topic Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN? in Plusnet Feedback

What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

fishrow — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:10:11 GMT

I have an app that I fire up that shows me what emails might be waiting in my various accounts. I can take a look there at any message if I want before running my proper mail app to download it.
I didn't do any online yesterday and have just come on and run my app. I see there are the 2 identical emails from PN with an apparent title of "Important information about.....blah blah".
Looking at one, it's just full of code and the only thing decipherable is the headers. There is a line saying "mime encoded".
This is a first.
Is it a scam and is that code going to have some malware in it?
If not, who the hell thinks that they've got to change the content of an email that presumably is delivering some textual information?
It's bad enough the stupid html emails.
Anyone else got an email about "Important information ........" recently?

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

adamwalker — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:20:46 GMT

Can you provide us with a copy of the headers and the text from the message please? It sounds genuine enough but we can check for you.
Adam

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

pierre_pierre — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:19:39 GMT

I would think it is the one about the end of the year hold on the prices
it is transmitted as a base 54

Quote
--=_e1afca05ef62baee7f1b8bb7548c8c79
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
WW91ciB1c2VybmFtZTogcGV0ZXJzdG9uZQoKCkltcG9ydGFudCBpbmZvcm1hdGlvbiBhYm91dCB5
b3VyIFBsdXNuZXQgc2VydmljZQo9PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09PT09
PT09PT09PT09PT0KCkhlbGxvIAoKCkhhdmluZyBsaXZlZCB1cCB0byB0aGUgcHJvbWlzZSBvZiBm
cmVlemluZyB5b3VyIGJyb2FkYmFuZCBwcmljZSBhdCCjNS45OSBhIG1vbnRoIGZvciAxMiBtb250
aHMsIHdlJ3JlIG5vdyBicmluZ2luZyB5b3VyIHByaWNlIGluIGxpbmUgd2l0aCBvdXIgY3VycmVu
dCBQbHVzbmV0IFZhbHVlIHNlcnZpY2UgYXQgozYuNDkgcGVyIG1vbnRoLgpSZXN0IGFzc3VyZWQs
IHdlIHN0aWxsIG9mZmVyIHRoZSBjaGVhcGVzdCBzdGFuZGFsb25lIGJyb2FkYmFuZCBpbiB0aGUg

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

jelv — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:22:12 GMT

What's plus or minus 10 between friends?

Quote from: pierre_pierre
it is transmitted as a base 54

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

pierre_pierre — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:23:15 GMT

a small netbook and the wrong glasses

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

fishrow — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 20:41:29 GMT

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
Can you provide us with a copy of the headers and the text from the message please? It sounds genuine enough but we can check for you.
Adam

Adam, I've copied the header part from my preview app and had a look against kept mails. The layout and names/IPs seem similar so probably it's ok.
The salient point is: I cannot imagine that whatever the "important information" might be, it needs to be encoded in some fashion and not just described in plain english text.
I know some other matters might be important to people but this kind of unnecessary idiocy is something that gets me.

Quote
Return-path: <padminatpih-cronhost01.servers.plus.net>
Envelope-to: postmasteratremovedbyme
Delivery-date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:20:07 +0100
Received: from [212.159.7.102] (helo=mx.pcl-ipin03.plus.net)
by inmx15.plus.net with esmtp (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1QYwBr-0005VG-Af ; Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:20:07 +0100
Received-SPF: None identity=pra; client-ip=84.92.1.65;
receiver=mx.pcl-ipin03.plus.net;
envelope-from="padminatpih-cronhost01.servers.plus.net";
x-sender="autoemailatplus.net";
x-conformance=sidf_compatible
Received-SPF: None identity=mailfrom; client-ip=84.92.1.65;
receiver=mx.pcl-ipin03.plus.net;
envelope-from="padminatpih-cronhost01.servers.plus.net";
x-sender="padminatpih-cronhost01.servers.plus.net";
x-conformance=sidf_compatible
Received-SPF: None identity=helo; client-ip=84.92.1.65;
receiver=mx.pcl-ipin03.plus.net;
envelope-from="padminatpih-cronhost01.servers.plus.net";
x-sender="postmasteratrelay.pcl-ipout01.plus.net";
x-conformance=sidf_compatible
X-SBRS: 5.3
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AqkBADdTAE5UXAFBmWdsb2JhbAA4HAeCSoNxkUuNbwGBBAEBAQEBCAsLBxQliHWvHIMWjTuDMIJ6BJZIiASDIQ
X-IronPort-AV: E=McAfee;i="5400,1158,6383"; a="554737298"
X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.65,400,1304290800";
d="scan'208,217";a="554737298"
Received: from mx.ironport.plus.net (HELO relay.pcl-ipout01.plus.net) ([84.92.1.65])
by mx.pcl-ipin03.plus.net with ESMTP; 21 Jun 2011 09:20:06 +0100
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AssIADdTAE7Unw4U/2dsb2JhbAA4HAeCSoNxkUuNbwFwd4h1rxyDFo07gzCCegSWSIgEgyE
Received: from outmx08.plus.net ([212.159.14.20])
by relay.pcl-ipout01.plus.net with ESMTP; 21 Jun 2011 09:20:06 +0100
Received: from [212.159.15.148] (helo=pih-cronhost01.plus.net)
by outmx08.plus.net with esmtp (Exim) id 1QYwBp-0002fs-IO; Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:20:05 +0100
Received: from padmin by pih-cronhost01.plus.net with local (Exim 4.63)
(envelope-from <padminatpih-cronhost01.plus.net>)
id 1QYwBo-0005zN-Fo; Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:20:04 +0100
To: postmasteratremovedbym
From: Plusnet Customer Support <autoemailatplus.net>
Reply-To: Plusnet Customer Support <autoemailatplus.net>
CC:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="=_e921a2d0a9e83c8e5a606b00729123ed"
Message-Id: <E1QYwBo-0005zN-Foatpih-cronhost01.plus.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:20:04 +0100
X-PN-Virus-Filtered: by PlusNet MXCore (v5.00)
X-PN-Spam-Filtered: by PlusNet MXCore (v5.00)
Subject: Important Information about your Plusnet Service

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

ejs — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:31:45 GMT

Part of the base64 posted decodes as:
Having lived up to the promise of freezing your broadband price at £5.99 a month for 12 months, we're now bringing your price in line with our current Plusnet Value service at £6.49 per month.
I guess the message got encoded because the £ character symbol isn't within 7-bit ascii.

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

fishrow — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:46:59 GMT

Huh???
I've got plenty emails from places where they show the payment figure with the pound char and, moreover, one early one from PN soon after I joined with it also and has a "... autoemailatplusnet" source same as recent. Certainly all the subsequent emails about the monthly charge don't have a pound char in front of the amount.
For sure, a human is the source of all these and making the decision to use whatever software to generate and what to type in. I object to changes which have no benefit whatsoever to the end-user and in fact make matters worse.
jim:quote

Re: What's with the coding in latest email from PN?

pierre_pierre — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:38:06 GMT

true this is my bill notification today - the source not the actual output

Quote
Company name: N/A
We'll soon be taking a payment of £18.22, for your PlusNet service. This
will leave your account on or after 29/06/2011.
This email is for your information only, so you don't need to do anything
to complete the payment.