Whats the point of nonsense spam?

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Toller, Apr 5, 2014.

  1. Toller

    Toller Private E-2

    I got 285 emails today that gmail was kind enough to put in my spam folder. The subjects were about stock picks, but the content was gibberish.

    I can sorta understand the Viagra spam; if they send out millions of them, maybe a couple people will be stupid enough to send them money. But I don't see the point of this.

    Any idea?
     
  2. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    They are fishing (not to be confused with phishing, unless there is a URL to visit).

    If you reply back to bitch at them, they caught a live fish and then you get exponentially more spam. Fun, right?
     
  3. Toller

    Toller Private E-2

    I didn't look to see if there was a URL, but who would reply to even one of 285 nonsense spams? And what would they get if I did?
    They would know I was alive and dumb enough to reply to spam, but what good is that?
     
  4. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    They would get a confirmation that you are a live email address. Now they can send more spam to it and know it is not a dead email address. Now they focus more spam bots on you.

    Why would people reply? Because they get irritated. It is very, very common. It ranks right in there with those who click unsubscribe links in their emails.
     
  5. LauraR

    LauraR MajorGeeks Super-Duper Administrator Staff Member

    Yep on the unsubscribe. What amazes me is that emails (possibly gmail...I can't remember since I have a bunch of email addresses) offers to unsubscribe you when you hit the spam button for an email. Really?? Um, yeah, let me let them know this is a live email. rolleyes


    Oh, and the email spam has taken the place of all that physical junk mail you used get in your mailbox and just threw in the trash. While most people delete the crap, there will be those people who actually look at it and open it and maybe buy that cheap viagra without a prescription that comes from China and will possibly make your parts fall off. :-D
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2014
  6. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi

    Depending on the email application you using Right Click and choose Spam for these emails if they show in main email box. That way easy to delete whole spam folder once in a while. I have Outlook set to delete any spam I have flagged directly.

    As mentioned spammers will fish at getting a bite and if you reply and even reply to the unsubscribe links they have your live email address, thus will sell it on and you will have never-ending spam.
     
  7. JonnyBB878

    JonnyBB878 Private E-2

    I used to get like 10 emails every 3 days with viagra and other sex stuff. What I did was ignore all these, no reply to any of them and simply block each and every address.

    This is on a hotmail account I don't use much anymore. Eventually the spam has reduced a lot in the past few months. Best advice I can give is to keep blocking and don't reply to any of them. Sometimes I even got emails related to "My WoW account" a game I never even played.

    The reason has already been pointed out - fishing. I guess there's no other reason to this. Unfortunately some people do fall for them :(
     
  8. Fred_G

    Fred_G Heat packin' geek

    Gmail has a decent filtering option. Any spam with words you specify in the title go straight to the trash, bypassing the spam box. I only get about 10 or so spam emails a day.
     
  9. Sgt. Tibbs

    Sgt. Tibbs Ultra Geek

    I get virtually no spam in my Gmail account, even without specifying anything other than the settings they use. I'd say maybe once a year something goes into the spam folder that isn't spam, but I can't remember the last time spam ended up in my inbox. I do receive a bunch of spam email (probably 15 or so a day), but I never see it unless I open the spam folder.
     

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