Configuration
   >> Email Accounts
Thread views: 8254 Previous threadView all threadsNext thread*Threaded Mode

Same_Old_Sue
(stranger )
06/11/14 10:22 AM
I'm being bombarded by SPAM new [re: ]  

About nine months ago, I suddenly began receiving lots of spam to one of my ebay-selling email addresses. I've used Pair.com to host my ebay images and to forward my mail for many years, and I've had the same spam settings for at least five years. Pair's spam-filtering had worked well for all that time, but I suspect one of my ebay customers sold my info to some scumbag outfit that compiles lists of email addresses for spammers. Whatever....

Now when I download mail in AW, instead of getting a dozen or so messages, I get 50 or 60, with daily totals being well over a hundred. I have set up about 90 message filters, but I can't stay ahead of the spammers -- they continually come up with new addresses and subject headings. I delete these messages throughout the day, and then go to the AW Attachments folder to delete the files that came with the messages. Not only is this time-consuming, it's just plain, f-ing annoying!

The worst thing about the problem is how much longer it takes to download my mail. Even if I have my own filter set up or if Pair has marked the message **JUNK** -- in which cases, they go to my Trash folder -- I still have to sit here waiting for the attached files download. A message without an attachment takes a split second to arrive, but those with attachments can take as long as 20 seconds to download depending on the size of the file. This makes collecting my mail take easily four times longer than it should.

I've checked my Pair.com settings and see no additional way to block these spam messages. Is there a way within AW to block -- prevent from downloading -- any message with an attached file?

Sue
[mostly gave up on eBay]
SecretWorkshop on Etsy

Tradeguy
(enthusiast)
06/12/14 08:06 AM
Re: I'm being bombarded by SPAM [re: Same_Old_Sue]  

The other problem is that unless you are deleting all this spam, it is likely being stored in your AW database - yuck!

I don't use PAIR, so I can only tell you what works for me (and I also get a lot of spam - probably 200+ per day because my main email has been live and on several websites for over 10 years).

The only mail I send to AW is mail that has been forwarded out of my Outlook email (Windows-based email). I created an email account solely for the purpose of AW, and when I get an email to my main account that needs to go to AW (such as a paypal payment receipt), I forward it to that special email address, and AW is setup to only import mail from that address.

This can be done manually - though I have setup a few "outlook rules" to do this automatically. The rule looks for any email from paypal that matches a payment (there are only 3 or 4 variations of title), if that message is automatically forwarded to the special AW email acct. Outlook also maintains a copy of every payment.

The simplest way to accomplish this with your PAIR account, is to just setup a brand new email account that can be accessed by AW (so, a POP3 compatible account). Then when a real email comes in that you want in AW, just forward it to that account. The emails will just sit in the account until imported by AW.

Hope that helps!

PS - ultimately for SPAM control, I use a feature called "BoxTrapper" which stops all incoming mail unless it is in my "whitelist". Emails not whitelisted get an automatic reply that says they need to reply for verification (they can just hit "reply", send it, and they are whitelisted). Since SPAM is NEVER from a valid email, they are never verified and get deleted (I set my auto-delete for 3 days just in case I need to make sure I haven't caught a non-spam email). I have also setup a whitelist based on specific words in the message title so my website, etsy, or ebay sales all get thru. It also automatically whitelists anyone I send an email to, so if I directly write someone for any reason, their replies won't require verification.

Between my host's server based spam control (Spam Assassin) and Boxtrapper, I stop 99% of all Spam.



Same_Old_Sue
(stranger )
06/19/14 03:08 PM
Re: I'm being bombarded by SPAM new [re: Tradeguy]  

Hi Tradeguy,

I delete the contents of the Trash basket at least three times a day. Hundreds and hundreds of spam emails come in daily. 126 recent messages (2 hrs since the last mail download) took over 5 minutes to receive (mostly due to the attached files), and of the 32 that didn't go directly to the Trash (those not fiiltered by Pair.com or by my AW filters), only two were legit.

Similar to your setup, all mail to my ebay-selling address is forwarded through a mailbox at Pair. I've been using the same address and forwarding recipe for about 10 years, but I never had a problem until about nine months ago. Non-spam mail that's delivered to this address also includes Yahoo forum posts, Favorite Searches, and Paypal notifications.

It's been so long since I set up my email at Pair, I'm not sure I could create a new account if my life depended on it. I'm thinking of calling Pair (I think they do phone support now) and asking for a solution.

I used to occasionally get an auto-reply from someone requesting verification, but I found it annoying and seldom acceded to the requests. But maybe BoxTrapper works differently. If you sent a message to an Etsy buyer, for example, they'd be automatically whitelisted?

I remember years ago, my ISP migrated their email routing (might be the wrong term) to gmail servers, and spam to my "regular" email address (using MS Outlook) came to a screeching halt. I don't know of a single mis-identified message, and I no longer even check the webmail trash. This proves it can work. I just don't understand why the problem cropped up so suddenly with mail that goes to my AW address.

I also really wish Thom would consider adding a feature that blocks all messages with attachments. If on the very rare occasion someone needed to send me an attached file, I could temporarily set AW to allow attachments, then re-enable the feature after the file was received. I wonder if that's possible....



Sue
[mostly gave up on eBay]
SecretWorkshop on Etsy


Previous threadView all threadsNext thread*Threaded Mode
Jump to

www.AuctionWizard2000.com | Contact Us Forums powered by WWWThreads