Message From jl

Hi Everyone!

Let's finish up the responses to the survey I ran two weeks ago. The question was how to stop fraudulent email.

I had an irate woman cancel her subscription last week because the newsletter was too long. This was because of a detailed tutorial on how to stop this email at your server.

Sheeez! Let's have a little patience here! It IS detailed and tedious to do some of what has to be done to stop receiving this email. Those who send canned meat are counting on it being SO tedious, you'd rather just click the “Delete” button.

So, the ONLY way to stop it completely is to make it impossible for them to get into people's in-box.

Here are a Few More Suggestions

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Hi jl

The easy way to get rid of the mail is to change your email address.

The other day I received a snail mail version of this scam, which I dutifully took around to my friendly police station. This showed a double crime as the franking (stamp cancellation) of the envelope was also forged.

While it is so easy to just trash these offers of millions it is important to treat each one received as evidence of a crime. Hundreds of people are still being caught out by these scams every day and by the time they realize they have been scammed the evidence has long gone cold.

If the serious crime units can get this information in time, which means forwarding to them the full source code of the email then, from time to time, they are able to catch the senders when they visit the internet cafe when they pick up the latest replies from victims.

The way it works with new scams is that the police answer the mail and set the trap.

In the UK, the emails can be forwarded to reports@banksafeonline.org.uk who co-ordinate all phishing type scams.

Regards

Barbara Moore
www.bimoore.com
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If you're in the UK, please make note of that email address.

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Hiya -

For years, I used MailWasher Pro by FireTrust Software. It has a Bounce & Block feature that significantly reduced the amount junk I got. The bounces didn't always work, of course, but the blocks did. That's when I used Outlook Express.

Now, I use IncrediMail Xe (paid version) and it does the same thing with a right click. And the Customer Service is excellent.

Kent
www.personal-puzzles.com
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I logged into my cpanel and set a mail filter to simply dump the emails that come through by taking a few words in the sentence that are typical of these scams, but NOT typical of normal emails (i.e., “personal attorney to ...”

I rarely ever get them anymore. Well of course they are sent to me, but I rarely see them :) When it DOES come in to me, I do two things:

1. Report them to spamcop.

2. If it's a gmail account or yahoo account to be replied to - I forward an email to the abuse of those companies.

Or, I simply delete.

Amber Jalink
www.dimeconsultants.com
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Instead of worrying about things that I can't control, many years ago I just learned to sit on my delete button. Doesn't take as much time as worrying about how to stop all the spam, and it works.

Yank Elliott
www.yankelliott.com
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Now, you may be wondering what I do, since I never bother to cloak my email address online.

Several years ago, when I was getting hundreds of unrequested emails every day, I went whining to my partner in iCop Hosting. Remember, I'm the biggest techno-idiot online, and Chuck is a techie.

He told me I needed to stop using a catch-all address. I whined some more, because that saved me missed email and making forwarders every time I wanted to use a different address.

I had also used a bazillion different email address over the years. A different email address for each thing I wanted folks to respond to. These were what the cons had picked up and continued to use.

But, I finally capitulated, and Chuck set me up a couple of email addresses - known as “accounts.” These receive ONLY what is sent directly to them. Everything else is bounced back into the ethers.

My canned meat disappeared over night. Today, I just use the delete button on the little bit I do receive - or report them if it looks easy. It went from (literally) nearly a thousand bogus emails a day to less than 20 at each email account address.

Adobe Reader Patch

Adobe has released a fix for 13 different vulnerabilities in its Adobe Reader and Acrobat software, widely used to handle PDF files.

It's critical that you patch your software as if a hacker exploited the vulnerabilities they could cause your computer to crash or run malicious code that could take over your system.

If you use the Adobe Reader to handle .pdf files, please visit:

www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-07.html

And in Conclusion ...

I haven't given you a good belly laugh in a couple of weeks, now. So, here's the thing I've found funniest in that period of time. Be sure to turn up your sound.

www.OnlineBusinessTradeJournal.com/the-ladies.mp3

Thanks to Kent Butler - The Nitpicker - who always keeps me laughing!

Have a fabulous week and ... keep on keepin' on!

  jl

P.S. Do YOU have the iCop seal on ALL your web sites? Scammers abound in a depressed economy. You will need the credibility of your iCop membership NOW, more than ever!

Use the iCop Seal on Every Site You Own at NO Extra Cost!

Join iCop Today!

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Thank You For Reading!  Have a Terrific Week!

Online Business Trade Journal™ is published solely by dr. jl scott, Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) and may not reflect the opinion of all iCop members.

Material in the "Leaving You With a Smile" column may be copyrighted by unknown persons.

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Copyright © 2009 jl scott, ph.d., Director
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