[sf-lug] spam vs. anti-spam

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 5/7/21 3:15 PM, Akkana Peck wrote:
> Michael Paoli writes:
>> And spammers abusing the BALUG VM is a problem that goes way back,
>> even many years ago, they had bots using the wiki registration form ...
>> because it generates an email.  Spammers and their bots love to use any
>> email or web means that can generate/forward/relay an email, most notably
>> if they can control most any content of it - even if it's only some tiny
>> bit - they don't care.
> Oh, wow. Is that why I keep getting mail from services like paypal
> (and other real services) for someone with an obviously autogenerated
> realname, but my email address? I've never been able to figure out
> what possible good that would do spammers, since the owner of the
> email address obviously isn't going to confirm it. But maybe they
> could use it to test whether my email address is live (by logging
> back in to paypal and seeing if it says the email couldn't be sent?)
> It seems like a lot of extra trouble to go to, but I suppose it
> would be easy enough to automate (or pay mechanical turks).
     Or just a have a cheap machine running a script, Remember script 
kiddies
who tried to hack into everything for cheap just a few years ago.

>
> (I'd also like to know why web services like paypal don't delete
> accounts where the email was never confirmed, but instead keep them
> live forever, and continue to send promotional mail to the owner of
> the email address, year after year. And they never respond to email
> to abuse@ trying to get it stopped. Grumble.)
>
>          ...Akkana

     They hope to get some of your money Akkana,  It is just that simple.
If you suddenly need something and run across it cheap in their flyer,
you might just order it from them.

But email addresses can be gotten in other ways by the skilled.,
Very common for strange mail to show up for me sent by a friend
running Windows who fell for a scam or otherwse got hacked and
his email addresses were copied in toto.

     I get blackmail stuff about things I never do or did in the past
and these are sent out by the million,s one supposes and the
fraudsters make a living frightening people who are guilty
of the allegations.

     Bobbie Sellers