"REPLY EMAIL DATED 17-07-2007"

Mr. Murphy Brown (what a name for a spammer, hah!) contacted me telling me he had $30 million dollars for me, and all that I have to do is reply to my email (thus giving him the right to spam me even more) and send him my mobile telephone number.

...What a tool bag.

The following is a spam email, or also known as a spoof email, I recieved today:

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Good day,

I have a 100% free risk business in tune of 30,000,000 million U.S dollars for you and I shall give you details on how to receive the money into any bank account of your choice as soon as you reply back.

Please reply quickly for details if you are interested. But delete this message if you are not interested.

Include your mobile telephone number for easy communication.

Regards,
Mr. Murphy Brown.

Blocking Enterprise Spam

If you have a business, then you have a spam problem. The efficiencies of communicating through e-mail not only benefit organizations like yours; they also benefit the spammers who profit off of sending pernicious e-mails to millions of people every day. In fact, spam is so cost-effective that it costs less than $0.0004 to send a single spam. That’s 25 emails for just one penny!


The Spam Problem

According to Meta Group, “Companies are routinely getting 20,000 daily spam messages, putting significant burden (e.g. bandwidth and storage consumption) on mail relays, SMTP gateways, and internal mail servers.”

To make matters worse, companies have invested millions of dollars in spam-fighting technologies that have been rendered obsolete within months of purchase by the innovation of spammers who have found ways to thwart new technologies along the way. Examples of spammer ingenuity abound. As recently as mid-2003 Bayesian logic was touted as the immutable defense against spam, but by early 2004, most spam had evolved to be “Bayesian-proof”. There are even programs available for download on the internet that will “test” your spam for you before you send it to make sure it will get past the spam filters.

Clearly, the solution is to partner with a company that specializes in fighting spam. Who you choose is a crucial step because you don’t want your solution to become obsolete within a few months, and you certainly don’t want to create a problem with false positives.

Criteria 1 – Diversity – The Cocktail Approach to Filtering Spam

The first step in addressing spam is identifying it. But, unlike viruses, spam identification is not straightforward. There is no “smoking gun” that clearly indicates to a detection system that a message is a spam. For instance, the common approach of looking for keywords such as “Viagra” or “Free”, misses many spams. The method of blocking known spammer IP addresses lags and does nothing to deter determined spammers. Any effective spam detection system must employ multiple techniques for identifying and measuring the probability that a message is spam including the newer heuristic analysis and real-time collaborative spam filtering tools.

Criteria 2 – Flexibility – Different Strokes for Different Folks

A fundamental issue with spam is defining what exactly constitutes spam. One person may consider any bulk e-mail spam, while another highly values the opt-in bulk e-mails they receive. Different organizations may have policies with very different definitions of what is allowed. A good anti-spam solution must allow administrators to enforce these different rules and even allow them to apply different rules to different users, preferably by integrating with policy tools and user databases such as LDAP directories. It should be able to support differing thresholds for different spam results and adjustable confidence values in spam detection techniques. It should allow administrators to customize responses for inbound or outbound traffic. Rules should allow re-labeling, blocking and quarantining of messages, as well as a test mode where rules are tried without impacting mail flow. Ideally, your solution will include an integrated policy manager, which enforces corporate policy across the entire e-mail system, and allows different rule sets for different users and groups.

Criteria 3 – Expertise – Know Thy Enemy

Spammers are constantly improving their methods, particularly as corporations have finally begun to fight back. Vendors must be able to develop and deploy policies, signatures, keywords and values to corporations using their solution. They should be developed based on data from a distributed network of customers and other Internet detection points by a team of spam blocking experts. Only by constant improvement can any solution continue to be responsive to spammers even in the face of new threats.

About the Author

CipherTrust is the leader in anti-spam and email security. Learn more by downloading our free whitepaper, “Securing the E-mail Boundary: An overview of IronMail” or by visiting www.ciphertrust.com

Approaching Spam Overloaded Email Inboxes

Many of you are probably very concerned at the enormous increase
in junk email, estimated to have grown about 42% during 2001,
and the seemingly non-stop invasion of X-rated email.

Analysts predict that the volume of email on the Internet,
most of it junk, will grow another 50 percent in 2002.

That is a lot of email!

With estimates that the number of Internet users is nearing
the 1 billion mark, the amount of email floating around the
Internet is only going to get worse.

Many of you have asked if there is any sure-fire cure for all this
junk email that we receive right now and any more that may
appear this year.

The short answer - Yes.

Make good use of your delete button! :-)

The long answer is - No.

No, there is no 100 percent cure for the spam that plagues us
all, X-rated or not. But there are several ways to try and alleviate
this problem.

Most email programs, including Microsoft's Outlook Express, have
custom filtering features that are built into the program but which
are, more often than not, very much unused.

The big problem in using ANY email filter system is that
they may cause blocking of legitimate email.

Basically, you can set up filters to remove email that comes
from a specific email address or set it up to block email
which contains certain key words in either the Subject section
or in the Body of the message.

Netscape Communicator 4.0 or later also have filtering ability
but Netscape Navigator does not have filtering ability. And
Eudora 3.0 and above can also filter your email.

Filtering will not eliminate all spam email but it can make your
life on the Internet just a bit easier.

Just keep in mind that filters are a constant, ongoing process.
Spammers are always changing strategy to keep ahead of the
Filters or other Spam Blocking software.

Here are a few of the most popular email management tools:

SpamKiller by Novasoft
http://www.spamkiller.com/
Free 30 day trial. $29.95 w/free upgrades.

Spam Buster by Contact Plus Corporation
http://www.contactplus.com/products/spam/spam.htm
Free download for evaluation. $19.95 for registered version.

Brightmail
http://www.brightmail.com/
Considered one of the best, if not the top filtering program.

Elron Software
http://www.elronsw.com/
Internet filtering software. Free trial downloads.

Mailshell
http://www.mailshell.com/
Free 30-day trial. $29.95 per year. Use unlimited email addresses.

Once you decide how you want to approach this problem, then
it is just a matter of keeping tabs on your email and making
adjustments to block future changes that spammers might make.

Keeping on top of this will allow you to can the majority of
the SPAM that is now finding it's way into your in-box.

About the Author

A.T.Rendon is an entrepreneur and published writer.
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The "I Won a Grant" Email Spam Scam

You can win spam lotteries, free products, access to websites, and even spam Grants. Next they'll be sending me emails saying my child that I don't have has recieved free tuition for harvard.

The following is a "Grant" spam scam email I recieved:

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VITTORIO FONDAZIONE.
Corso Ercole I d'Este 44,
Ferrara 44100 - Italy.
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it
ITALY
Concern Don-nee,

The Foundazion di Vittorio, would like to notify you that you have been chosen by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business development. The Fondazione Di Vittorio, established 1977 by the Multi-Million groups and now supported by the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) was conceived with the objective of human growth, educational, and community development.To celebrate the 28th anniversary program, he Vittorio Foundation in conjunction with the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) is giving out a yearly donation of US$500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) to 100 lucky recipients. These specific Donations/Grants will be awarded to 100 lucky international recipients worldwide; in different categories for their personal business development and enhancement of their educational plans. At least 15% of the awarded funds should be used by you to develop a part of your environment. This is a yearly program, which is a measure of universal development strategy.Kindly note that you will only be chosen to receive the donation once, which means that subsequent yearly donation will not get to you again. Take time and thought in spending the donation wisely on something that will last you a long time. Recipients are only eligible to be awarded this donation once.Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide, you were selected among the lucky recipients to receive the award sum of US$500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) as charity donations/aid from the Vittorio Foundation, ECOWAS, EU and the UNO in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament. (Note that all beneficiaries email addresses were selected randomly from over 100,000 internet websites or a shop's cash invoice around your area in which you might have purchased something from),You are required to fill the form below and email it to our Executive Secretary below for qualification documentation and processing of your claims. After contacting our office with the requested data, you will be given your donation pin number, which you will use in collecting the funds. Please endeavor to quote your Qualification numbers (N-222-6747, E-900-56) in all discussions.
=================================================================================================
FULL NAMES:..................................
ADDRESS:.................STATES..................ZIP...............
COUNTRY.......................
AGE:.......................SEX:...............................MARITAL
STATUS:
.................OCCUPATION:.........................................
E-MAIL ADDRESS:.........................TELEPHONE
NUMBER:............................
=================================================================================================
Executive Secretary- Mr.Maxwell_Jackson
Email: secretary_contact_fondazione0920@yahoo.it
=================================================================================================
On behalf of the Board kindly, accept our warmest congratulations.
Regards.
Mr. Peterson Mark
(Foundation Officer)

The "Contact Feduciary Agent" Spam Email Scam

Spammers love these winning notification emails. I wonder if they go through fads like the real world. They probably have tea together and talk about the next fad email in the spamming industry.

The following is a "Contact Feduciary Agent" spam email I recieved:

---

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#942) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on 7th July 2007. It is yet to be unclaimed and you are getting the final NOTIFICATION as regards this. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:16 22 28 30 33 35 (bonus no.37), which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of ?250,000.00 (Two hundred & Fifty Thousand Pounds sterling) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03. This is from a total cash prize of ?2,00000:00 shared amongst the(8)lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.

This promotion takes place weekly. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your ?250,000.00 (Two hundred & Fifty Thousand Pounds sterling) will be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe. Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned. To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:

FIDUCIARY AGENT
OVER SEAS CLAIM UNIT
Dr. Mark Pullen
Email: overseaofficeclaim007@yahoo.ie

Details Of Beneficiary
1.FULL NAMES:__________________________________
2.ADDRESS:___________________________________________
3.SEX:_______________
4.AGE:________
5.MARITAL STATUS:___________________
6.OCCUPATION:________________________
7.E-MAIL ADDRESS:_____________________________
8.TELEPHONE NUMBER:_____________________
9.COUNTRY________________________________

CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE MEMBERS AND STAFF OF UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

Yours faithfully,
Mr. Michael Anderson.
Online coordinator for THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

The "I Have Cancer, Take My Money" Spam Scam

Spammers will do anything to get your info, they'll pretend to be a lottery, they'll pretend to be a long lost relative, and they'll EVEN pretend to be a God driven cancerous man that wants to give you his money because it feels good.

I shake my finger at you spammer. Do you know no limit? Apparently not.

When we catch spammers we should have old ladies beat them on the head with their purses yelling "Shame on you!"

The following is a "I Have Cancer, Take My Money" spam email I recieved earlier this morning:

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DEAR BELOVED.

As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday. My name is STAN WILLIS a merchant in Tunisia and Dubai. I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer. It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts.


Now that God has called me, I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate and extended family members as well as a few close friends. I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul so, I have decided to give also to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Algeria, Malaysia and some countries in Africa. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore.

I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money, which I have there to charity organization in Bulgaria and Pakistan; they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contented with what I have left for them. The last of my money which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of Eleven Million United States Dollars $11,000,000,00 that I have with a Holding Firm Abroad.

Please if you are interested to assist me in the great project. I want you to forward the following information’s to me so that I can be able to write a formal letter of introduction to the holding firm so that you can contact the holding firm and discuss with them how the funds can be released to you.

Names in full:
Address:
Occupation:
D.O.B/SEX:
Nationality:
Marital status:
Tel/fax numbers:
A scanned copy of your international passport or any other form of Identification:


I will want you to help me collect this deposit and dispatched it to charity organizations. I have set aside 10% for you, your time and also any expenses incurred during this assignment. God be with you.

Kindly reply me on my confidential email account: stanwillis944@yahoo.co.uk


God bless you greatly as you do.

Regards,
STAN WILLIS.

I AM WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY.

Wow, your demanding, and it must be urgent because the title of your email all caps. Either that or your caps key is sticking.

These banks I'm getting emails from sure are nice, they want to give me money! But wait a minute, why are they all out of country?! I don't know, I better give them all of my information so they can use it for who knows what they use it for.

I love black hat marketing tactics. They make checking my email an enjoyable part of my day.

The following is a "I AM WAITING FOR YOU REPLY" spam email I recieved this morning:

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FROM THE DESK OF THE GOVERNOR
BANK OF GHANA (BOG)
REPUBLIC OF GHANA

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have on this 5th day of July, 2007 received a payment
credit instruction from the Government Of Ghana to credit
your account with your full contract funds from the
Millenium Challenge Account with our bank. This is to
notify you that your funds has been programmed for
immediate release into your nominated account but we can
not transfer this funds direct to your nominated bank
account, because we are having a little problem with
International Monetary Fund (IMF) so our method of payment
is by Diplomatic Courier Service.

Be informed that every arrangement regarding your cash
payment through Diplomatic Services has been made, your
funds packaged like a consignment and the Diplomatic
Agency have to move down to your Country in order to
deliver the Consignment to your doorstep.Note also that as
soon as the Diplomat arrives in your Country they will
give you a call immediately and you will help them to get Customs
Yellow

Tag for the consignment. You have to help the Diplomat to
get the Custom Yellow Tag Paper so that the Customs will
allow them entry at the airport for onward delivery of the
Consignment to you and for security reason you are advice
to follow the rules and regulations of the diplomat for
easy collection of the consignment.

Finally, please be aware that the diplomat will leave
Accra, Ghana via London and finally to arrive in your
Country which is his last destination on the diplomatic
travel route. I want you to send your direct mobile phone
and your home address to me immediately, so that as soon
as the diplomatic arrives in your country he will call you
immediately to notify you.

Cordially yours,

Dr. Paul Acquah
Governor,Bank of Ghana
Accra, Ghana.
I AM WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY.