Spam E-Mail..what is the point of it...?

[Fozzer]

Hello all...!

I get the usual zillions of Spam E-Mail every day, as you do, and I wonder where is it all coming from, (it's always in English), and what is the purpose of it all...?

It always, (apparently), contains nothing of interest to any one, and is therefore deleted immediately before opening it......as you do with all the crap that comes through your letter-box..!
...so what is the point of it all...
...apart from filling my In-Box/Letter-Box up with useless Junk?

Does it help in any way, the person/site, who sends it to me...?

There you go...
Your explanations/opinions/cures etc.........!

Paul... ...!

The only practical use for Spam is to slice it, coat it with batter, and fry it gently on both sides...
...and serve with mashed potatoes, fried egg, peas, and OXO gravy ...!
The stuff we get in our In-Box is a total waste of time...!

[Saitek]

Afternoon Paul!
Yep I think most of us get it or change our adresses every couple of years to stop it.  :'(
I believe there are several reasons for why people send spam.
1) People fall to stupid suggestions and so money can be made at their expense.
2) It is a way of advertising a company or to gain hits to a website. A company was not too recently done for this in the courts. Porn websites or illegal stuff and such are often involved and it is the only way they can get through to people.
3) Simply to annoy. Like hacking and viruses, sending spam, often by using worms to get email addresses is just a dumb and somehow satisfying use of leisure time.
4) A tool to send viruses or get information by worms upon clicking the email open.

They are my thoughts.

[Romulus111VADT]

One of the worst and most notorious spammers is out of Russia.  He is responsible for countless millions of spam e-mails everyday.

[Fozzer]

Afternoon Paul!
Yep I think most of us get it or change our addresses every couple of years to stop it.  :'(

This is the bit which always confuses me...
Me, like other registered Companies, use a personal E-Mail address, which we are known by.
That is the address and password which is required by our Internet Service Provider to connect to the Internet.
I have always used the same E-Mail address since the year dot, for reasons of personal identification.

My ISP allows for multiple, different, E-Mail addresses to be set-up.

So...
What happens...?
I connect to my main ISP by using my main E-Mail address and password*, then use different E-Mail addresses and passwords to connect to other sites..?

Using alternate E-Mail addresses and passwords to enter other sites via my main ISP is  a complete mystery to me.......!

LOL...!

Paul...Freeserve.com......!

* ...this cannot/will not change...!

[beaky]

I dunno how they do it, just wish they'd stop...
I've recently started getting a single email every day from some improbable name... today's is  "Sheron Tolle", whose message subject is "Hi". Do they really think I'm even going to open a message from Sheron Tolle, or  Joh Semth? And why do they want me to?

[Brett_Henderson]

The spam that drives me to rage... are the crooks who get you open an email that gives you a virus with very specific syptoms.. When you Google looking for a solution.. guess what pops up like magic ?  The $19.95 cure for that bug  

[Hagar]

I get the usual zillions of Spam E-Mail every day, as you do, and I wonder where is it all coming from, (it's always in English), and what is the purpose of it all...?

I really don't understand this. I've had the same E-mail address for several years & it's plastered all over the Internet. I don't see the point of constantly changing it as the idea is to be easy to contact. I rarely get any spam at all these days. I can only put it down to my ISP effectively blocking it.

PS. I believe many of these spammers use a random address generator to automatically send this stuff out. Working 24/7 a single computer would be capable of sending out tens of thousands (probably millions) of e-mails every single day. For example: every possible combination of xxxx@hotmail to a value of however many digits. Some of them are bound to be genuine addresses & hit paydirt. The rest don't matter but it's pointless changing your address as it will still find you.

[Mictheslik]

The best Emails are the ones saying that mr Smith has been killed in South Africa and No-one has claimed his money, because you have the same surname all

[Iwannabeapilot]

[quote]The best Emails are the ones saying that mr Smith has been killed in South Africa and No-one has claimed his money, because you have the same surname all

[Sir_Crashalot]

Most of these e-mails come from Nigeria. It's called 419. In Nigeria this is big business. Luckily there are people in this world who don't fall for these e-mails and try to fight back. In a funny way.....

http://www.419eater.com/

Crash

[ozzy72]

Apparently over 85% of all spam originates in Florida! So err lets bomb Florida (but not the house of Felix)

[Woodlouse2002]

So err lets bomb Florida (but not the house of Felix)

Don't worry. The house of Felix/Kingdom of Heaven is proof against all destruction.

[Fozzer]

Apparently over 85% of all spam originates in Florida! So err lets bomb Florida.....  ;D

...agreed...;)...!

Google: "Florida Spam"....>>>

http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/0/C ... enDocument

Paul... ...!

[Katahu]

I say round up all the spammers in the world, tie every one of them to the nose of a jet, fire up the engines and have each plane fly so fast that their body will because nice, hot and crispy from all the heat caused by friction.

Better yet, since we have 20,000 members here at the V and tens of thousands more on other FS sites, I say we set up a large and unstoppable army together and charge at the spammers with our massive wave of spits, tomcats, etc.

[Saitek]

Nah I think a far better plan would be to ban them from computers for life. These people tend to be addicted to computers and that would be the biggest torture. Unfortunately I can't think of a way that's enforceable.