SPAM coming to new email address

[nomoss]

On June 28th I created a new email address from my Orange espace client, but have only used it to send emails to myself, between it and other addresses to verify that I had correctly configured the settings in Outlook Express.

I have never used the address to send mail to any third party, nor entered it as my address on any website.

In spite of the above, I began to receive SPAM sent to this address almost immediately, some just "pub" from French organisations, but also some begging letters and others with potentially malicious attachments, all of which I deleted on receipt after reporting them via Spamcop.

This suggests to me that email addresses may be being passed on for gain by someone within Orange, or the organisation itself.

I have complained to Orange, but have so far received no response.

Has anyone had a similar experience, or can offer an explanation other than Orange or one of their personnel disclosing addresses?

[Pierre ZFP]

Another possibility is that you have some malware on the machine(s) you are using for email

[nomoss]

Thanks, Pierre.

I just made a deep scan with AVG Antivirus. It found several instances of two medium risk tracking cookies, but I don't believe these are capable of passing on information.

[Pierre ZFP]

Hmmm, not sure I'd trust AVG to find anything amiss but I know a lot of folk here swear by it.

[suein56]

[quote user="nomoss"]

I just made a deep scan with AVG Antivirus. [/quote]

This is very reliable, you don't need the paid for version the free version is fine. I have used on many people's machines over the years.

If you inadvertantly acquired adware then this is good too.

Sue

[YCCMB]

D'you know, I said pretty much the same thing on here ages ago and it was roundly poo-pooed by all and sundry. I am certain, beyond any doubt, that 99% of all the spam on one account I have is perpetrated by Orange having passed on my email address. Apart from anything else, it's all in French. To make matters worse, if I wanted to stop it, I would have to opt out of each individual email. It's only fortunate that it's an account that I only use for things I don't really intend to follow up, so the messages all go into the spam folder on the account anyway, but as I periodically look in there to ensure nothing I do want has been accidentally classed as spam, I see the messages which number about 20 a week.

[Catalpa]

I have an Orange (well, Wanadoo) address which I've not used for about 5 years. I look at it occasionally in case anyone from 5+ years ago uses it. It is does not appear in plain sight anywhere on tinterweb. It still gets more French language spam - in fact, I'd say it is increasing - than any other of my email addresses some of which are in plain sight on tinterweb.

There's no point in opting out of unwanted emails because that merely confirms to the mailing lists that they've got a live and responsive account. If it is a consistent email address or subject heading and you can be bothered, block them.

I'm sure data is sold on by Orange.

[Department71]

We got an Orange e-mail address when we had our phone installed, I have never used it except to send to Orange (will explain below). I did set the details up in my e-mail system on my UK computer, just in case I needed it. But like you I usually get six or seven spams per day, all are in French so my e-mail address has more then likely been sold by Orange France.

What I do now is set up a rule in Outlook Express to send all my Orange e-mails direct to abuse@orange.fr.

After 3 months here in France when I get home there will be at least a couple of hundred e-mails winging there way back to Orange.

Can you stop it now? not really your e-mail address is scattered across France in different firms sending spam. The only thing you can do is annoy Orange by sending the spam on to them, after all they started it.

[nomoss]

Thanks for the replies. I have an account with spamcop.net. This costs a nominal annual amount, gives me a permanent and reliable email address and blocks almost all spam either sent to my spamcop address or polled by spamcop from my other addresses.

I submit all spam, blocked or received, for reporting by Spamcop. This means reports of abuse go back to all the ISPs handling a particular email, which generally stops any further mail being sent from those sources.

In the case of "professional" spammers this doesn't matter so much to them, as they continually create/steal new addresses, but people whose addresses have been stolen will be made aware, and it seems to deter actual businesses from sending this rubbish, as they may be uneasy when approached by their ISP. (Well, maybe not Orange[:(])

I find I get a spate of spam for a couple of days, up to half a dozen a day, but they rapidly decrease to none at all as I start reporting them, then start again a couple of days later.

[suein56]

[quote user="nomoss"]

I find I get a spate of spam for a couple of days, up to half a dozen a day, but they rapidly decrease to none at all as I start reporting them, then start again a couple of days later.

[/quote]

Have you thought about getting a gmail address ? I have one and do not get any spam at all.

Whereas with gmx I do get some from time to time but report it to them and it stops.

Sue

[AnOther]

I've had an Orange email address for close on 5 years but have not once sent an email from it, nevertheless I still get the occasional spam message, go figure !

[PaulT]

Sue, I have a gmail address and get no spam. Feel very happy that I never opened an Orange email account.

[andyh4]

OH set up her own orange account some months ago, but has not used it.

So far no spam.

I am not sure how good AVG is against Malware - virus protect yes, but Malware perhaps not so good. I have had the same issues with Norton antivirus and Microsoft antivirus - both seem solid for viruses but not necessarily for malware.

[Mr Wiggy]

For the last few months I have been receiving email supposedly from Orange concerning unpaid factures which is paid by direct Debit, in this email was an orange circle with an envelope at its centre, when I clicked onto it, it opened up a form requesting all my details. Why would they need my details when they already have them, before doing anything I went back through all of my bank statements for the last four years or more and found nothing amiss as all, payments are accounted for.

The next thing I did was to respond to this email, for one reason only, to find out if this was bogus or not as I was very suspicious. Within second of sending the email it was returned stating “No domain of this name”. So this is quite obviously a scam email so beware of any emails purporting to be from Orange. I recently purchased Anti – Malware Pro software which was highly rated, from Amazon Fr and it only cost around 30€, so far so good. I also get a lot of spam mail but that goes straight into the junk section for me to delete when the box gets quit full.