Sex-Related Spam Mail

[mystang52]

This is not a joke. I honestly cannot recall when I might have done it, but I presume at some point I inadvertently opened some X-related website. In any event, over the last several weeks my Spam filter is getting some 25 of these emails every day.
Good news is that my Gmail does indeed funnel them to Spam automatically, so I can delete them en masse. I am not a prude, but I have to confess I do not like seeing so many of these attempted emails (Tiana is especially persistent. I get her emails 3 times a day, with the title of the email saying she wants to come over).
I won't open the emails, to see if I could "unsubscribe," because I'm concerned that would open a floodgate. Any suggestions?

 

[REWahoo]

Any suggestions?

No. Your spam filter is doing what it was designed to do and there is nothing you can do to stop spammers sending you emails.

 

[easysurfer]

I would scan the device you are using (you didn't mention if you clicked when on a computer or other device) for malware. The spam filter is doing it's job, but getting a lot seems odd which makes we wonder if some "naughty" (couldn't resist ) malware got installed after you clicked accidentally.

 

[MichaelB]

No. Your spam filter is doing what it was designed to do and there is nothing you can do to stop spammers sending you emails.

+1

GMail's spam filter is excellent. I check the spam filter every one or two weeks, occasionally something legit slips in. Most spam is either porn, financial, or scam/fraud. Those last two categories are not easy to distinguish from each other.

Unsubscribe only works for legitimate email (and not always). Don't even think about trying to unsubscribe to spam, the most likely outcome is much greater problems.

 

[easysurfer]

As I think about this a bit more as to why the OP is getting a lot of x-rated emails. Probably by clicking accidentally on that link, the email go captured as one to spam. The spam filter is doing it's job and hopefully, in time the amount should fade away.

For me, if I had them filling my email, even in the spam folder, that would bug me also.

 

[Tadpole]

I only have increases in spam when someone includes the email address in a multi-address email (especially my sister). It is as though other people on the To or CC list are having their email/contacts harvested and not a problem initiating from my own computer.

 

[W2R]

I just checked. At the present moment I have 32 spams to delete in my email account, and of those 32, one is "Love Connection: Here's a personal match for you". But otherwise, no sex related spams, whew.

Right now I am getting a lot of spams telling me about supposed jobs in my local area, which obviously I don't want either. I don't go to employment related websites, so I'm not sure why I get them.

My guess is that no matter what we do, we get avalanched by certain types of spam now and then, and then after a few months it changes to another type of spam. I don't pay much attention to spam and just delete it without thinking much about the content.

I have noticed that I get almost no spam in email accounts that I don't use or log into regularly. So somehow, they know what we are doing.......




(cue: spooky music)

 

[GrayHare]

Spam often includes beacons to know whether the spam was viewed. Once the sender knows someone is seeing their message they'll send more spam, or sell your email address. You can overcome the beacons by viewing your email with images turned off. Without visible images, the beacons will not be activated, and the sender will think the spam was not seen. That will reduce the amount of future spam you need to wade through.

 

[Tadpole]

So that's why advertisers like Amazon send email teasers that you must download the pictures to see/get a picture of what the deal is.

 

[nwsteve]

If your email service allows, you might try blocking all ".us" addresses. My spam blocker and system was almost overwhelmed by all kinds of junk including "invitations" like the OP mentioned. All I ever got from .us domains was crap mail
I think I actually ended up having my webmaster block at the system level--made HUGE DIFFERENCE.

 

[braumeister]

So that's why advertisers like Amazon send email teasers that you must download the pictures to see/get a picture of what the deal is.

Not only that but the beacon is frequently embedded into an image that is compressed into only a single pixel so you don't even see it.

 

[Bestwifeever]

So that's why advertisers like Amazon send email teasers that you must download the pictures to see/get a picture of what the deal is.

I don't think I've ever received an email teaser from Amazon (and I use Amazon a lot). Maybe they are spam?

If anyone needs a Viagra link let me know--about 90 percent of the emails in my spam folder are offering incredible deals.

 

[scrabbler1]

Juno has an email blocker where you can specify domain names of blocked email senders. But the spammers change slightly the domain names so the blocking feature is not very effective. I have asked Juno many times to allow the use of wild cards to block larger groups of domain names. For example, I get spam from xxx.junkmail.com and yyy.junkmail.com. A wild card to block both, and many more types, would be *.junkmail.com. These wild cards are already usable when blocking internet websites in the browser security settings, so why not for unwanted email domains?


Then you have the spoofers who used MY email address as the sender's, so I had to block that, too, to cut down on the spam.

 

[zinger1457]

An interesting read on SPAM and how a lot of it is controlled is 'SPAM Nation' by Brian Krebs. Seems like most of it is controlled by Russian companies through botnets. They control 1000's of computers around the world that have been hacked through malware and use them to send the spam emails. Anyone's computer could be one of them if they don't take computer security seriously and scan for malware and viruses regularly. They have many ways to get your email address, often times from legit companies, so you don't need to have visited a porn web site to get porn spam.

 

[Amethyst]

Outlook was doing a great job keeping spam at bay, until I visited a "neighborhood watch" site to check if a rumor about a neighborhood sex offender was true (it was, and he is on the national registry). My antivirus did not warn on this site.

Suddenly I started getting tons of email offers for replacement windows, doors, basement waterproofing, home loans, reverse mortgages, credit cards, and "prizes" (gift cards from Amazon, Target, Walmart). It has taken a long time to "train" Outlook to reject these spammers, and even now one or two a day get through.

 

[easysurfer]

Got bitten awhile back using Outlook Express. Just previewing one email places a keylogger on my computer. I've since switched to an email reader that get emails in text (not html) format so I can do a quick exam before decided if I want to view in html format.

With my email reader with good spam filter, junk mail isn't much of an issue. I get about 10 (not porn email but other spam) each morning that I delete.

I have several rules set up with my reader to direct different emails to various folders. For example, one folder I have for camelcamelcamel emails for my Amazon price watching.

 

[marko]

If the emails are coming from a few or same senders, Gmail has an option to block all emails from them and never even deliver to your spam folder

 

[target2019]

Your gmail address has been added to spam lists. Nothing you do can prevent the sending. If you click or open, good luck.

Gmail spam box auto deletes mail after 30 days.

 

[mystang52]

Thanks for the replies. Going forward, I'll just ignore my Spam folder and periodically do an en masse delete.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Spam often includes beacons to know whether the spam was viewed. Once the sender knows someone is seeing their message they'll send more spam, or sell your email address. You can overcome the beacons by viewing your email with images turned off. Without visible images, the beacons will not be activated, and the sender will think the spam was not seen. That will reduce the amount of future spam you need to wade through.

im not sure what he just said, but this looks like the answer

 

[Koolau]

Thanks for the replies. Going forward, I'll just ignore my Spam folder and periodically do an en masse delete.

A lot of "good" mail gets into my spam filter. You might want to take a look before you dump the entire spam file. Just a thought as YMMV.

 

[GravitySucks]

But, but, but Tiana said I was her one and only.

 

[Souschef]

the strangest e-mail I received was from a friend of ours who was deceased!
Apparently her address book was heisted somehow.

 

[CaptTom]

im not sure what he just said, but this looks like the answer

It is. There are lots of ways spammers harvest active e-mail accounts. Once you're on one list, that list will be bought and sold around to all the other lists. You'll get a burst of spam when you first get put on a list, but it usually tapers off over time IF you don't get put on another and if you don't open any of them.

Ways to harvest e-mail addresses:

"Friends" or misguided relatives click on a "share with a friend" link at some web site and type in your address.

- Any time you type in your own e-mail address to "register" with anything but a 100% reputable site. And even then, beware. I started getting "old guy" spam after giving AARP my e-mail address. Coincidence? You decide.

- Any time you open a spam e-mail, unless you have all images and external content turned off. This should be a setting in your e-mail client software. Use it. Otherwise, your e-mail client makes a "get" request for those images or other content from some server that now can tell your account opened the e-mail.

This also goes for the "preview" pane in your e-mail client. Don't use it, or make sure it doesn't display images.

- Staying logged on to your Google account inside the Chrome browser (likewise for other browsers) allows Google (or whoever) to connect all your browsing history to your account.

- Letting web sites leave cookies in your browser between sessions connects all your browsing history together, along with other identifying information like your IP address which can then be used to tie all your browsing history to your e-mail account.

There are settings in your browser to delete cookies and/or offline content every time you close it. These settings let you make exceptions for sites you visit often and trust (like early-retirement.org.) Use these, and close your browser frequently when browsing from site to site.

This stuff is real. It's not tinfoil-hat crazy to be just a little concerned. I don't really care if I'm being tracked. I figure whoever's tracking me has got a very boring job. But I installed the Ghostery and uBlock plug-ins for my browser and I was stunned to see how sophisticated the tracking system really is. It's kind of fun to try to mess with it.

 

[Totoro]

Ways to harvest e-mail addresses:

.. and signing up to virtually any service. Large data breaches happen, cf. linkedin, yahoo, microsoft, and several government agencies.

Best you can do is have a unique e-mail address for each service you sign up for (and auto-forward it to your 'real' address). It tells you exactly how the spam service got your contact info, and you can shut off the e-mail address without consequences. Still doesn't help with bots stealing address books from personal computers, but mostly effective.

It does requires some setting up though, not for everyone.