Keyloggers.........

[BRL]

Hi all. Over the last few months I have bought, online, Adobe CS3 Extended, Adobe Lightroom and MS Office 2007.

Now, I am not sure exactly when, whether before or after I bought them, I have been getting loads of spam emails offering me discounted software etc, most are quoting CS3, Office 2007 in the subject line of the mail.

This is worrying me a bit as I think since purchasing these products on-line, the emails are quite frequent. Is there a keylogger present or just coincidence?

I have scanned my laptop almost daily but nothing comes up.....

Is it me being paranoid or what!!!!!!

[Saab Dastard]

BRL,

I think it's paranoia.

I suggest you create a new email address for use in registering on websites.

SD

[Tarq57]

I think it's most likely no coincidence. Sometimes online shops - especially those offering particularly good deals - have this as the downside. Have a look at the privacy agreement, or purchase agreement that should have been part of the transaction. If your address has been sold to other companies, the details of what they will do with your personal information should be in the agreement.
Or it might be less sinister....a "service" provided by the original vendor to keep you up to date on the latest specials.(Seems fairly likely to me.) If this latter is the case, often there is an option to "opt out" of these offers.

[BRL]

Thanks guys. My initial worry was obviously my barclaycard details being taken as I used the same card to buy the stuff.

I am not too worried about it now.

[Sensible]

I have a "throwaway" Yahoo account for such purchases since I found out the hard way a long time ago that e-mail addresses are sold by the sales company or used by a sister company on the basis that if you are gullible enough to buy abc software then you may well be gullible to buy xyz software. Gullible might not be the right word here Other companies I know for sure also sell e-mail addresses to just about every Tom Dick or Harry as well as Mr Scammer!

[ZH875]

Have a look at this, it is free and gives you throwaway email boxes that are valid for around six hours.

Use this service to register on anywebsite, and there is no spam back.