First piece of spam

[fcmisc]

Hi,

I've just got my first ever piece of spam to my blapper domain. Not sure how the scammers got my address. I've only used it at one place that I trust. Do they just take blind guesses at random words? Is there anything I can do to stop this in its infancy?

Anyway, the message is below:

EMAIL ADVERTISE YOUR SITE TO 3,000,000 INTERNET USERS FOR FREE

http://broadcastemailcorp.odo.com.cn


------ ----- ---- --- -- - -

..for all charity/non-profit organization contacts...

..as a new year thank you to the world and all the good that nonprofits a=
nd
charities are doing to assist society, our corporation is doing what it ca=
n to
help and has decided to give away a non-commercial email sending service
without cost to charities and nonprofits in need, which is the primary and=
only
purpose of this non-commercial email.

simply visit our company web site above, fill out any of the order forms o=
n the
web site with your nonprofit/charity contact details, but do not press sub=
mit.
instead, print out what is displayed on the screen and send a letter to th=
e mailing
address on our company web site above with your nonprofit/charity mission =

statement, a copy of the paperwork from your governmental authority confir=
ming
your nonprofit/charity status in your city/state/province/country of origi=
n enclosed,
and we will then contact you with all you need to know to have your specia=
l
non-commercial, non-transactional, non-relationship, courtesy charity/nonp=
rofit
emailing message sent out to 3 million people without cost.

this non-commercial, non-transactional, non-relationship, courtesy emailin=
g has an
important primary purpose of helping society by assisting nonprofits and c=
harities
have their nonprofit/non-commercial mission statement/special message/web =
site
sent out to a large number of emails as a courtesy to help worldwide in na=
tional &
global relief efforts for various causes in need of non-commercial, non-tr=
ansactional,
non-relationship support.

thanks to the technology of email, here are only a few of the countless ch=
arities &
nonprofit organizations we have countributed to in the past year: adventis=
t develop &
relief agency international, child help usa, direct relief international, =
doctors without
borders, episcopal relief and development, international medical corps, me=
rcy corps,
operation usa, red cross hurricane relief division, red cross washington s=
tate chapter,
the salvation army, among countless others in need of global assistance.

on one day alone at our organization, six nonprofits/charities responded t=
o one of our
nonprofit emailings and then subsequently received their noncost, non-comm=
ercial
emailing without charge to them: america remembers: killed in action found=
ation, his
grace: evangelistic ministries, north valley aikikai: aikido education aca=
demy, lars ranch:
abused children's sanctuary, musici europae: classic music foundation, col=
eman
broadcasting: youth education network . we hope to assist countless nonpro=
fits and
charities have their special non-commercial email sent out in 2006. Help u=
s fulfill our
goal, in that we believe emailing can be a beneficial worldwide contributi=
on to millions.

disclaimer: please note that this non-commercial, non-transactional, non-r=
elationship
email originated from a computer outside of the united states of america b=
y a citizen of
a foreign country and obeys all non-commercial email laws of the country o=
f the citizen
that initated this non-commercial email that does not offer any product or=
service
available for purchase/lease/trade/barter for any commercial nature of any=
kind.

if you are not associated with a nonprofit/charity and/or this is not a no=
nprofit/charity
contact email address and/or you are not interested in our occassional non=
-commercial,
non-transactional, non-cost, non-relationship, courtesy emailings we perfo=
rm to assist
various nonprofits and charities interesting in sending out their special =
non-commercial
message and/or non-commercial web site, press the delist option at our com=
pany web
site at http://broadcastemailcorp.odo.com.cn

[Jacob]

Unfortunately, in this day and age, I can be pretty much certain when I say it will be the first of many. There is unfortunately not much you can do - use a spam filter in your mail client and practice using your delete key.

Regards,

Jacob

[Waldovia PM]

The mistake you made is actually in opening that email.
Check the subject, most spam is distinguishable by subjects such as 'Hot St0ck talk' or 'This is your lucky day, no deposit needed'. Obviously you can throw these out.

Those without a subject, look to see where they are from. Are you expecting an email from there?

I use thousands of email addresses and choose wisely before giving one out.

For instance, if I need to give Microsoft an email address, I will give them microsoft@mydomain.co.uk

If an email then arrives with the subject 'Urgent XP update from Microsoft' and it arrives at the email address cakes@mydomain.co.uk, I know it isn't from Microsoft.

Similarly, if I receive an email with the subject 'Add 2 inches to your thingy' and it arrives addressed to microsoft@mydomain.co.uk I will be straight onto Microsoft to find out why they released my email address.

Don't forget that if your email address is published anywhere on the internet (web pages, forums, guestbooks etc) they can and will be picked up and used by spammers.

Looking on the bright side, over the past 12-18 months I have seen a decline in the amount of spam I receive. Porn, betting and scams seem few and far between. All I seem to get now is stocks and Russian stuff.

Don't have you email program automatically open the email in a 'preview pane', Outlook Express and Thunderbird do this by default and is bad practice. Change the settings in your View Menu.

Lastly, and this goes without saying really, you have to have regularly updated anti-virus software installed (AVG recommended www.grisoft.com)

Sorry if this doesn't assist with your problem but some may find it useful.

[Waldovia PM]

Originally Posted by Waldovia PM

If an email then arrives with the subject 'Urgent XP update from Microsoft' and it arrives at the email address cakes@mydomain.co.uk, I know it isn't from Microsoft.

Just to explain, I was eating a custard cake while writing that.

[WhiskyFudge]

Originally Posted by Waldovia PM

Just to explain, I was eating a custard cake while writing that.

Can I have some please?