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Confessions of a SPAM ARTIST!

Have you been getting as much spam lately as I have? SHEESH. I get at least 40 spam emails a day now. However, not to point the finger too stridently: I must admit my own part in e-spamming! Recently, I decided to email the women in my network an invitation to a party and one registered my email as spam (mea culpa).

Upon closer reflection, I realized I had blithely cruised my database for women. How rude to assume my business contacts would want to socialize with me? So that was my comeuppance: business contacts are not always up for social or other causes. And in our business, financial matters being so personal, a lot of people you have been through heck getting them qualified for a loan or purchase contract might not want to squirm next to you on a social sofa. As a southern female that was one lesson I should have remembered. Like no white shoes before Easter for goodness sakes!

Another reason people are so wary of 'invitations' is practical: SPAM has a way of getting into your hard drive and playing havoc and suddenly sending out rude jokes to your friends from your email address. Fake greeting cards often carry viruses. These companies featured on sites like Facebook and Twitter are often scams. "MyLuvCrush" has been slapped with a $500,000 fine by the WA State Attorney General for sending out fake 'admirer' emails. This happened to be a home grown version. The ones based in other countries are impossible to stop.

SO, if you are overwhelmed by spam here's some pointers: First, forward the offending email to the Federal Trade Commission's abuse department: spam@uce.gov then delete it.

Use Catchall Email accounts: If you want to know how a list-bot got your email address start using different 'alias emails' when you sign up for social media sites: for example, if you set an email as your 'catchall account' (in your email box settings on your domain host) you can tag emails to the source: for example I signed up on Twitter as twitter@mydomain.com. Then if I get spam to that address, I can track it back to the source and deal with it: i.e., either it was sold by that site owner or my posting there was somehow compromised.

Woops? I did post my email openly early in my blog career and that seems to have started a rash of spams. Yes, it's too late to retract them once they are out but you can reset your account to filter out those 'tags' by returning to non catchall accounts. You can just call that site webmaster and ask politely how someone could get that unique email first...once they know their site was compromised they may be willing to correct the problem at least on their site.

Unfortunately spammers are spawning like rabbits on steroids these days but if you do report them by forwarding to the FTC and include them in the reply it is highly likely that particular abuser will get the message and take your email off their list...one can hope

Victory in Washington State: Our WA State attorney Genera's case against the creators of MyLuvCrush involved misleading advertising and has been resolved with a settlement. Here's a link to the news release: http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?&id=22284.

Some advice from our own SAG: Internet scams are increasingly common. The easiest option is to simply delete the email. Because these schemes are usually international and involve individuals who live other countries, we let the Feds handle investigations.

Below are some resources:
* The Federal Trade Commission: Forward illegal spam to spam@uce.gov
For other types of fraud, call toll-free 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or file a complaint online at www.ftc.gov
* FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center: They have a form online at http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/
* Mail fraud - U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Call 1-800-372-8347 or file a complaint online at http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/welcome.htm.
* Phonebusters, the Canadian anti-fraud call center: 1-888-495-8501, www.phonebusters.com
* Internal Revenue Service: For phishing and other scams related to tax returns, etc. Forward the e-mail or Web site URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov .
* Attorney General's Office: Washington residents who believe they are victims of a scam can file a complaint online at www.atg.wa.gov or call 1-800-551-4636.

In order to track the origin of an e-mail, investigators need the full header. One way to ensure that your message has the full header is to send the e-mail as an attachment, rather than simply forwarding.

Here's HOW to send emails as attachments: (use Help to search 'forward email as attachment' )

In MS Outlook
You can forward a message without double clicking to open it in a new window. Highlight the e-mail in the message list of your inbox and follow the directions for your particular mail client:
1. Create a new message
2. Drag and drop the phishing e-mail into the body of the new message.
This ensures the original message is contained as an attachment with the appropriate Internet headers.
Or
1. Open the phishing e-mail message*
2. Select View > Options. The Internet headers will appear. You can copy these as you normally copy text 3. Forward the original message with the copied message headers pasted into this message

In Outlook Express
You can forward a message without double clicking to open it in a new window. Highlight the e-mail in the message list of your inbox and follow the directions for your particular mail client:
1. Create a new message
2. Drag and drop the phishing e-mail into the body of the new message.
This ensures the original message is contained as an attachment with the appropriate Internet headers) Or 1. Open the phishing e-mail message* 2.
Select File > Properties > Details. The Internet headers will appear.
You can copy these as you normally copy text 3. Forward the original message with the copied message headers pasted into this message

In Netscape/Mozilla/Thunderbird Mail
1. Select View > Headers > All
2. Select Message > Forward As > Inline

If you are using an alternative to these e-mail clients, please consult your provider for instructions on how to forward messages.

....and HEY HEY HEY....be careful out there!

YOUR NEST IS OUR NICHE

An approved Conventional, FHA/VA/USDA, Reverse Mortgage and Commercial Mortgage Planner

510-LO-31434 susan templeton licensed loan officer, washington and beyond

Posted by Susan Templeton on 06/24/2009 10:35 PM

Comments (29)

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29 Comments on Confessions of a SPAM ARTIST!

JUN

Hi Susan -- Great advice and no one can ever be too careful these days. The SPAM I receive is almost out of control.

Great information.. I'm always winning something or the lucky one to recieve so many million dollars..

Hi Chris, Yes, if we added up the time we have to take to weed out the junk..so we don't miss important emails the drain is probably adding to our national debt!

Roland, you have no idea how many of my elderly clients have called me thinking they may actually have won something (!)

It's amazing the amount of spam that's available. It's worse that junk mail.

JUN

Spam has gotten so bad I am have like five email accounts.

I just delete ALL spam in the SPAM folder -- my email filter is on and working well. And I NEVER open email with attachments from entities unknown.

But I have a question, since I don't open any emails that I'm not sure who they're from, how can I forward them to the agencies you're suggesting?

Thanks for the tips!

Hi Christine, It is the new junk mail! if only we could put "Save Digits, No SPAM" on our inboxes!

Hi Elder, I find the duplication of email accounts guarantees you get the same spam more times!

Hi Carla, Yes it's best not to open spam. NEVER click on an attachment either. Also, remind your friends to use BCC rather than CC when they send out group emails...another way perfect strangers get your email address.

You can forward an email by right clicking on the unopened email in you inbox or junk folker and it will save the headers so the agencies can see where it came from. Use the instructions for your email system in my post. Newer versions may differ so use your HELP function and search "How to forward email". Good luck!

WOW! Nice blog! I truly appreciate the time and effort you spent putting this together! thanks so much! I saved the email you mentioned. 1 more weapon in the war against SPAM

Wow! There's a wealth of great information here! Like you, I recognize the value of my e-mail list and really don't send more than they sign up for (monthly reports)

Thanks Greg! I am prety peeved about the time I spend hitting the delete button...so it's timely to share the information and help put spam in it's place. I am hopeful some of the stimulus funds being thrown at our internet companies will instill some sense into the medium....so maybe it's time to write your congressbods about that!

Hi Vickie, I guess I was a tad enthusiastic when I signed up for Constant Contact...a little trap to send out more stuff to the same folks. I like that you can get feedback and watch your stats to see if they were read. Do you use a program to track your e-news?

One way I find to be the easiest is to just quit using the email address. Just setup an auto-responder to have them resend it to your new email address. Problem solved if you are getting owned.

WOW! I have been inundated with a new version that's adding 20 to 30 extra every day and I really appreciate the site to forward the offending emails. I am going to take a few moments and do this every day! THANK YOU!

I'm also swamped w/ SPAM. I will give your tips a try !

Great information...very detailed. I have a ton of spam that goes to my gmail acount, most of my dwalters@mydomain.com isn't a lot of spam. Maybe I have a good filter...

It seems that I am getting more unwanted spam from my fellow Oklahoma City Realtors than even the Nigerian scam emails. My Outlook 2007 junk email filter is starting to work overtime. I don't want to know about your "you will love our new new lowered price updates".

Susan: Thanks for the very informative post. There's a ton of great stuff here. These days, you never know who is your email friend and who isn't. My company's spam filters pick up everything so I get very little at work. The interesting thing is I've been reported twice for sending spam emails, both from people who know me. Oh well. I took them off my list and am very sensitive to sending out unwarranted announcements, etc. It usually isn't a problem is you're working with a database who knows you. Thanks again!

I don't get any SPAM-- ever. Not one single piece of SPAM ever.

Nobody should get any spam. The problem has been eliminated.

It's called a "challenge/response" system. It means every time I get an email from a first-time sender, they need to fill out a "challenge" page and type in the words from a JPEG. (Just like before posting on AR.)

Since 99% of all spam is sent from fake email addresses, the challenge email bounces back and I never see the spam. If, for some reason, the spam comes from a legitimate email, they still never respond to the challenge.

The service costs me about $30 per year, I think. Whatever it is-- worth every penny.

By the way-- SPAM "filters" have cost me a few clients before, as their email ends up in the junk folder for some reason. Computers can't do your thinking for you. The challenge/response system is the only thing that is 100% effective.

Great responses! Must have hit a nerve eh? I"ll respond to the later posts here: (hey, is Item #15 a SPAM COMMENT?)

Russell, if you do forward one email to the FTC I think this accomplishes two things: One they may or may not be investigated but they will get the message and two: the spam you complain about may be a group sending system for more than one concern (mulitiple auto or insurance offers) so you could be killing more than one bird with that stone. Also I question the veracity of their 'unsubscribe' links on the bottom of these emails. If they are spammers to begin with you can bet this is a way to just move your email to another list and on it goes.

Darrel, you bring up an important point: if you have your own domain, you can usually log onto your web mail (before you open your normal email program) you can 'train' your web mail to recognize the spam at that level. Then once you've tagged and deleted the spam you can open your normal email browser. I've been doing this for a while. Just remember to purge your online junk mail box!

Joe, Important point: what constitutes spam? If you are saying something less than unique then perhaps the sheer volume of such similar messages becomes an annoyance. That comes down to not targeting your audience to be sure they are interested in your message. I mean, how many hair replacement systems do you think I am likely to buy?????

And here's another good point: you can train your own email program to recognize certain kinds of messages by tagging senders or key words in the subject header ('loan mod' springs to mind) in the "Rules" section. Check it out. That lets you place repetitive messages into a specific box to ignore and delete later.

I know we generally don't like it but I believe many AR members would agree that "reporting" a fellow agents marketing efforts as spam is not nice. I prefer to unsubscribe if it is someone I know...less damaging to them. I guess the same would go for someone whom I knew well enough to be included in my address book but who objected to being included in my group of "women" as you did. She could have just not responded. With that one caveat, fantastic advice!

Hi Paul, VERY important point I learned the hard way: it only serves to email people who have given you permission. That's a fine line worth looking into. If you are incommunication with a party over a business matter that implies you have permission to send them other business related information but not everyones sees it that way. I have been humbled more than once by being asked to remove people from my database I thought were OK with communcating. They felt OK asking me to attend their kid's piano recital by email but I was not to bother them with my consumer information. Fine. I get that. Email is a sensitive area of privacy for some folks. For me my inbox loaded with spam means I am 'out there' in the world so I have to take some of it on the chin. That's one reason I like the Constant Contact system because it lets you know if people are opting out by immediately removing them from your list (and tagging them) so you can do the same. They don't have to bug you and you stop bugging them.

SarahGray, Thanks for your point about being respsectful of marketing efforts. I guess it comes down to how bothered people are by the sheer volume or insensitivity or relevance of messages they receive. And some folks just hate any form of solicitation. If I were to send out 100 emails and 20 people asked to opt out I would know something was seriously amiss with my message. The opt out feedback mechanisms give you a chance to rethink and reframe what you are 'selling' and if people value you and your message. Now if those 20 people tagged my message as spam (higher level of 'do not send') then THAT should be taken very seriously.

Hey Karen, I agree the 'challenge/response' system works for some folks which is great.

It doesn't work for me and here's why. My lenders (underwriters, reps, funders, escrow agents, title lawyers, assistants, appraisers, etc.) are a moving target of about 300 people in any one month who might need to contact me for brief urgent reasons. I simply cannot afford to risk they might not take time to respond to the challenge and my work would suffer from lack of instant contact. Also lots of my reps are on the road using a blackberry and since I am very lucky they will respond while driving about some quick question, if they have moved their account (who hasn't changed jobs recently) then they simply won't call me back. I guess it's a balancing act of being accessible without being overwhelmed by those whose messages are not wanted.

That's why I find the email 'rules' tool so helpful. Hint on that. At one time I used to have a rule for each person and it was slowing down my emails...just make one rule, and call it FRIENDS; set up an inbox folder for FRIENDS under your personal folders in your email browser, and then you copy the email addresses of all your friends into that 'rule' (click 'tools' on menu, select rules, it opens the menu). REMEMBER TO 'APPLY' AND 'SAVE' before you close it. Then when a friend emails you, their message is sorted to that folder and you can see when they arrive because the FRIENDS box will go bold with a number of unread messages displayed. Simple and effective once you get the hang of it! ou can also flag messages from particular people. I flag a couple of my preferred lenders rate sheets so I check them first. Cool huh?

Spam -- don't get us going on that -- we get soooo much despite good filters and trying to keep it out.

Thanks for the post. You had a lot of interesting ideas

Yes, Bob & Carolyn...the problem is spam maked me CRAZY ! This week I put some time into these practices again (do it off and on when I can spare the time like that is easy). Interesting to note the same spams coming from different email addresses. Note it's often good to complain to the internet providers if the spam is being forwarded from an email address like aol or netscape. They are very clever though. I wish I could put a cherry bomb sound effect in the complaints!

Maureen, and others, I'd be interested in your results using these methods. It can take time but as long as I don't sign up for some free online service I seem to get a break by reporting the worst abusers. Been ages since I got a viagra offer!

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