.
Click to expand...

Totally the Ron Swanson response. Yellow Pages were useful for awhile if you wanted a quote for a log cabin.

Times have changed and we can't build log cabins anymore. Or live comfortably in them. There are a lot of regulations about that.
 
Well, I have hardly any spam calls. But I get a number of e-mail stuff, and even some facebook ones. My email and my phone number are available on an open website, due to some association work. But, I'm an old salt on this, so it's not really a big problem, except I am really annoyed at the whole idea that some people try to make a living scamming others.

hans
 
My main address has clearly recently found its way onto lists bought by German spammers because there has been an explosion of mails about penis pills and bitcoin. No biggie as my spam filter is working faultlessly, but interesting to see the ebb and flow of these things.
 
I hardly ever see any spam these days (still using an old Yahoo account I have been using since the last millennium- literally lol)
Their spam filters work pretty well, and I get ten 'throwaway' account names that I can turn on and off and don't link to my main account (very handy for signing up to websites and the like lol)

Some places don't like my 'not a personal email account, we want your ISP one'- I consider my ISP ones to be 'disposable' as during the decades I have been on the net, I have been through dozens of them, most of which aren't even in existence any more (I don't even know what my current ISP email is- or even if they supply one !!!)

These days it's not email spam where the 'real action' is, much more is done either through ads or popups, which is why I rarely allow websites to put ads in- it isn't just the annoyance factor (one of the reasons I rarely use youtube any more was them blocking ad blockers- while at the same time literally running an an ad every 4 minutes (I timed it one time- for an hour long video, the ads were every four minutes exactly, and were 5 seconds to 15 seconds long) plus it isn't that uncommon for viral loads to be delivered directly from the ad!!!
 
Have been getting many spam emails from different addresses asking for confirmation of something which I ignore
 
Just perused (and cleared) my spam directory. For February till now (Feb. 12):

Spam (i.e. unsolicited advertising): 12
Phishing attempts: 7

So, more or less average activity.

By far the majority are caught by my spam filter and sent to the spam folder. Occasionally, one slips through and I then block the address, which will send subsequent mails from that address to the spam folder.

Hans
 
I get little to no spam in my email boxes, maybe a spurt every few months of a few emails, apparently when i give my address out on a new site.

Not making any Herculean efforts, either. Running Firefox with Ghostery on all my devices, never created a Google sign in account. Will only give out my email for legit transactions where I don't really have a choice. I also pretty much never see ads anywhere. The only downside is getting flagged to disable ad blocking on some news sites, and frequent requests to "sign in with your Google account". Otherwise they appear to pretty much leave me alone now.
 
I entered my name into something from Facebook. Looked legitimate but it was a spammer. Nothing happened for months. Many months later I started getting spam. I know it was them by the name I gave them. I may need to throw away that email address. Luckily not many people know about the address.
 
Yeah. I entered my email for a private men’s newsletter on Facebook and suddenly started getting all the spam I talked about. There was no private newsletter
 
I get few spam calls on the cell phone, and most of them are pretty obvious when the number is posted, so I don't answer them. When I do make the mistake I try to rectify it quickly by filling the ether with vile obscenities involving nutritionally dubious consumption or inadvisable self-service with a rasp. Occasional ones on the land line, but not many. Spam on the computer is pretty well controlled, but recently a new one has popped up quite literally, with a bogus McAfee site putting push ads in my notifications, via browser. Notifications that I had porn sites, viruses, that my nonexistent McAfee subscription had failed and Windows was going to be blocked, etc. As it happens, McAfee's web site tells you just what to do about it.
 
Well, my density of spam/scam mails reflects the fact that my e-mail address is on a public web page. This because I work for an association.

I don't have a land line, haven't had one for over a decade.

Stuff on my phone is very limited, at least currently, although that number is also public.

Hans
 
I haven't gotten any email scam-spam at any of my emails in ages. I kind of miss them, actually. Some of them were hilarious.

I do get a legit ad now and then from someone who I had recent contact with in some way. In those cases, I just immediately mash their cease and desist link and go on with my life if I don't want those emails. Always works, too.

But overall, I get no emails that I have an issue with. I really only get around three total emails per day in the most active account.

Phone call spam? Sheesh, don't even get me started. My landline is no longer connected to a ringing phone. It's just there so I can give it out to businesses that demand my phone number (and to use to call them to give them that caller ID instead of my cell). So basically, it's for outgoing calls and for paperwork when I don't actually want the business to call me. If it didn't serve that purpose, I would have disconnected it years ago. I don't even check the voicemail on that one. Lost the password ages ago, among other things.

But somehow, someone in India got my cell phone number recently, even though the only people that have it other than family would be various government agencies (IRS, VA, and at least one other that's none of your business but not classified or anything). They're calling me 10 times a day and even leaving voicemails when I decline the calls, but it's just a ridiculous scam. At this point, it's not even telemarketing or telescamming. It's telephone harassment. They called me at 3:30 AM a few days ago.

And yes, all that's been reported to the FCC, but it's not like they actually do anything.
 
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I love the phishing attempts from my CEO. I have never received an unsolicited email from my CEO.
 
I have mentioned on here before that I have a few moronic namesakes in the US who give out my gmail address instead of theirs. Fair enough, it happens. What is interesting recently is that a fair number of US companies geoblock their customer account pages, presumably as some kind of a security measure. To unsubscribe I need to connect my VPN client to somewhere in the US, otherwise it’s blank page time.
 
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