A question about a coincidence.

[aquart]

I just opened a spam email. It was an ad, hopefully non-poisonous, but I opened it because it said: re: circe. I correspond with a circe.

We all know how these spam programs generate names and words to elude anti-spam filters. And it's probably a coincidence that this mail said re: circe.

My question is: is it possible that this is NOT a coincidence? Is it possible that the data mining programs are refined enough to sift through individual correspondence and pick out the words that appear regularly in my email? Words likely to cause me to open an otherwise strange email? Is it possible that our government is making this search information available for commercial use?

I ask because very little seems too paranoid to be possible these days. Is there anyone among us who can assure me that I've gone too far this time?

[fooj]

1. I think you bring up a valid point.

Peace.

[TankerKC]

5. I have noticed...

…spam email has key words or names that I have used in other correspondence.

[hvn_nbr_2]

11. I've noticed the same thing. n/t

[GrumpyGreg]

2. I think worrying about the government in this case is a bit of a stretch.

It's more likely some slime just trying to earn a buck or two.

[BuyingThyme]

3. I once looked up an unusual word at Dictionary.com, only

to receive an email a few days later with little more than that same unusual word in the subject line.

I asked the same questions.

[mousie]

4. I've noticed that

much of the spam I get too seems to be "from" names that I might correspond with.... they might take a first name or a last name that sounds familiar. I think these spammers somehow get hold of email lists and then use certain names that might sound familiar when they spam us?

[UncleSepp]

6. There's another explanation, noncoincidental but nonparanoid

A worm that can open up your address book may send mail to the people in your address book on your behalf. If one of your friends gets one of these worms, it may send you a mail from her using whatever name she input as the name attached to your email address in her contacts list. Some worms have been known to go through the subject lines of emails in an infected machine's inbox and re-use them, making it appear as if the email sent is part of an ongoing conversation. Basically, any information in the email client of a vulnerable machine is fair game for a worm to use.

That being said, just because you've gotten an email from a worm doesn't mean you have it.

Most likely, though, 'circe' was randomly generated from a list of names.

[TomInTib]

9. I got one of those worms and it wiped me out within an hour.

And did the same to everyone I do business with.

It sent me mail from addresses in my address book that I had never accessed.

[aquart]

12. It wasn't from Circe. It was re: circe. From a strange name.

I've had genuine messages like that. It usually means that a friend has died or been hospitalized. Which is why I opened it. I was damned relieved it was spam.

[Mr Rabble]

7. You have spyware.

Download, install, and run Spybot or Ad Aware.

[Magginkat]

8. RE: A question about a coincidence.

No coincidence.....& no you have not gone too far.

I noticed a while back that I frequently get spam that, at first glance, appears to be from someone I correspond with. A closer look will show a variation of the name or email address. Recently, I have been getting emails that at a glance look like they come from my Congressman.
They have been ads for an online mortgage company or it's agents.

My IP has a decent spam blocker but lately I notice stuff getting through because, apparently, it looks like it's from my Congressman who is on my friends list...... not that this slimy weasel is a friend!

I purchased a program called Mailwasher that allows me to see what is on my server, even read it, then delete or bounce it back to sender before downloading anything to my mailbox. They never know that I could see it.


http://new.petitiononline.com/GWList/petition.html

http://granniesagainstgeorge.org/Forum/index.php

[Angry Girl]

10. Bounce-backs still allowed?

Mailwasher used to have that capacity but most ISPs have put a stop to that (since replying to spam usually just clogs up bandwidth). How are you managing to do bounce-backs?

[Magginkat]

15. Bounce-backs still allowed?

They also added spam cop and another spam reporting program called First Alert. I have Mailwasher Pro which may have some additional features.

To the best of my knowledge they still bounce but it does have restrictions. They seem to concentrate on known spam. I am allowed to black list & mark for bouncing all the stuff that slips through like the ones I have been getting lately from online loan companies, Christian matchmaker (GAG material) and Viargra, etc.

My IP added a spam filter to at the web level which catchs most of this junk.

[Straight Shooter]

13. It's a hassle, but I open all my e-mail through the webmail portal now.

I delete whatever is junk or suspicious, log out, and then open my e-mail program and let the good stuff download.

Like I said, it's a hassle, but it's my understanding that opening mail on the portal web site isn't the same as opening it via my e-mail program. If I'm wrong, someone please tell me. :)

[magellan]

14. Our story might make you feel better

This past week my husband and I both received emails purporting to be from tech support at our ISP. The FROM address looked right and the servers used to send them were right, too. They claimed there was a problem with our accounts and that we needed to fill out an attached document with our account details to set things right or our accounts would be closed. (ALWAYS a dead giveaway to phishing spams.)

The coincidence was that the very same day these spams arrived, we were in the midst of straightening out a sticky billing snafu with our ISP.

Luckily I knew our ISP was bought out a couple of years ago by another company, and while our email and server addresses hadn't changed, the ISP contact email addresses did -- to the new company. I verified this with them by phone and told them about the spam. It turns out someone was spoofing techsupport-at-X.com to people having X.com addys, not realizing the ISP itself now sports Z.com email addys.

The timing was perfect, but it was just a coincidence, nothing more.

[helderheid]

16. I've noticed the same thing.

[Magginkat]

17. Wiretap !

LOL...... that is always the first thought when I see weird stuff lately. AND they wonder why we are paranoid. Hell, with that fruticake in the oval office I'm surprised that the entire country is not paranoid!

I have a friend who was going out of country recently for her daughter's wedding. She wrote a hilarious message to george's spies, telling them where they could find everything so they would not wreck her house!

She helped me write my online petition "Add me to your list, George".

http://new.petitiononline.com/GWList/petition.html

I think I may borrow from my friends email and try to do a funny petition to post online.

A couple days ago Mark Morford, a columnist for the LA times (I think I got the right newspaper) where he suggested that we mess with ole george and his spies by, among other things, doing Google searches, linking george's name with porn search words!

If we can't lick them we may as well have some fun with them.