Renewal of spam attacks

[nitaclay]

We had this discussion back in the fall when some of us were getting hundreds of spam emails each day, and it seems we were all getting the same ones. Liz assured us they were working on it, and it did get much better. Now, the spam emails are beginning again. It started with just 3 or 4. Now today, there were 51. I do mark them spam, but they just show right back up. I don't remember who all had this problem, but I'm willing to bet I'm not alone.

[maratsade]

Several people were having the same issue -- I imagine that spammers have figured out a way to bypass the new measures.  

I think this topic would get more traction and exposure under Tech Support. I wonder if @Liz  or @Remy would move it there.  (EDIT: It was moved -- thanks!)

[Liz]

Hi nitaclay,

Thanks for reaching out again, I'm escalating this to our e-mail folks to address. I'll post back once I have any further questions or updates from them.

  Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Liz

[Liz]

Good morning nitaclay, 

Thanks for your patience while our e-mail folks investigated. They've found that most of the spam you received is mostly advertisement spam. This is something you may have signed up for or indirectly signed up for when signing up for something else. This spam has a unsubscribe option at the bottom of the emails. They suggest unsubscribing from them as they receive them, and if you do not see unsubscribe, click on Display Images.

-Liz

[MarkJFine]

Although what Liz says is true for legit advertisers, please be careful that the email is from who it says it is.

If the "From" address looks sketchy or doesn't seem to match the product, I'd advise not hitting Unsubscribe. In those cases the link is used to verify a live email account and somtimes may lead to even more spam.

[nitaclay]

Thanks! They are definitely NOT legit advertisers as most have jumbled letters, misspelled words, etc. I haven't opened them, but I doubt they even have a place to unsubscribe. I just can't believe I'm the only HughesNet customer who is experiencing all this spam!

[MarkJFine]

Guarantee this is not a HN-specific thing, though. I see the same kind of spam on accounts other than on HN, which are evading spam detection. There's been a rash of it for about a month now.

[maratsade]

I wouldn't even open those emails at all.  I'd flag them as spam or just delete them. You're not the only person with an email account who is experiencing spam; everyone gets spam email and often the only thing you can do is delete it unread and move on.  And spammers find ways to evade countermeasures, so the spam is not going away.  

---

@nitaclay wrote:

 I just can't believe I'm the only HughesNet customer who is experiencing all this spam!

---

[nitaclay]

I assure you I'm NOT opening them, but they are increasing daily! I can hardly get through deleting the ones that are there before I have 20 more! So aggravating!!

[maratsade]

It's not you, Nita, it's the spammers figuring out ways to spam you. Your email may have been compromised somewhere, at some point, and now you're on a list, and yes, it's ridiculously frustrating.  You may want to think about getting another email address, at Gmail, for example. 

---

@nitaclay wrote:

I assure you I'm NOT opening them, but they are increasing daily! I can hardly get through deleting the ones that are there before I have 20 more! So aggravating!!

---

[nitaclay]

Believe me, I have definitely considered getting another email! I am our church secretary, and I use my email for so much of that correspondence I really hate to change it.

[maratsade]

I can totally understand your frustration. Changing everything to a new email account, giving people the new address, etc.,  is a lot of work and very time consuming.  

---

@nitaclay wrote:

Believe me, I have definitely considered getting another email! I am our church secretary, and I use my email for so much of that correspondence I really hate to change it.

---

[nitaclay]

Liz,

I'm sorry to disagree! Most of the spam emails are NOT legit advertising. I do not spend time looking for information on websites I know nothing about. If your researchers will look at my spam box, they will see the spam email subjects may sound legit, but they contain a jumble of letters, misspelled words, weird capitalizations, etc. I have even received several supposedly from HughesNet. Here are some of the titles of ones I have received over and over: Congrats!, Technik, Viva Loan, Elongation Secret from African Tribesmen, Eliminate Fat Fast, IllusionalRug, Male Breakthrough, DentiStrength, dsgsdfgsef, feelbetter, Privacy Protection, Trends2you, Keranique Hair Treatment, Congratulations, Miracle gummies, Dr. Theodore Diktaban, and others. They may sound legit, but I assure you, they are not! Others are bound to be experiencing the same thing.

[Liz]

Hi nitaclay,

Thank you for this additional information! I'll send this over to our e-mail folks for their input.

-Liz

[nitaclay]

If they will notice, emails from Lowe's, Walmart, Norton, etc. are spoofing emails. They are not advertisements from those companies. I've even gotten some that say they are from HughesNet, but have misspelled words, jumbled letters, and such.

[Liz]

Excellent catch nitaclay! Our email folks are still digging into this, but I'll relay this bit of feedback as well. Please continue to mark these as spam, as it does help our spam filter learn and improve over time.

Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

-Liz

[nitaclay]

Liz,

I absolutely cannot be the only one with this problem! I marked as spam and deleted 102 emails just for today. I don't have time to do this every day! I don't want to change my email, but I am realizing that I may have to do something differently. Help!!!

[GabeU]

---

@nitaclay wrote:

 I don't want to change my email, but I am realizing that I may have to do something differently. Help!!!

---

It's a pain, no doubt.  One thing to keep in mind regarding HughesNet's email, however, is that if/when you leave HughesNet, you can't "take it with you", whereas a 3rd party provider, like Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook, isn't tied to an ISP.  HughesNet's email service ends approximately 30 days after service termination.  

I've got nothing against HughesNet's email, per se, but I always recommend something like Gmail instead. 

It's just a thought.

[Liz · Accepted solution]

Good morning nitaclay,

Thank you for your patience while our e-mail folks looked into your concern. They have located and blocked the offending IPs from sending again and the issue should slacken now if not completely stop.  Please continue marking any suspicious e-mail as spam to help strengthen our spam controls.

If you have any other concerns, please feel free to reach out again.

  Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Liz

[adlercpa]

I am getting a bunch of spam from Zedline. They use ramdon letters like fstv@zedline.com. I block them but they just keep changing the random letters and more still come.

Some get to my email even though they are not sent to my email address. Can hughes.net block all emails from Zedline?

Jim Adler

[removed to protect privacy]

[maratsade]

Jim, the email admins are working on the spam issue, but there's likely only so much they can do, as spammers get around counter-measures soon after they're deployed.  Your best bet is to keep marking messages as spam or just delete them. 

adlercpa wrote:

I am getting a bunch of spam from Zedline. They use ramdon letters like fstv@zedline.com. I block them but they just keep changing the random letters and more still come.

Some get to my email even though they are not sent to my email address. Can hughes.net block all emails from Zedline?

Jim Adler

---