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Rescue Messages From Facebook's De Facto Spam Filter
By Phil Villarreal on December 15, 2011 8:30 AM
36 Comments
When Facebook thinks you don't particularly want to read a message that's sent your way, it redirects it into a folder dubbed "other." Some users forget to check the box regularly, and others may not even be aware that they have it. More »
Boxing Ticket Phishing Scam Making The Rounds
By Phil Villarreal on October 28, 2011 1:15 PM
15 Comments
Say you check your email and notice a confirmation message for expensive tickets you never bought. Your first instinct may be to click on the link and dispute the charge, and that's just the reaction the con artists who sent you the message are hoping for. More »
Watch Out For This Netflix Phishing Scam
By Ben Popken on October 20, 2011 1:00 PM
30 Comments
There's an email that's been going around that pretends like it's from Netflix and they're having trouble with your credit card. Actually, it's from scammers and they want to steal your credit card. More »
([RAWRZ!])
FBI Arrests Man Accused Of Hacking Celebrity Emails
By Phil Villarreal on October 13, 2011 7:30 AM
26 Comments
A certain Scarlett Johansson photo you may have read about but certainly didn't check out yourself is part of a federal investigation that resulted in the arrest of a 35-year-old Florida man who is accused of hacking into online accounts of various celebrities. More »
Yahoo Apologizes For Accidentally Blocking Protest Emails
By Phil Villarreal on September 21, 2011 8:15 AM
29 Comments
Yahoo email users complained that the system blocked messages about a Wall Street protest, accusing the company of censorship. Via Twitter, Yahoo says that there was no intentional censorship and the blockage was due to an unintentional spam filter setting that has now been fixed. More »
Spam Drops Sharply From 2010 Levels
By Phil Villarreal on July 5, 2011 9:30 AM
26 Comments
If your inbox seems a bit less crowded than usual, it's probably because there's reportedly been a massive decline in junk email from this point a year ago. According to Symantec, there are now 39.2 billion spam messages sent each day, down from 230 billion daily messages a year ago. More »
I Don't Want Some Justin Bieber Fan's Redbox Receipts
By Laura Northrup on June 30, 2011 10:35 AM
63 Comments
Andrew has a common problem: he keeps getting someone else's mail. Not in his paper mailbox, but someone else's e-mail. A Justin Bieber fan in a different state entered his e-mail address when renting a DVD, and Andrew received the receipt. When he contacted Redbox to straighten out the mixup, their unhelpful solution was to block all e-mail receipts from Redbox. Yep, including his own. More »
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Stuff Bought Through Spam Actually Gets Delivered
By Ben Popken on June 8, 2011 3:00 PM
27 Comments
While most of us don't trust spam, if you order something advertised through it, be it pills, knockoff Rolex watches, or software, it will probably end up at your door. That's one of the many surprising conclusions uncovered by researchers tracking exactly how spam works (PDF) from alpha to omega in the transaction process. More »
(afagen)
It Takes 12.5 Million Spams To Sell $100 Of Viagra
By Ben Popken on May 26, 2011 3:00 PM
28 Comments
Considering how insistent and persistent the emails are, you would think there was big bucks in pushing pills that increase the flow of blood to one's penis for an extended period of time. That may be true, but only because the costs of spam advertising are so low, as revealed by this nugget in a New York Times article that reveals it takes 12.5 million spam emails just to sell $100 worth of Viagra. More »
Match.com Thinks You Have 7-Year Itch
By Ben Popken on May 20, 2011 1:00 PM
47 Comments
After years of happy marriage, Match.com has decided that one of our readers has probably had enough and emailed them a selection of potential mates. Our reader met the man they would eventually marry on Match.com in 2001 and both of them believed they deleted their profiles together in 2002. In 2005, they were married. But using sophisticated algorithms, Match.com has tried to hook our reader up again. Maybe there's a built-in 7-Year Itch protocol that automatically detects when you've hit the 7-year mark and would potentially be interested in the dating site's services again?
Botnets Rebuild Forces After Rustock Raid
By Ben Popken on May 2, 2011 12:00 PM
11 Comments
After the Feds and Microsoft in March chopped off the head of the hydra that was the 1-million strong "Rustock" botnet responsible for sending billions of spam, several heads have sprung in its place. PC World notes a Symantec report of a 24% jump in emails containing malicious links and attachments, possibly representing an attempt to regrow the forces of zombie controlled computers and fill the void left by Rustock. More »
Do You Like E-Mailed Receipts For Offline Purchases?
By Laura Northrup on April 15, 2011 9:06 AM
92 Comments
Our smart-shopping colleagues over at ShopSmart magazine recently noticed a promising trend at some high-end retailers: stores e-mailing your receipt to you rather than printing it out on old-fangled paper. Stores trying it out include Apple Stores, Nordstroms, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and a few Whole Foods stores. More »
Google Mistakenly Resets An Estimated 150,000 Gmail Accounts
By Phil Villarreal on February 28, 2011 9:15 AM
61 Comments
Gmail users can usually take comfort in knowing important documents they send to others are safe and accessible in their mail archives, but as many as 150,000 Gmail users lost all their stuff because their accounts got unwanted fresh starts Sunday morning. More »
Google Doubles Down On Gmail Security
By Phil Villarreal on February 11, 2011 11:15 AM
78 Comments
Feeling a bit insecure, Google set up a moat, an attack dog and alarm system for Gmail. Well, sorta. It added an optional (for now) two-step verification process to sign in, decreasing the likelihood that a hacker will be able to take your account out on a joyride. More »
Hotmail Adds Disposable Accounts
By Phil Villarreal on February 4, 2011 2:30 PM
50 Comments
It's easy to spoil a good email address by allowing too many irritating sources to grab ahold of it. Hotmail is addressing the problem by allowing users to set up dummy accounts that forward mail to a master inbox. You can set up an alternate address that you use to register for silly website giveaways or people you don't trust, then delete that account if it becomes a spam faucet. More »
Hotmail Sucks: The Rap Video!
By Ben Popken on February 3, 2011 12:00 PM
49 Comments
Dan Bull has been using Hotmail for 10 years but he's just about reached his breaking point. So the U.K. bedroom rhymesmith made a rap video open letter to Microsoft about how much their product sucks a giant brick. In the vocal style of The Streets, Dan takes aim at the emails that don't arrive, their weak spam filters, and MSN's wack way of adding extra steps when you try to make links. More »
After Holiday Break, Spammers Back In Action
By Phil Villarreal on January 12, 2011 9:15 AM
8 Comments
Just about everyone phones it in during the holidays, even spammers. Whether due to tightened security or office parties, the amount of worldwide spam activity nosedived in late December. The bad news is that the spambots have reportedly woken up and are getting back to work. More »
Some Hotmail Users Report Vanishing Accounts -- Microsoft Says Problem Is Fixed
By Phil Villarreal on January 3, 2011 9:45 AM
24 Comments
Whenever you clean out your Hotmail inbox, you get a message complimenting you on the feat. Some Hotmail users reportedly found themselves with an accidentally clean inbox due to an apparent server error that has deleted their accounts More »
Hacking Your Spouse's Email Could Land You In Jail For Half A Decade
By Phil Villarreal on December 28, 2010 9:15 AM
105 Comments
Before you consider snooping in your spouse's email, you may want to pay close attention to a case unfolding in Michigan in which a man faces up to five years of prison for hacking into his wife's messages. More »
Facebook Announces 'Gmail Killer' Messaging Service
By Chris Morran on November 15, 2010 2:06 PM
63 Comments
Even though more and more people have been using their Facebook accounts to send e-mails to their friends and family, apparently that's not enough for the site's head honcho Mark Zuckerberg. Earlier today, the youngster announced a new e-mailing service that he says is the next step in messaging. More »
