AOL and Spam
 

Has anyone else out there noticed a sudden, like over the last month, mega increase in spam via AOL, mainly Viagra Zantax porn and oddly, cesspits? Apart from bin AOL, are there any practical ways of stopping this stuff (90 today). AOL have a report spam button, but it still seems to keep on coming.

Non technical answers only please as I don't speak computer.

:D

AOL report spam is a waste of time. Go to e-mail controls and read instructions for blocking address's

DSR10.. also discovered the report spam button is a waste of time.

But unless I m missing something you have to open the email for the address before you can block it, as the inbox doesnt' show the complete adress...

Also I think there's a limit to how many addresses you can block - ?30.

PW

Ludwig,
For a while, I thought I was the only one getting this junk on AOL. A couple of weeks ago, I set up a new screen name (to test the system). I haven't sent any e-mail, been in any chat rooms, or been on the web using the new name, but I've still received spam. The only thing I can think of is that someone has gained access to the AOL mainframe to gather screen names.
Personally, I think it is a waste of time trying to block the senders e-mails, as just about every one I've received has a different sender. (usually something very obscure like XYZTR@hotmail.....)

419

Same as 419. This has been ongoing for 2 years. I have actually accused them of selling email addresses. Back comes the standard 'you must have sent emails' or ' you must have been in chat' or a host of others. NO. A totally DORMANT email address gets spammed. Try reporting them to a trading standards organisation. I cannot think of any other reason. Odd thing is that my main username gets spammed most. Logic says that if the stuff is random generated all will get the same? My main name has never sent out either.
They need to try harder!:confused:

Ludwig,

One program I highly recommend in the war against Spam is Firetrust's Mailwasher Pro. It lets you block and bounce the Spam before you download it.

If you do not want to use a program, you can go in and use Filters in your current email program to send the Spam straight to your trash folder.

Take Care,

Richard

I don't know the cure for AOL users, if AOL themselves are revealing your address.

I've solved the Spam problem from my end (well, 99%,anyway). I use Spamcop. A few dollars a year!

All my e-mail addresses either forward mail to my Spamcop address, or Spamcop's POP Processor pulls the mail from them. It then checks the mail against Spamcop's blacklists and my personal blacklist, and doesn't even send me stuff that fails that test.

Mail that passes the test is sent to my very confidential "washed mail" address.

There's also a personal "whitelist" for my friends who use AOL - which is otherwise almost permamently blocked by Spamcop because of its association with Spammers.

Every day or so, I check the "held mail" at Spamcop (once very couple of weeks there's a genuine one in there), and report the lot via Spamcop's spam reporting utility.

Folks I know who've used other methods have thanked me profusely for recommending Spamcop. The great thing is that the junk never finds its way into your PC to start with, and you can report it very easily.

The way to go!

I'm with Richard in recommending Mailwasher Pro. It's quite fabulous and there's a set of filters that you can download from here and then tweak and personalise. (You don't need to do much of either, but you can if you want.)

As default options, Mailwasher can use Spamcop's public blacklist and ORDB's database of open relays. You can add other remote blacklist servers to which you subscribe if you wish.

You can also subscribe to Mailwasher's own database of spam, called FirstAlert.

I said in another thread a month or so ago that I get about 200 spams a day and at the time had reduced that by about 90%. I get more than 200 a day now. Despite the extra crap, tweaking filters and other Mailwasher settings has improved the spam cut to pretty much 100%.

As with any spam filter, there is the risk of false positives (since tweaking the filters it's pretty infrequent), but there are options within Mailwasher to help you deal with that.

It is a very, very good program.

AA

Mrs Poons has applied for a every p:mad:s extension she's been offered and now has a fine 37'3" example!! She's been getting AOL spam for about a year, but until recently I've escaped.

I did read an article in a computer magazine last summer that was discussing e-mail programs that have telephone directory or voter listings, and then add the "@aol.com" extension (or any other for that matter) before sending the spam. The more 'common' your name, the more likelihood these programs will find you, even if you add a series of numbers or letters to your screen name. The program can also artificially change the sender name.

I asked AOL how Report Spam works, but they were not very forthcoming http://www.bazlinton.com/images/41616-4.gif, and so now have decided to purchase Mailwasher Pro. I have also bought a domain name and use that for e-mails, it's not that expensive, and to date (16 months) I have not received one spam e-mail. It may not be for everyone, but it's an option.

WP

Regretably, they may not be genuine AOL users. It is possible to spoof addresses, to look as if they are from AOL. I don't use AOL, but I guess they should be able to advise you how to determine this. "Hotmail" give some advice on their site. There should be some "good" info in the "Full" header of the message.


You may be interested to know that AOL has recently been blocked by the UAE government (well Etisalat anyway) because they were advertising a product which could circumvent the UAE proxy censor! :mad:

SeeGulf News article

Getting loads of AOL spam, and Mrs Daysleeper, good topic chaps(ettes) Keep the advice coming.

Seems to come in waves on AOL, I'll get a bad week then very quiet for 10 days...the spam is from sources listed on the SPEWS blocklist but then noticeably stops...maybe AOL using SPEWS or similar but always playing catchup like most ISP's.

I report the spam each and everytime as hate to say it if u dont then you cant expect AOL/yr ISP to know about it and block it can you :ugh:

I too had been getting more AOL spam than usual. I was advised to delete it without reading, as once it has been opened the sender then knows it's an active email address. It seems to have worked as I now get minimal spam. How long it will last remains to be seen.

I have to agree.....just been in the US for four days and came back to over 140 spam emails on one email address alone.I am getting to the stage where I think I will change ISP'S and on that subject I would appreciate any advice.When I first began using the web I was happy with AOL's "walled garden" approach...but now I would like to use Outlook and other such goodies ...and AOL does not make this happen ..

Eastern - connect via AOL, minimize the awful front page, and then run OE, IE or Outlook and connect THROUGH AOL. It works fine, but does give 'mailwasher' problems bouncing the spam.