Bouncing junk mail

[moribundman]

My mail program allows me to bounce emails, which can be very useful when I wish to ignore certain individuals. Sometimes, junk mail like one or the other version of the "Nigerian scam" makes it through my spam filter. Usually, when I bounce such an email, I get a "Mail Delivery Failed" reply after a short while. How do the spammers block the bounced email, or does this simply mean the spammers are bouncing their rejected email in returnl?

 

[klaymon]

Could be either of the scenarios you listed or it could be that the sending domain/address is not valid. They've made up an address just to get the mail out, but when you try to send it back, the servers can't find that address/domain because I doesn't exist.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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They've made up an address just to get the mail out, but when you try to send it back, the servers can't find that address/domain because I doesn't exist.

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How can one send an email from an email address that doesn't exist? Actually, I remember a website that let anyone send and email from a self-destructing email address. Hmm...

 

[moribundman]

Speaking of nasty email that spies on the recipient, how can you avoid becoming a victim of this sort of snooping?

 

[user00000]

Bouncing email, or pretending to do so, is rarely effective at fighting spam since it is likely being bounced to an address that's been hijacked or faked. Imagine receiving thousands of bounce messages because some POS spammer used your address in the from field (which is very easy to do). Snoopy messages are generally messages which contain a reference to an image that must be downloaded to be displayed. This image's URL is generally serialized to tie it to the email address that the message was sent to. Once the message is open/displayed, the sender can look at server logs to gather info on the requesting machine (when opened, IP address, etc.). Set your email client to never download/display images to avoid this type of tracking.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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Bouncing email, or pretending to do so, is rarely effective at fighting spam since it is likely being bounced to an address that's been hijacked or faked. Imagine receiving thousands of bounce messages because some POS spammer used your address in the from field (which is very easy to do).

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About one spam email every 3 days gets through my spam filter. Those I tend to bounce, simply because I got the feature. I don't expect it to be effective. In the best case, I hope my email address will appear defunct.

quote:

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Snoopy messages are generally messages which contain a reference to an image that must be downloaded to be displayed. This image's URL is generally serialized to tie it to the email address that the message was sent to. Once the message is open/displayed, the sender can look at server logs to gather info on the requesting machine (when opened, IP address, etc.). Set your email client to never download/display images to avoid this type of tracking.

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Well, I don't have my email set to display images. I download images and files only from senders I know. So no problem, eh?

 

[user00000]

quote:

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Well, I don't have my email set to display images. I download images and files only from senders I know. So no problem, eh?

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Sounds like you are all set. Disclaimer: I run Mac OS X and I'm not all that familiar with what might happen on a Windows machine. Messages might contain some type of nefarious scripting/code that's triggered when the message is opened/viewed on a Windows machine. I suppose that even on a Mac OS box, it would be possible to embed Java/JavaScript to do evil things.

 

[moribundman]

I am using OSX, too.

 

[user00000]

You are likely safe (for now).

 

[JHZR2]

what is your mail program??? Thanks, JMH

 

[moribundman]

Mail. Bounce = Command+B (or find it option under "message") Chairs, -bundman