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To Catch A Spammer
Word to the Wise

 

When you get a SPAM, and there is an e-mail address provided for you to "unsubscribe", DON'T do it. One of two things will happen to you. The first is that the address is faked and you'll get a bounce message saying the account doesn't exist. This is the best that can happen to you. The second and more likely to happen, is that it is a valid address, and you just provided them with a known good spammable e-mail address; YOUR'S!

If you've never posted messages to any newsgroups, never joined a mailing list, and never made public your e-mail address to locator services like the Internet white pages, Peoplefinder etc. Then you are probably pretty SPAM free. Once you have done any of the above, then you'll have opened up a really large can of worms. If just one spammer gets hold of your e-mail address, chances are very good that they will make a little more money by selling a list of e-mail addresses they have to other spammers.

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