strange emails

Kate: Bob is correct. See my Private Message to you for details. Anyone who has posted on the Graffiti Wall, not the Helpline (the Helpline is a sub-component of the GWall), and is concerned should check their post on the GWall and notify the Webmaster if there is a problem click here for link to Webmasteryou'll know if there is when you look at your GWall post.

It's porno spam, that's all. I get versions of it all the time, but I never, EVER open them.

Whew, Kate, you go girl! Did this come into your personal email or the IM from the website here? That is just too freaky! I would send it to the webmaster, let them know about it and deal with.

It came to my personal e-mail which was the strangest part.

yeah, I would never open something like that. It is why we don't have our personal email addresses on here.

Kate, I got the exact same e-mail this morning from Mina. I never open them unless I know who it is from. It did come in my home personal e-mail and is about the third one I have gotten in a week, (all from different people). Funny that is targeting people using this site.

Kate, I think that you got this by posting your email address on the " travelers wanted " section.

That is one of the flaws on the Graffit Wall, one cannot remove or edit posts. So, if you post something, it is there for eternity, well sort of.

I was under the impression that ANY messages went to my private messages box and not my personal mail. Why would the helpline be different then that? At least now I know where it is coming from and I will try to figure out a way to delete my message.

THanks for pointing that out to me. I reported that to the webmaster. Its too bad tha they do that as I would think that it would prevent people from posting there-it will with me!

These email addresses have been part of the graffiti boards for about ten years now....and only now people are complaining:) I've been getting those unsolicited messages for let see... ten years:) Isn't this what spam folders/filters are for?

If you browse the GWall, you'll see some posters e-mail addresses are protected (that is, there's no link to their email address, just to their user name, as on the Helpline); however, some posters, in the same GWall thread, have a hypertext link next to their name, which when clicked discloses to anyone their personal email address. Based on the fact that it doesn't do this to all posters, only to some, I'm thinking this is a programming error that could be fixed by whoever programs Rick's site.

Well it would seem the spam filters aren't filtering out these emails. I have started to received them in the past week and I generally to do not get junk mail at that email address.

You have to tell your email program it is spam, it will then record the address and other details, and future emails will be sent to spam. Also on the graffiti wall entering an email address is optional that's why they don't appear on all entries.

Michael: Thank you, that's very helpful, I see what you're saying: if you don't want your email address disclosed, don't enter it when you post on the GWall.

Hello Kate : I received an E-mail like that, from a woman in Russia. It was Spam E-mail, but my E-mail provider did not recognize it as being Spam. I forwarded that E-mail to my E-mail inbox of an other E-mail provider : that E-mail provider put the E-mail in my "Junk Mail" box, and idicated that it is Spam. I did not know it was Spam, until after I sent one short E-mail message to that person, acknowledging that I received the E-mail from her. I asked her : "How did you get my E-mail address ?" And "How did you know what my name is ?". She did not answer those questions. The next day, I received a second message from her, that message was more powerful. I immediately sent an E-mail to her, saying I Will not send any more E-mail to her. I did not send any more E-mail to her. After that, she sent E-mail messages to me, every day. The E-mail contained attachments that have several photographs of her (sensuous looking beautiful female, age 20s). In the fourth E-mail from her, she asked me to send $ 300. (U.S. Dollars) to her, to pay for some of the expenses for her to travel from southeastern Russia to the U.S.A., for her to visit me ! I guess those E-mails from her were sent automatically to many men in the U.S.A. That was the only E-mail of that type that I ever received. But I received hundreds of E-mails from people in Afica, saying they want to send Millions of Dollars to my bank account in the U.S.A. I did not ever reply to any of those. And I received several E-mails informing me that I am a winner in a lottery at a foreign country. (I did not buy any lottery ticket). I did not reply to any of those. One of my clues that those E-mails are scams is that the E-mail address that I am to reply to, for receiving my money that I won in a Lotery, is an E-mail address of Yahoo.com

Never reply to a spam email. Once you do, you have told the spammers it is a valid email address and they will continue to harrass you as well as sell your email address to other spammers.

The best thing to do is just delete it.

Spammers "mine" websites like these looking for email addresses. If you post your email anywhere, chances are a spammer will find it and use it.

So far, the most common ones are porn, lottery winners, people claiming to represeent some royal person in Africa, buy drugs online, you account has been locked, etc.