Spam

[talos]

I suddenly seem to be getting huge amounts of junk mail in my Hotmail account ,  anybody else noticed the increase, and how if possible can I stop it ?

[Simon]

I don't use Hotmail, but I guess you can use filters to mark and delete spam messages?

[Clive]

I'm getting the same on my BT Mail account.  I block the sender and the domain but it makes no difference at all.  Most of the spam consists of quite clever phishing attempts that look very genuine so we all really have to be on our guard. 

[talos]

I have tried to block sender, but there seems to be no option for this, so I am trying the " send "to option and sending them to the" unwanted" folder, lets see if that works 

[Gary]

I suddenly seem to be getting huge amounts of junk mail in my Hotmail account ,  anybody else noticed the increase, and how if possible can I stop it ?

you can check to see if you email account has been caught in a breach. Honestly since they change the headers so often and the ones you see are not real unless you can alter the filters to tighten things up without loosing legit mail there is no much you can do. Googles spam filters are excellent you could route your Hotmail though gmail that would get rid of a lot of spam. Below is the site to check your email accounts to see if they are known to have been breached.

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

[talos]

you can check to see if you email account has been caught in a breach. Honestly since they change the headers so often and the ones you see are not real unless you can alter the filters to tighten things up without loosing legit mail there is no much you can do. Googles spam filters are excellent you could route your Hotmail though gmail that would get rid of a lot of spam. Below is the site to check your email accounts to see if they are known to have been breached.

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Checked them and there seems to be loads of breaches. Looked at Gmail but I cant see a way to re route , I not very tech savvy so such things are a mystery to me , but thanks for the advice.

[robinc]

Checked them and there seems to be loads of breaches. Looked at Gmail but I cant see a way to re route , I not very tech savvy so such things are a mystery to me , but thanks for the advice.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10957?hl=en-GB

Long term - migrate to gmail

[zappaDPJ]

Checked them and there seems to be loads of breaches.

Unfortunately just one breach will often lead to a mountain of never ending spam. My main email has been breached twice, once by Adobe and once by vBulletin. The amount of spam I get is horrendous but so is the thought of changing my email address on all the sites I use it on

[talos]

Unfortunately just one breach will often lead to a mountain of never ending spam. My main email has been breached twice, once by Adobe and once by vBulletin. The amount of spam I get is horrendous but so is the thought of changing my email address on all the sites I use it on

Same  here 

[Clive]

I received a  particularly dangerous phishing mail this evening purporting to come from the NHS offering Covid passports - something I've been googling in recent days.  The header revealed it was an arcade gaming company so clicking on the link would have probably resulted in a fate worse than death.   

[talos]

So easy to get trapped

[zappaDPJ]

So easy to get trapped

It really is. Even the brightest of us can get taken in by these scams. I've taken to assume every email, text, phone call and letter received are a scam until proven otherwise.

[Gary]

I use a different email for each service, like Sky, Netflix, Disney+ etc and a junk email for sites I sign up to with an unbirthday and if asked like what's your mothers maiden name I'll say something like 'MEATPIE#hoover56*twilight^' (not one ive used) the answer to the question can be anything. Tbh changing emails is a lot easier than dealing with spam and having to keep changing passwords. I use a throwaway emails for forums etc a with unique passwords and if one gets caught I know it wont effect my other ones.

[zappaDPJ]

You've just reminded me that I used to have a secret word, the same secret word for every eventuality. Because it was secret I never thought I'd need to reveal it to anyone until one day I did and it was very, very, very rude and extreamly embarrassing for the both of us

[talos]

You've just reminded me that I used to have a secret word, the same secret word for every eventuality. Because it was secret I never thought I'd need to reveal it to anyone until one day I did and it was very, very, very rude and extreamly embarrassing for the both of us

I'm intrigued

[talos]

I use a different email for each service, like Sky, Netflix, Disney+ etc and a junk email for sites I sign up to with an unbirthday and if asked like what's your mothers maiden name I'll say something like 'MEATPIE#hoover56*twilight^' (not one ive used) the answer to the question can be anything. Tbh changing emails is a lot easier than dealing with spam and having to keep changing passwords. I use a throwaway emails for forums etc a with unique passwords and if one gets caught I know it wont effect my other ones.

That sounds a good idea, and something I feel I could do 

[zappaDPJ]

I'm intrigued

If I told you I'd have to ban myself

[Clive]

Our minds are working overtime.