DO NOT Send To A Friend
Clicking on 'Send To A Friend' sends more than you expect!
(Updated May. 24th, 2009)
After weeks of testing (more on that later), I have proven a suspicion I've had for a long time.
Since this is the Holiday Season, and thus when the 'trap' I've confirmed is most prevalent, it seems an opportune time to share my findings.
We've all seen them.
We've all tried them at one time or another....
Those funny or cute videos, cartoons, games, free offers, greeting cards and such we come across on line that have those convenient little links that say things like; "Send To A Friend," "Share With A Friend," "Click to Email This to a Friend" or "Click Here To Share." It looks so easy and sounds like such a good thing to do. After all, it is FREE.
What's the old saying? " ...If it sounds too good to be true..."
Well... there IS a reason why it is free and it's not because the web site owners are good samaritans. It is because you are providing revenue by clicking on the link and supplying them with active email addresses. Those addresses belonging to your friends and relatives are a valuable commodity to Spammers!
Over the past two months I received a few of those "Sent by a Friend" animated eCards and videos. Even though I didn't click on the link in the email to view them, the damage had been done. They already had my email address. So, after two years with this new email address and priding myself as being totally Spam-Free, I was suddenly receiving four to ten spam emails each day with ads for 'More Affordable Health Insurance,' 'How to Flush Pounds Away,' 'Extend Your Car Warranty,' 'Receive Free Money From The Government,' 'Someone Is Searching For You,' 'Let Debtco Show You How To Erase Debt,' 'Lower Your Heating Bills' along with many other similar come-ons.
I never use this particular, primary email address when ordering things, for signing up for services of any kind, or when registering for a service on line. So I knew that the blasted Spammers must have gotten my address from somewhere else. So I set up some web-based email accounts (a total of eleven) through Yahoo and HotMail to test out my theory.
I then had several friends resend videos and eCards they had previously sent to me to these new addresses. I asked them to use the same method they had used previously by clicking on the 'Send To A Friend' link and submitting the new address I provided. I had those email accounts up ahead of time for one week and used them for nothing else. I also set up one account that was not shared as a control.
I received the emails in the new accounts but didn't open the emails. Opening them or clicking on links within them may further confirm an email address as valid, but it was not necessary for the purpose of my test.
Sure enough! It only took a few days for most of the shared accounts to start getting Spammed. After two weeks, they are now receiving the same Spam emails I am getting at the rate of 2 to 4 every other day. Thus confirming what I and others had suspected:
By providing email addresses, you are supplying Spammers with a list of email addresses that have a high likelihood of being valid and therefore very valuable. The money that web-based companies make from selling lists of valid email addresses is big business and probably earns more for some site owners than banner ads.
So, PLEASE, when you run across something on line that you find hilarious or interesting and you feel compelled to Share it with others. DO NOT select to allow the site to forward it to them for you. Instead, copy the link and send that in an email OR send the eCard, video, etc. to yourself, and when it arrives, forward it to whomever you want. Of course, if you do the latter, be smart and have it sent to a secondary web-based account.
It is a good practice to not hand out other people's email addresses to ANY web site. Even if you feel comfortable with their 'Privacy Policy' and believe them to be reputable, someone less scrupulous could hack into their site and obtain all the addresses they collected!
Keep your friends and relatives privacy and email boxes in mind by not giving out their email addresses! You wouldn't want them to pass YOURS all over the internet, would you?
Through my somewhat limited testing,
The Guilty Spam Proliferators that I confirmed are :
IncrediMail eCards
123 Greetings
Blue Mountain
BGreetings.com
eGreetings.com
GetFunCards.com
MyGamesZone
Funny-City.com
I did not get Spam from links sent through Hallmark.com, MSN.AmericanGreetings.com or JacquieLawson.com
Now that I've alerted you of this sneaky tool of Spammers, please let others know. If for nothing else... to protect yourself from getting buried in Spam.
The disturbing point proven in my test is that the Spam you receive may not be due to any fault of your own but rather the result of friends who unwittingly hand out your email address to sites who then sell it to Spammers.
Remember:
When forwarding email, remove all the previous Sender addresses from the header before hitting Send! This removes another popular source of addresses for Spammers.
Additionally, using the BCC option within your email program is a good alternative when sending or forwarding to multiple recipients.
NOTE:
In case you are wondering... I have been attacking my current Spam problem by using SpamKiller. It gives me a way to send MAILER DAEMON returns to the sender. That is, it sends them a response making it look like it is coming from my ISP stating my email address no longer exists or is invalid. I've used this technique successfully several times when I had a different email address. The sad thing is that it often takes several months of diligence on my part until the Spammers review their lists and remove 'dead' addresses. The version of SpamKiller I use is over 5 years old. Since then the program was purchased by McAfee. http://us.mcafee.com/root/product.asp?productid=msk. It is now $39, but there may now be other tools available for less or free that do the same or better job.
Years ago, before finding a tool to stop it, I became so inundated with Spam that the only course to take was to contact my ISP and request a new address.
Whatever you do, NEVER respond to any unsolicited email! Doing so or clicking on links within the email only serves to prove your address is a valid one. The result is just MORE Spam!
.
UPDATE:
After four months of diligence, working with my ISP, and using SpamKiller, I have now been totally Spam-free for nearly two months.
It CAN be done.
Now... lets see how long it lasts.