Unsolicited emails

[Omega]

I have in the last two days received two unsolicited emails from "Fifth Third Bank" asking me to click on the link at the bottom to start my company bank account :blink:

I have absolutely no idea who its from; the first email was using one of my email address and showed up as my name at my email address - m***.**@tiscali.co.uk - the second one used that email address but the name showed as m***raj

Has anyone else suffered with this type of unsolicited emails? It is quite annoying and I did not open it but used Norton to block the the emails :angry:

[Sparrow]

Ive had a few recently supposedly from Barclays asking me to click the link and fill in my details for my account - I have never banked with them! :blink:

I have also had a few from "lawyers" in places like Africa and so on asking me to transfer money over etc! I have Yahoo for my email and they are pretty good for putting most of them in the bulk folder instead of my inbox - I do check the list for the bulk folder just in case a normal one has slipped through!! And if the email has got a virus in it Yahoo wont let you open it :)

When I have had ones over and over from the same sender like the ones from Africa I do put there addresses on the block senders name list - then I dont get them at all :rolleyes:

I seem to get them in spates - nothing for weeks then three or four in a couple of days :blink:

sparrow x B)

[smiths2006]

i have had a few from banks i have never banked at before. these have been coming alot lately.

[very_tired]

I get loads on a daily basis.

They are usually generated by someones virus ridden PCs that contain your e-mail address (just think of all the people from whom you have ever received e-mail ...) or maybe your e-mail address has been harvested from web sites where you may have posted it.

You'd be advised to ignore them - if you open them then the sender is aware that your e-mail address is active as many of them contain images that link back to web sites (and the people that operate the web sites can see that you have viewed the image).

Trouble is ... once they start it's very difficult to stop them !

[Doktor Jon]

So far this week, I've received 432 spam e-mails :banghead:

They are mostly, fake bank scams usually purporting to be from the "security department", dodgy job offers, drugs you don't even want to know about :bigeyes: pirated software, more banks, fictitious stock market "tips" ... and that's just on a good day.

Best thing is to delete immediately, never open and as very_tired (know how you feel :thumbs: ) has already suggested, NEVER EVER reply to them .... ever :no:

[magpie]

Ive had every bank so far "check your details"etc

There is also one that claimes to be from ebay to watch out for too.

It will tell you there is a problem with your paypal account , it will give you a link to log in with your password, mmmm like your going to.
As you should now ebay will always use your user name not "Dear ebay user"

Look out for that one..


magpie

[Planet 24]

I've had a load recently, including the Nigerian Chief with a fortune at his disposal :lol:
The best one was from ebay thanking me for auctioning my quad bikes and would I click on the link to forward my details to the buyer?????? :lol:

Some of them are pathetic - wonder what these whiz kids could do if they really worked instead of the hours they spend generating this cr*p!

[Sparrow]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Doktor Jon @ 8th February 2007 - 11:22 PM) 236567</div>drugs you don't even want to know about :bigeyes:[/b]

:lol: :lol: I get them too!!! :lol: :bigeyes: :lol:

[sammie]

I get offers on job lots of Viagra :o :lol: i dont think so <_< :lol:

[Crazy Dog]

This is 'phishing'.

The owners of a fraudulent web site distribute hundreds of thousands of these emails using particular viruses which have infected other people's PCs. The virus sends out the emails to (usually) everyone in the address books on the infected PCs. Sometimes recipients email address are just generated at random.

If only a tiny percentage of recipients respond the phisher can make a good living.

Recipients of the email can act in four ways.

1 - Click on the link in the email. Enter their details as requested - often including bank details, passwords for eBay/PayPal, date-of-birth, address, telephone number, mother's maiden name. This is the sort of information the phisher wants and will use. It will take years to recover from the financial damage. DO NOT CLICK ON A LINK IN AN EMAIL. All of the banks, and online service web sites can be reached by entering their URL in the internet browser window.

2 - Click on the link in the email to take a look at the web site without entering sensitive information. This will confirm, to the phisher, that your email address is active. From now on you will be bombarded with ever-increasing spam.

3 - Just delete the email. No damage done but the real owner of the organisation whose customers are being targeted will not know unless someone else reports the problem to them.

4 - Find out the email address of the targeted organisation. Forward the email - with full headers - to them. They will investigate the problem and have the fraudulent site shut down (if they can - some ISPs don't play ball). THIS IS ALWAYS THE BEST OPTION.

Note:

It is possible for Outlook Express to run small programs embedded in emails when those emails are read (OR DISPLAYED IN A PREVIEW PANE). That's why I use Thunderbird. It won't run those programs.

It's also a good idea to set up your email program to NEVER send received/read receipts. They're another way for scammers to uncover active email addresses.

If you allow receipt of emails in HTML format it is possible to embed an image that is linked to only by the email that went to your address. When the email is displayed - along with the image - this is logged on the scammer's web server and confirms that your email address is active. I have my email program set up to block images - this hides my PC and my email address from this problem.

[sp54]

I get loads from all sorts of things - viagra :rolleyes: , porn,the Nigerian one, banks, and mostly ebay or Paypal.

I never, ever click on a link just in case :rolleyes:

[StoneHenge]

I get loads, most are filtred out by our junk mail filter, but the odd one gets through only to find itself in my deleted box pretty quickly!

I remember the Nigerian one. Can't believe people actually agreed to do it. Poor souls.

[Domestic Goddess]

I get loads of emails saying that emails that I've never sent are undeliverable. There are often attachments, which I never open. It's just an annoynace really, my Norton tends to send most junk mail into my spam folder and then deleted it.

I just wish some people would get a life.

[Bonkers Mad!!!]

i only ever get the viagra ones and ones offering me p*nis enlargement :yes:

[Omega]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bonkers Mad!!! @ 9th February 2007 - 12:47 PM) 236683</div>i only ever get the viagra ones and ones offering me p*nis enlargement :yes:[/b]

:o I hope that wouldn't be for you BM :whistle:

I used to get them too :blush: especially on my msn account so I have blocked them now :yes:

The Fifth Third Bank is not one I have dealt with or indeed ever heard off :blink: Out of interest I did a yahoo search for the Fifth Third Bank and they are a banking organisation in America. They also have a special email address for investigating this type of email and have asked for it to be forwarded to them for investigation and also states that after forwarding to delete from inbox. So will have to wait and see ;)

[Noise Stopper]

Viagra and P*nis enlargement? Wow and I thought my boyish good looks would be enough (Resolves to spend more time on the net!)

Ian :nfh1: