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How do i stop this spam ?

Fantasticfourum
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 386
Thanks: 53
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

How do i stop this spam ?

I am getting loads of e-mails a day from the same web site but from seperate individuals so they are not recognised as spam. They are quite disgusting in nature which normally wouldnt bother me but my daughter uses this computer  and i feel angry at these ****holes who keep sending this stuff, surely no one actually buys from these people ? There should be some recourse to report these people. I bounce them back and block the sender but as they use different names it is very difficult to stop them. It actually seems to have got worse by blocking the e-mails ?  i suppose my only choice is to change my e-mail address or has anyone any other ideas..........................
12 REPLIES 12
Not applicable

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

You could always download the free programme Mailwasher (www.mailwasher.net), which will allow you to preview the e-mails before downloading.
However, you are correct in thinking that the only way of stopping them completely is to change e-mail address.  After the security breach I renamed the default mailbox to something different@myusername.f9.co.uk, made sure that catchall was turned off, redirected mail for the old address to the blackhole and this stopped it immediately.
Now I follow advice as posted by Chris about using the alias function and if I have to give an e-mail address for things on the Internet, I set up an alias first so that I can delete it if it becomes a source of spam.
Fantasticfourum
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 386
Thanks: 53
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

Many Thanks for that i wii give it a try.Mike
RobDickson
Grafter
Posts: 653
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎06-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

Just wondering what the latest is with default mailboxes and postmaster e-mail addresses. I'm sure this will have already been covered, but I can't find the information.
I have just deleted postmaster@username.plus.com, but am still left with my default mailbox (username@username.plus.com), which gets Spam, and nothing else. Is it OK to rename my default mailbox to nothing@username.plus.com, and then never check it? Is it possible to "blackhole" the default mailbox?
Personally, I'd rather delete the default mailbox, because blackholing doesn't result in the e-mail being bounced.
Not applicable

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

If you blackhole the default mailbox, would you use a mailbox?
If so, renaming the default mailbox would have the same effect,  - with catchall switched off, it would be spam-free. 
Renaming it nothing@username with catchall off would be just the same.
With regards to bouncing spam from what I have read this is not advisable due to the increase in e-mail traffic and the ineffectiveness of the exercise.
MikeWhitehead
Grafter
Posts: 748
Registered: ‎19-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

Yep there's not really much point in bouncing the spam mail from what I see, since the majority of the time it's a false address anyway. So it means you'll bounce a message from you through the mail servers, then it will come back from the mail servers to you saying that the bounce didn't bounce...if that makes sense.
RobDickson
Grafter
Posts: 653
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎06-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

OK, so I need to delete an existing mailbox (me@username.plus.com) and rename the default mailbox as me@username.plus.com.
I don't think I quite followed the comments about bouncing spam, but I'll read them again tomorrow.
Not applicable

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

Is the existing mailbox receiving spam? If it isn't then yes, renaming the default mailbox with this name would achieve the desired result. 
You could then delete the mailbox if you wish at it would serve no useful purpose as far as I see it (having got the same name). 
You could then turn off catchall (if it isn't already off), set up a redirect for the old name i.e. username@username.plus.com to the blackhole and you should be spam-free.
If you then start using the alias function to register with sites that you are not sure about it would then give you the option of deleting that alias if you start to receive unsolicited post through it.
I have done the above using the domain name that I was given free by F9 and so far so good - am delighted to be  spam-free.  I just have to remember to set up the alias first which takes only a few minutes, particularly if there is an activation e-mail involved.
Spam is a real pain so I hope that you manage to sort it.
RobDickson
Grafter
Posts: 653
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎06-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

All makes sense to me, except with catchall turned off, I might as well just not have anything as username@username.plus.com, and the e-mails would simply be bounced.
Thanks for your help.
RobDickson
Grafter
Posts: 653
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎06-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

I've just realised that turning catchall off doesn't result in a bounce e-mail when somebody tries to e-mail random@username.plus.com, as it does with most other services I've used.
Although this doesn't bother me because I have my own domain name, I think it's worth raising for others (and presumably people who host their domains with PlusNet).
As far as stopping spam is concerned, this makes no difference - who cares what happens to guess@username.plus.com. However, if somebody mis-types my e-mail address by mistake (robb@username.plus.com, for example), I would expect them to receive an error message.
RobDickson
Grafter
Posts: 653
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎06-08-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

I had a feeling that "backscatter" might be the reason for it being designed like this, it's just that I haven't come across other accounts that are designed like this.
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

If its all from one website then you may be able to complain to the site or ISp or you could block the domain name if its the same every time.
juliasdream
Grafter
Posts: 260
Registered: ‎09-06-2007

Re: How do i stop this spam ?

Quote from: Fantasticfourum
I am getting loads of e-mails a day from the same web site but from seperate individuals so they are not recognised as spam. They are quite disgusting in nature which normally wouldnt bother me but my daughter uses this computer  and i feel angry at these ****holes who keep sending this stuff, surely no one actually buys from these people ? There should be some recourse to report these people. I bounce them back and block the sender but as they use different names it is very difficult to stop them. It actually seems to have got worse by blocking the e-mails ?  i suppose my only choice is to change my e-mail address or has anyone any other ideas..........................

If they all have the same subject then create a message rule to automatically delete all mail arriving with that subject