SPAM!

ClissAT

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In the thread about the vinegar, Mark said he did a small segment on local radio about self sufficiency.

Now I am getting spam labelled from ABC Channel 24 Australia.

Do you think there is any connection & coincidence?
 

Mark

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It's extremely unlikely email spam about any subject you have read or visited online is related. I'm 100% certain the spam you received on the subject of ABC is a complete random coincidence and has nothing to do with a post you visited on our forum.

Unfortunately, no one escapes the reach of spammers no matter how careful you are with your email address it will eventually be hit.

I use third-party software in conjunction with my email client to manage spam and this does a pretty good job.

Email spammers aren't going to waste time trying to track individuals they just use mass mailing programs and hope they land on someone gullible enough to click on the links within the message and then they'll target the person once they confirm the email is live.

You can be assured your email used to sign up for our forum membership is kept as safe as possible. :)
 

ClissAT

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I was not suggesting that there was any impropriety regarding our emails personal details, Mark.
It was more that I see this coincidence a lot.
Being with gmail, I get a lot of this type of coincidence. I always check my spam folder before I delete it's contents each day. Although I never click on a spam email, I can see the first line of words.
Gmail allows google to read everything that goes in & out & since I often reply via an email link, google gets to read that too.
Any new words or new subjects it finds are relayed to the personal info list google keeps on everyone who has a google type account & probably a lot of other people as well.

The spammers have access to this info. So my new 'interest' prompts my email address to be added to the list that fits with that word. Am I making sense? My son who is right up on all this stuff in his overseas job explained it to me quite succinctly!

Yes there are the auto generators both harvesting & spawning addresses & content, but there are also very extensive lists of 'live' email addresses that have particular interests.
It seems that when I have been to a new (different subject or interest)website, I soon begin receiving spam on that or related subjects. That's google tracking my browsing. But by using the same process it can read what I type into active windows such as the one I am using now while being logged into my gmail account. Because when I click on the link in the email, the website opens via google. You can see that for yourself if you watch the address bar when you click on a link such as the "View This Thread" button. The first words you see are Google something, something, something. Sometimes it goes through very quickly & there is no time to read the words until the web address appears.

My son tells me I have to start segregating my browsing. So I can either be in my gmail account or have a browser window open or doing something else, never having it all open together so google can read everything I do & everywhere I go. But Microsoft lists it all up for google anyway so why bother?
To be perfectly honest I really don't care anymore. I have nothing to hide & although it p!$$es me off immensely that google keeps everything I do, I don't have the energy to avoid or evade the big G anymore.
 

Mark

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Yes you are correct Clissa Google does indeed track you for advertising purposes (usually so they can customise display ads to something they hope you are interested in) but Google shouldn't be spamming you or referring these details onto a third party who then emails you spam disguised as legit subjects you might be interested in - that to me sounds like malware on your PC.

Google has pretty clear rules and they are certainly anti-spam - you may have seen this info before but the following links explain how, why, and what Google tracks http://www.google.com/policies/technologies/cookies/ and http://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/

Other companies or malware might be using less "open" tactics to match your email with your browsing history in order to try and trick you into clicking on links contained within the message - that's definately a possibility.

I routinely run anti-malware software on my PC to keep it clean - I use the free version of this https://www.malwarebytes.org/

I have nothing to hide & although it p!$$es me off immensely that google keeps everything I do, I don't have the energy to avoid or evade the big G anymore.
You can opt out from Google tracking you in several ways such as going "incognito" and adjusting your browser settings https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95464?hl=en

Yes I do understand where you are coming from but for the disadvantages there are advantages for Google remembering things about your browsing history such as your language, general settings, logins, etc that make life easier online although we need to keep them in check to ensure they don't get too greedy I suppose.
 

ClissAT

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This is why I tolerate google. They have become just like Microsoft in that they have created a product that is just so darned convenient!
My son tells me not to be so trusting of google, that they do sell their 'wares' to apparently legit companies. But it's what happens to it after that.
Yes I do run full suite AVG plus I occasionally hit it with malware bytes & a few others. Then my son does his thing when he comes over using his 'industrial strength' software. It gets more attention that I do to be honest! Backed up, imaged, tested for all sorts of weaknesses or slowness's, cleaned, preened, dusted inside & out, etc. So the puter is clean.
But gmail/google is not!

Another way that harvesting software gets access to a person's info is through forwarding emails 'jokemail', that haven't been cleaned or BCC'd etc. I have a friend whose pc is always 'in' for a cleanout. I routinely have to deal with her emails & sundry knock on effects.
 

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Well it sounds like you have your PC well and truly under control then... I can't think of anything else you can do (besides staying offline) that would make your browsing any more secure. So, I would stand by my initial thoughts that the abc spam was probably a coincidence.

It's a pity there are people out there that try to exploit these wonderful communication and information systems but unfortunately there always will be bad among us :)
 

ClissAT

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Here's another example of google & gmail collaborating to spy on a person's browsing.

I belong to a poultry forum but I have never typed the word 'coccidiosis' until now.
This morning I got a spam from 'google' telling me I had a returned mail. Well of course I knew that was BS because I haven't sent any emails in the last couple days.

But the address 'from' was very interesting. It was coccidiosis at bankAu dot com attn. ClissAT.
Now recently I did get an email notification of a payment from overseas using the Bank Au clearing station. Also I do regularly read the chook forum & recently read a thread on cocci.

So the spyware has combined my name written in a certain way with certain capital letters within the name the same as I have it written for this forum (& only this forum), part of the bank's email address combined with the word mentioned above & addressed directly to me at my proper email address of course , otherwise I would not have received it. Gmail had put it in the spam folder which was the correct management.

But it just goes to prove that both gmail & google are full of sh!t when they talk about valuing & protecting personal details. Yes they 'value' our details, it's how much they can get for live email addresses on the open market & spammers pay the most, or in reality the clicks from their spam produce the most clicks on google ads in the side bars.
 

Mark

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So the spyware has combined my name written in a certain way with certain capital letters within the name the same as I have it written for this forum
Well that certainly is suspicious - but I get the same targeted spam from eBay and other organisations too not just Googs so they're all in on it in reality :(

Someone might indeed be following your footprint online in the hope they can trick you into some investment scam - it's a lucrative business after all and the reason it's successful is due to people being too careless responding to fake emails and believing the lies the spammer feeds them on the other end until they get money.

It takes me several minutes a day to filter spam and blacklist domains - it's normal for me now.
 

stevo

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I've just been going through my google/gmail account. They do collect a fair bit of info about you from your searches but claim not to pass on any personal info to other companies. Who knows if it's strictly true, we just hope so, but a big company like that would be in the poo if they got caught doing that. In the gmail account settings, there's a few things you can change. Ad Settings, Device info, YouTube history, Search History, Location History. I just changed a few of my settings in there to see what happens.

=========
Does Google sell my personal information?
No. We do not sell your personal information.

We do use certain information, such as the searches you have done and your location, to make the ads we show more relevant and useful. Ads are what enable us to make our services like Search, Gmail, and Maps free for everyone. We do not share information with advertisers in a way that personally identifies you unless you gave us permission. With our Ads Settings tool, you can control ads based on your interests and the searches you have done.

=========

It might be possible that the chook forum was crawled? by some spambot thing and sent you an email with the info it gathered. I don't know, just putting a possibility forward. If that happened then there's nothing you can do.
 

stevo

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I made the huge mistake of filling out a online competition form recently. I knew better but thought what the hell we'll give it a go. ...welp... you know it, I was attacked from all sides with emails and phone calls from all kinds of companies. ohwell.. :oops:
 
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