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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Thu, May 3rd 2001 12:41am





Replying To Spam

from the don't-bother dept

Ever get the least bit curious by some of the spam that you get? Think that maybe one out of the thousands clogging your mailbox are worth reading? Think again. A reporter responded to a bunch of spam he got recently and found that every one of them was a scam of some sort. What I want to know is how many people actually respond to spam? Obviously it must be enough to keep spammers spamming away at an ever increasing rate, but at some point even stupid people have to learn to ignore spam. Right? Please?

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Why?

    identicon
    Ungullible, May 3rd, 2001 @ 1:46am

    Why would anyone expect that spam was anything other than a scam? You'd have to be insane to think that. However if you do I have a proposition for you.....

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Re: Return to Sender

    identicon
    Brian, May 3rd, 2001 @ 9:59am

    Apple has a new feature in it's OSX mail application that lets you "Bounce" a message. It sends back a message saying that the address was undeliverable (It looks perfect). I have been bouncing all my spam and have seen a decrease in the amount received.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Spam

    identicon
    Ryan, May 3rd, 2001 @ 9:12pm

    Out of interest I occasionally follow up and reply to spammers just to investigate (knowing all along that it is of course a scam). I really do wonder who exactly is sending money to these spammers? There's never any accountability or substance in any of the cases I've played around with so what would motivate any one to believe them? Has anyone out there ever been conned by a particularly good spammer?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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