QUESTION: "Email hoaxes and fraud abound. Every single day I get at least
6 notices that I've won a lottery, or a Sgt in Iraq is wiring money under the
table, or that someone is or has died in Malaysia or Africa and I'm the
beneficiary. Of course we're mostly all smart enough to just delete these, but
isn't there some way for Law Enforcement to track these and stop them? I'm sure
some are guileless enough to fall for it, and end up with troubles."
What a great question and so timely to all the hoaxes, spam, etc. that we are
all receiving in our e-mail inboxes huh? It also a very BROAD subject and I
don't pretend to be an expert, BUT have dealt for a number of years with it and
have learned a few "tricks" to eliminate much of the garbage BEFORE it hits my
PC!
Law Enforcement and other agencies, like the FCC, and on all levels, has been attacking much of it. That is also a deep subject, but basically they (and you if you want to take the time and are a very detailed person) can do. Again, basically, every e-mail has "code" in under what you see in your e-mail. That code reveals much about who sent it, what internet service provider it came from and the route it traveled to get to your inbox. It has times, locations of the servers, etc. Law Enforcement Agencies break down that code and can get a court order to obtain that information and track it back to a "Specific Computer."
This question was forwarded to me by Chris at iBrattleboro.com and here's that "hidden code" that I mention:
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Date: Sat, 03 May 2008 19:31:38 -0400
From: Christopher Grotke
Subject: Police Beat Question
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Greek to you? You can see much actually and pick out some key items?
PREVENTION: Is KEY here! IF you don't prevention you have become a part of furthering the hoax. scam, phishing, etc. Much of this can be dead ended with YOU by NOT forwarding EVERYTHING you receive in your inbox. Why do we think we have to forward everything? Is it because it says that we don't care, we will have good luck IF we forward it immediately or in the next 5 minutes and to 5, 7, 10 or everyone in our address book? Believe me, the world will not end IF you don't forward it.
Now as to Prevention, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) may have some on their site and you can go to the site and set it up. It will require you to go in and look at what has been filter as to what is good (white list) and what "may" be bad (black list). Over a period of time you decide who you want mail from and who you don't, separating out the SPAM, Hoaxes, Phishing sites. When you check your and download your e-mail your mail will be "filtered" as to what you setup, which means some items may slip through that are not on your lists.
The BEST way is to use SPAM Software that intercepts the e-mail BEFORE it hits your computer. You can search the internet, a computer store for the programs to purchase. I use started using a FREE version off the internet and then purchased the Pro Version in that I need to filter 13 e-mail address that I use for my sites, business and personal contacts. It works well, I'm not selling or endorsing products here, but it's called "MailWasher" and that FREE Trial Version is available at: http://www.firetrust.com/download/mailwasher-pro. You can also Google "Free Spam Software" and get other software to choose from at: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS252&q=free+spam+software
BUT here's how my software works once installed. A little "sink drain" icon sets down in the lower right task bar. It checks ALL of my e-mail accounts every two minutes in that I have DSL and sounds when a new e-mail hits any of my accounts. I double click on the icon and it shows me all the e-mails on the various servers. It has automatic filters already set up to look for "known" SPAM, SCAMS, Phishing e-mails and shows them in "red" - good mail is "green." I go down through the list which can be sorted by date, domain, subject or whatever way you want. I have it set up to mark all known items for deletion, bouncing and blacklisting. Did I say "bouncing" - yep - this is neat in that it will "bounce" a bad e-mail back to the spammer making your e-mail address look like a "bad e-mail address." Most Spammers will remove you after your software keeps "bouncing" it back to them. Remember, they don't want their inboxes filled with garbage either! Continuing, I can mark senders as "Friends" or "Blacklist" them.
Here's the BEST part! I push ONE button and it deletes, bounces and blacklists in one stroke, DELETING them off the various servers (that's right, at the server). I then go to my Office Outlook and click the "Send/Receive" icon and get nothing but clean e-mail to my computer.
CHECK IT FIRST: There are many sites that you can go to to "VERIFY" the authenticity of the e-mail sent to you BEFORE you forward it. I have a page on my site at: http://www.TerryMartin.us/Hoax.htm that will be helpful to you. There are others at: http://www.southwestern.edu/ITS/hoax.html
CLOSING RECOMMENDATIONS: A couple short recommendations here. Forwarding: When you DO forward something of importance you do NOT have to forward EVERYTHING with all the attachments, sometimes 10 deep! Go to the 10th or whatever the deepest level is and forward it from there. A couple reasons: 1) Keeping it all makes the file get bigger and bigger with each forward thus chewing up more space on your computer's hard drive - 2) When you forward something you have an opportunity to "edit" out or keep the person's e-mail address or addresses of everyone that was on their forward or send. Sometimes it is more authentic to leave the person or sent it to you, but you don't have to give their address book away to everyone. BCC: While there are times when you want ALL addresses to be visible so that the group you are sending to can do a "Reply to All," generally, IF you are sending to a large list, put all the e-mail addresses in the BCC Section (not the CC or TO section). This hides them from others.
I'm sure others will want to jump in here with their recommendations - Feel FREE!