I have been getting a lot of financial type spams since posting on this site.These spams are "targeted" mortgage and home loan offers. I didn't get any before I set up the email account specifically to post on this site, so I know there is a direct connection (which is no one's fault - this is after all a public forum). I had a friend of mine (who is in a position to do so) check into a couple of the hidden IP addresses.If you get any with "Home Loans Available" or "refinancing" or "fsnet.co.uk" in the "sender" part of the email, this is apparently linked (amongst others)to a debt collection agency in the UK who specialise in skip tracing for the big lenders. Be warned!!! Am I allowed to say sneaky bastards on this site?

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), December 27, 2000

Answers

Hi there iwasduped,

Thanks for that information. I have been receiving an enormous amount of mortgage-related spam for the last few months but had assumed it merely that spammers had become more proficient at targeting types of spam based on the nature of the sites that they trawled for email addresses.

I'm very interested in learning more about the link to a debt collection agency and this spam. Could you please email me privately at repossession@bigfoot.com with a more detailed explanation of the link your friend has discovered?

Thanks,

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@bigfoot.com), December 27, 2000.

Potential spammers use bots to trawl through random web pages picking up email addresses. I found this happened to a site I had created only after listing it on Yahoo's pages.

Unfortunately free web based emails like yahoo.com and hotmail.com attract an awful lot of spam. I use a hotmail address sometimes and I've even had spam mail supposedly sent from myself! The subjects are usually along the lines of get credit easy, you've been pre- approved a loan etc etc. One of these is from a fsnet.co.uk address on a regular basis and on investigation is actually from a US based source.

You can use www.spamcop.net to report spam and to find out where the emails have really come from. If you use spamcop, click on "I understand and agree" link and then cut and paste the headers and body of the email.

Pendle

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), December 27, 2000.

Hi - (I'm not too hot on computer terminology) but I read somewhre that if you use cookies then other companies can target you for spam and that they can technically follow you around the net to see what sort of sites you visit etc, they then bombard you with junkmail. You can go to a site called Junkbusters where you can download free software which blocks junkmail.

-- Jo (chrisbrad@zoom.co.uk), January 10, 2001.

I feel left out! I haven't had any spams or junk related to my use of HRP. (I hope I'm not tempting fate here...)

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), January 11, 2001.

I've not had any either. I always report my spam mail through www.spamcop.net - its very good, it will trace the IP's etc and tell you where that mail has REALLY come from!!

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), January 11, 2001.