SPAM in E-mail

[tmma 467]

Capt Ewok-

I have a quick question regarding the e-mail account I previously used for VJ only.

Before I signed up for VJ , I had nothing ever ( solicited or unsolicited) get delivered to that account. This account was a 2nd account given to me from my ISP-it was not a hotmail, yahoo or such like account.

It appears that since the time I have been on VJ, I got an average of 15 SPAM e-mails a day! Everything ranging from Viagra to Rolex watches to penny stock option tips.

I know it says in the Privacy Policy of VJ-

"-Log Files

We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use".

and

"Sharing

Aggregated demographic information may be shared with selected third party advertisers as proof of traffic volume and target audience for the purpose of securing advertising contracts on VisaJourney.com. The information is highly summarized and is in no way linked to individual visitors".

and

"Advertising

We use third party advertising companies to serve banners and text ads. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of these companies. We currently use Commision Junction and Google.com for limited advertising. You are encouraged to read their privacy policies by following their respective links.

Security

VisaJourney.com takes every precaution to protect your information. The server on which this site resides is restricted to trusted personnel and contained in a secure data center. If you have any questions regarding the security at our website, you can contact us here".

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Does all this in the VJ Privacy Policy mean our information ( email addresses) are safe from those who would use that information to Spam?

I called my ISP about this SPAM, they said they ABSOLUTLY DO NOT reveal their customer's e-mail addresses to 3rd parties-so I am wondering how all these innocuous spammers got an address I use ONLY for VJ?

Can you help me with that?

Anyway, I got so tired of the spam, I opened a Yahoo account just for VJ and to dump all the spam in.

Thanks for any explaination or clarification ( I am not internet or computer savvy)

tmma

Edited August 21, 2006 by tmma

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

We never share the emails. I am not sure what to say other than to ask if you ever posted this email on this board publically. The emails in the forums here are saved to the database and only used for the forums. So in other words it did not cmoe from this side. Sometimes spam bots use dictionary attacks to send emails out. Once they get an email address that does not reply as "unknjown address" they know it is good and send more to it.

[meauxna 15]

tmma: did you ever post that address in a message? That's usually how your email addy gets polluted. But, I find that my yahoo accounts get spam even if I have never used them publically or for any registration.

[I'm Gone 60]

Capt Ewok-

I have a quick question regarding the e-mail account I previously used for VJ only.

Before I signed up for VJ , I had nothing ever ( solicited or unsolicited) get delivered to that account. This account was a 2nd account given to me from my ISP-it was not a hotmail, yahoo or such like account.

It appears that since the time I have been on VJ, I got an average of 15 SPAM e-mails a day! Everything ranging from Viagra to Rolex watches to penny stock option tips.

http://www.mailwasher.net/

[tmma 467]

Thanks Capt Ewok and Meauxna for your replies.

I didn't use it for anything other than VJ, not posted in any messages either. The spam filters on my computer did catch most of it, so I was not so much bothered by anything "ominous" as curious to know where these spammers had got my name from.

It's no biggie, really. Like I said-curious.

Thanks again for responding!

Have a good day!

tmma

edit-thanks for link, md. Going to try it when I get the chance

Edited August 21, 2006 by tmma