SPAM conspiracy theory

[JimmyDB]

So... I haven't had a problem with vapor related emails until today.

I just found a bunch of emails in my spam box. This isn't on an email account where I really control the spam box... I have set up some filters to make sure certain things don't go to spam, but otherwise it is using some algorithm I am not privvy to, I can basically either mark things as spam or not spam and it figured things out from there. I'm pretty sure the system uses information provided by other people too though, because I used to get a lot of SPAM related to hemp oil and e-cig freebie trials... all being sent to a generic email address, none being sent to any addresses I used at vendors. I guess this is where I should mention that I have about 100 email addresses which all end up at this one email server, and I generally use different emails everywhere I go so that I can track spam sources, contact list sellers etc. I have a different email account that doesn't filter here, only used it once, ONCE... last I checked it had received 28,000 SPAM since Feb. One of the first, biggest and most frequent spammers... H&R Block.

Anyway, back to the normal email account, I noticed that suddenly I am not getting the vapor related SPAM in my inbox... AND now non-SPAM email related to vaping (including CASAA notifications) are ending up in my SPAM folder along with the actual SPAM that was previously missed?! I didn't mark anything e-cig/vaping related as SPAM.

So... I realized... it would be a worthy method of attack, and fairly low-key as to the goals etc, to generate tons of spam related to ecigs and/or vaping... so that SPAM filters start to filter it out as such, along with legitimate emails. If I had to fight a group such as CASAA who rely so heavily on email, this is one of the ways I would do it.

I just found this a little odd... basically any non-filtered email related to vaping is now ending up in my SPAM folder.

Take it as what you will... but please make sure to create filters for our advocacy groups such as CASAA.​

 

[WickedSick]

I don't think that this is really far fetched. If someone wanted to harm a movement or an advocacy group in any filed a huge amount of spam could be generated fairly easy. In the end there will be a kernel of truth and a huge amount of useless hay.

 

[crxess]

You need to install and Run MBAM and maybe replace your Vitus scanner.

I go all over the web, have one email and with my Blockers/Cleaners my pc never gets over run with anything.

The more creative you get the more problems you create for yourself. 100 email addresses is counter productive.
Maintenance is your friend.

 

[VHRB2014]

You failed to mention which email client you are using?

But ya, with this administration, and the depth of the corruption going on, I would`nt put anything past them.

"What does it matter!" HRC.

 

[JimmyDB]

You need to install and Run MBAM and maybe replace your Vitus scanner.

I go all over the web, have one email and with my Blockers/Cleaners my pc never gets over run with anything.

The more creative you get the more problems you create for yourself. 100 email addresses is counter productive.
Maintenance is your friend.

I sadly can't run MBAM... I don't meet the system requirements.

The following are Malwarebytes Anti-Malware minimum system requirements:
Software Requirements:

• Microsoft® Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 (32 bit and 64 bit).
• Microsoft® Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later.
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6 or newer.

Hardware Requirements:

• 800MHZ CPU or faster.
• 256MB of RAM (512MB or more recommended).
• 20MB free hard disk space.
• 800x600 or greater screen resolution.
• Active internet connection for database and product updates.

... I run Linux on all my machines

Anti-Virus? Yeah, I do have one installed, but mainly for cleaning the drives of Windows users for them. Which I no longer suggest doing, just re-install... too many hidden threats.

Either way, I didn't have this issue due to an infection. The issue was that the email service provider that handles those 100+ email addresses uses an adaptive system, possibly Bayesian (I hope anyway, that's what I used way back when), but I don't think it was giving a high enough score factor on the personal level compared to the group level.

Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem administrating/managing my email, partly because of my practice of using so many unique email addresses. The email address I only used a single time, that had the 28000 spam, is of no bother to me... that address doesn't lead to my general email account... it has it's own. I used it once, for a single purpose and then let it stay isolated since I had no use for it anymore. I just never told it to bounce any received email. However... if I had given them my normal email, then I would have had to deal with another 28,000 SPAM. Well, I would have needed to at least skim over them from within my SPAM folder etc to make sure I didn't miss anything of moderate importance. Important emails have their own address which is only given to real people and never used outside of email. If I wanted, I could now dump the info into software and analyze it... most frequent time for email based on origin country/company/etc... what servers did it get relayed though etc. I just don't have the time/interest for it right now. It literally costs me nothing to leave it alone, in time or money.

The issue I did have with my email going to the SPAM folder has been resolved, and wasn't really an issue for me... I found them, took corrective action, and realized this may have been the purpose of the recent flood of vape related SPAM. If I know a company hasn't sold my email address, maybe after a year... I can always go and change the address at the site and discontinue the unique address. For me though, why bother, I have been doing it this way for over a decade.

The point is that suddenly there was a change in how emails related to eCigs and vaping were being handled, without me causing it. For me, not a big deal, I caught it. I doubt it would be that big of a deal for a lot of people... unless it was a last minute 'please do this right now' type CASAA release... but I find it interesting, none-the-less.

There may not be ANY nefarious purpose, I admit that. I also think it could be a good tactic. I'm not condoning any vapers break any rules or laws... I'm just saying.

Anyway, I greatly thank you for stepping forward with what could have otherwise been very useful info for me... and definitely something I suggest most any windows users do.

 

[The Torch]

I don't disagree with the main subject here, but let's not forget that the business has been booming like crazy.

(Sharing this as a general warning
Also, I am getting very suspicious spams that use very known company names and try to get you to click on a generic link address. In one instance, the displayed sender name was Facebook and it looked a lot like a Facebook warning for a new received message, but the link sent to a generic address and the actual sender address did not contain Facebook.com. There are too many ways to trick people into clicking a dangerous link.

 

[JimmyDB]

I don't disagree with the main subject here, but let's not forget that the business has been booming like crazy.

(Sharing this as a general warning
Also, I am getting very suspicious spams that use very known company names and try to get you to click on a generic link address. In one instance, the displayed sender name was Facebook and it looked a lot like a Facebook warning for a new received message, but the link sent to a generic address and the actual sender address did not contain Facebook.com. There are too many ways to trick people into clicking a dangerous link.

I have seen a lot SPAM similar to what you are describing... which are generally phishing attacks. At a security webinar last week or the week before the speaker showed a few different emails, which ended up installing malware on the victim computer. It was the old, "we have encrypted all your stuff, you have 24 hours to give us money and get the decrypt key OR we trash it all", type. They were probably convincing enough for the lower 5%, but that's about it. As you saw, it's pretty easy to see that the domains don't match... and it's just a good rule of thumb not to click notification emails anyway... just go to the web site directly, eliminates a lot of the risk.

Yes, the business has been booming... but the SPAM I had personally been getting was only a couple of different things. A lot of those 'hemp oil' emails, and the 'free e-cig trial' email. Yet, now CASAA and Killer Juice are getting blocked... so, there must have been other SPAM that I just wasn't getting that was used to update the algorithm. The SPAM was all going to a particular address that I have used a few different places, all of my vaping related items go to specific emails... so I guess they weren't taking the destination email into consideration.

So, just to keep it on point.

Please make sure you have created filters/rules/etc to prevent advocacy groups such as CASAA's emails from winding up in your SPAM.​

 

[The Torch]

I have seen a lot SPAM similar to what you are describing... which are generally phishing attacks. At a security webinar last week or the week before the speaker showed a few different emails, which ended up installing malware on the victim computer. It was the old, "we have encrypted all your stuff, you have 24 hours to give us money and get the decrypt key OR we trash it all", type. They were probably convincing enough for the lower 5%, but that's about it. As you saw, it's pretty easy to see that the domains don't match... and it's just a good rule of thumb not to click notification emails anyway... just go to the web site directly, eliminates a lot of the risk.

Yes, the business has been booming... but the SPAM I had personally been getting was only a couple of different things. A lot of those 'hemp oil' emails, and the 'free e-cig trial' email. Yet, now CASAA and Killer Juice are getting blocked... so, there must have been other SPAM that I just wasn't getting that was used to update the algorithm. The SPAM was all going to a particular address that I have used a few different places, all of my vaping related items go to specific emails... so I guess they weren't taking the destination email into consideration.

So, just to keep it on point.

Please make sure you have created filters/rules/etc to prevent advocacy groups such as CASAA's emails from winding up in your SPAM.​

I have gotten a few hemp oil spams myself for a little while.

Shouldn't adding CASAA to your contacts list insure their e-mails come through or does that only work with online e-mailing services?

 

[JimmyDB]

I have gotten a few hemp oil spams myself for a little while.

Shouldn't adding CASAA to your contacts list insure their e-mails come through or does that only work with online e-mailing services?

That only works with certain systems, maybe if I was using gmail/yahoo/etc. In my case, even contacts can get SPAM boxed, but I think I can configure my own rule for addresses already in my contacts. I don't want to do that for all vap-e-mail, but it should work for things like CASAA... I just need to make sure my rules are either applied before spam filtering or that I include the spam folder and not just the inbox.

Until somewhat recently I left the spam filter off and used my own software client side... but about a year ago I decided to make the switch to using webmail instead which prevented me from using my own Bayesian algorithm and rule sets.

I may go for the best of both worlds and just set up my own email server with webmail interface again. That's how I started with webmail, but I didn't find a feature-full package that I liked.

 

[rondasherrill]

All my stuff runs linux as well. I thought about setting up a mail server, but the farthest I've gone towards that is setting up outgoing, so my home server can text me when it does various things using sms gateway.

I have my mail set up so that it kinda "learns" what is spam depending on what I mark as spam. I haven't had this issue at all. I have gotten a small number of e-cig spam, that I marked as spam, and then no more of that stuff in my inbox since then. All my normal vape email still shows up in my inbox like normal though. I just have 2 email addresses though. A yahoo email address that I honestly never look at, because it's my throwaway for stuff that might send me spam, and then an everyday gmail address.I

 

[JimmyDB]

All my stuff runs linux as well. I thought about setting up a mail server, but the farthest I've gone towards that is setting up outgoing, so my home server can text me when it does various things using sms gateway.

I have my mail set up so that it kinda "learns" what is spam depending on what I mark as spam. I haven't had this issue at all. I have gotten a small number of e-cig spam, that I marked as spam, and then no more of that stuff in my inbox since then. All my normal vape email still shows up in my inbox like normal though. I just have 2 email addresses though. A yahoo email address that I honestly never look at, because it's my throwaway for stuff that might send me spam, and then an everyday gmail address.I

Nice to see another Linux user on here, I figure there should be a good number... I haven't looked, maybe there is a Linux User Thread (LUT).​

I'm thinking that with the number of people they [GMAIL] have using the system, their crowd-sources 'is this spam' system should be fairly accurate and I know they give a fair amount of preference to the users historical actions for similar mail... my gmail accounts have only missed a few emails that should have went to the inbox, but they do let spam in constantly. I only really use gmail for work.

I'll have to revisit the web portal for my mail server... it would be nice to have full control over everything again.

 

[JimmyDB]

So... this is what's inside the 'miracle smoke' email... white text on a white background... after the first </html> tag.

e debate over e-cigarettes seems to be entering a new phase. Studies are hitting journals over their efficacy and safety. The e-cigarette phenomenon was initially accepted as a good thing across the board. It gave smokers an alternative to lighting up a regular cigarette. We all know the risks associated with smoking, so could this industry be the bridge to quitting
Initial thoughts were that the ‘smoke’ being exhaled by users was safe water vapor. The rules that applied to smokers quickly went into effect for e-cigarette users. That meant smoking areas etc.
One area that the e-cigarette industry did prop up was a cottage industry of conferences. An entire subculture now exists surrounding the devices. Vapors go back and forth to the major conference cities, pushing the latest in flavors, technology and modifications.
You’re not going to find a health professional that says, yes, fire up the e-cigarette. What doctors want to know is if this represents a final bridge to getting people to kick the habit of smoking.
When it comes to cancer patients, the answer looks to be a no. A new study, published in the journal Cancer, showed that e-cigarettes do not help cancer patients who smoke kick the habit.
Instead, the opposite was true. Dependence rates actually jumped among the 1,074 patients enrolled in the study. From 2012 to 2013, the use of e-cigarettes jumped by as much as 300 percent.
At te end of the study, researchers concluded that the study participants were likely to be more addicted to nicotine. The study authors found that the use tracked closely with that of the general population. Co-author Jamie Ostroff from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer remarked on this finding.
“Consistent with recent observations of increased e-cigarette use in the general population, our findings illustrate that e-cigarette use among tobacco-dependent cancer patients has increased within the past two years.”
So, what can a smoker do to kick the habit? Obviously, the e-cigarette fad is not the magic stick we were all hoping for. The FDA recommends a variety of patches, nicotine gum, Chantix and Zyban. Of course, you could always cold turkey, but give your friends and family a break. You’ll be irritable enough with a pack of Marlboros slapped on your arm.

I wonder... did someone take my suggestion... or is all of that going into the spam filtering software to prevent people from talking about how that article/study is trash? We may never know.