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spam to "real name" style email addresses

 
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Bugs



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:21 pm    Post subject: spam to "real name" style email addresses Reply with quote
    

waddyaknow, I'm using this site for work reasons again!

So my leedle IT gurus, agree with me on this one:

if you have an email address which is for example j_johnson at hotmail.com (not hotmail in this instance, but another well known ISP or webmail provider), ie, an initial and a not uncommon surname at a well known domain, is it really quite likely that you'll wind up getting spam even if you hardly give out the email address to anybody?

sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've got a real-name address at Hotmail and I get very little spam. And my name is not that odd.

Northern_Lad



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Probably more likely to.

Dave Gorman used this very principle to find his namesakes all over the world. He simply took either his name, initial, or both, created a long list of them in different combinations, and then added on a few well-known host names. Don't know the exact figure, but I think it was around 2000 addresses. And that's just with one persons name!

Having said that, most span comes from bought lists, as the people who generate it aren't bright enough to figure out how simple it could be.

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

sean wrote:
my name is not that odd.


No, it's just the rest of you

Bugs



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Me too, although my names a bit odder than yours - I did once get a series of emails from a woman in America meant for her daughter. She was very nice.

But are you sure Hotmail isn't just punting them to your junk mail? And anyway I don't think Hotmail is nearly as bad as it used to be...I have my suspicions about this one as we once opened a webmail account from the same provider, and within days, it was spammed to oblivion, and we'd not even used it. It was a word rather than a name though.

sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I think it's got better, but I check my junk folder regularly and there's never much in it.

Bugs



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

OK, so far the only IT guru to respond is NL (thanks for those points Mr Lad )...come on ladies and gents, please, any opinions?

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 05 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not a guru but I had to ditch my hotmail account cos of the huge amounts of spam and it was basically surname_firstname@hotmail.com

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