Email "Spoofing"
Ebay/PayPal Toolbar Account Guard
Filtering Your Mail
Identity Theft - what to do
How To Fight Spam
The "419" Scam Or Nigerian Letter
Trouble With Spam And New Ways To Deal With It   

 

 WHAT IS "SPOOFING?"
Another way in which Spammers are attacking is through fraudulent email.  They are sending out emails that are falsely made to appear they are from legitimate users and or companies.  These emails, commonly referred to as "spoofing" messages, are sent in an attempt to collect sensitive personal information from recipients who reply to the message or click on a link to a Web page requesting this information.  If you receive any mail addressed as being from cvc.net or cvcwireless.net that appears to be questionable, do not open it - instead please contact the office.  When spoofs surface we work diligently to stop them before they pass through the system.

We advise you to be cautious of email messages that ask you to submit information such as your credit card number or email password, CVC Internet will never ask you for sensitive personal information such as passwords, bank accounts, credit card numbers, personal identification number (PINS), drivers license numbers or Social Security numbers in an email.  If you ever need to provide information in email form to CVC Internet please create a new email in your mail program and address it to office@cvc.net.

If you have any doubt about whether an email message is from cvc.net do not respond to it or click on nay of the links in the email message.  Please do not change the subject line or forward the email as an attachment.

(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 IDENTITY THEFT - WHAT TO DO
If you entered personal information such as your password, social security number or credit card numbers into a website based on a request from a "spoofed" email, you need to take immediate action to protect your identity.  If you become a victim of identity theft, do the following:

File a police report -

Contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit bureaus to report the identity theft and request that the bureaus place a fraud alert status in your file.  To report fraud call:

Equifax: 800-525-6285
Experian: 800-397-3792
Trans Union: 800-680-7289

Contact the Federal Trade Commission's toll-free Identity Theft Hotline at 1-877-438-4338.  The FTC will take a report and place your name in a nationwide consumer fraud database shared by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Finally, contact your creditors and inform them of your being a victim of identity theft.  Close your accounts, change all account passwords, and obtain new credit, debit, and ATM cards, etc.

(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 new! ebay / paypal toolbar and account guard
As part of an ongoing effort to enable PayPal users to protect themselves from "spoof" (fake) websites, eBay and PayPal have developed "Account Guard," a new feature on the eBay Toolbar that identifies when you ar eon an authentic eBay or PayPal website and warns you when you are on a potentially fraudulent website.

eBay Toolbar is a free, downloadable tool that will help you protect your PayPal account.  This is not a service provided by CVC Internet, please refer to eBay for more information:

http://www.ebay.com/ebay_toolbar 

(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 

 THE TROUBLE WITH SPAM AND NEW WAYS TO DEAL WITH IT
The unwanted junk email that comes flooding into our email each day feels like a sustained attack from unseen enemies.  The offers of herbal Viagra, cheap ink-jet cartridges, jobs working from home, bigger body parts, smaller mortgage payments, porn, wealth, beauty, and many, many more go unheeded by the vast majority of recipients.

Ever-increasing Spam

 The amount of global Spam sent each day has increased by a factor of five in the past year according to some estimates.  Predictions conservatively show that the total number of Spam email messages sent will increase from 10 billion per day today to 30 billion a day by 2006.

It's obvious that Spam "evildoers" are just scattering junk mail to the wind, trolling for suckers.  They'll Spam 10 million people in order to make 100 sales.  But the net effect is needless aggravation, wasted time and money, and the unspoken psychological damage of being unable to stop the mess from pouring into our mailboxes.

Declaration of war

Spam is spoiling the Internet, reducing the convenience and value of email, and making people think twice about letting kids go online.  Current legislation doesn't work.  Email can come from anywhere in the world.  Filters are temporary because spammers figure out how to get around them.  Lawsuits have done nothing to slow the onslaught.

Yes, it's a war.  They're attacking us - and we've got to fight back.  We'll never end all Spam forever.  The goal is to make Spamming expensive, difficult and spectacularly unpleasant enterprise that just isn't worth the trouble.

Spamming is expensive and difficult.  Sending millions of email messages costs tens of thousands of dollars.  Changing ISP's, keeping identities secret, evading the law (something Spammers cannot avoid) all costs a bundle.

The goal of Spam should be to make it as difficult, expensive, and painful as possible by working to end Spam for ourselves, and for less technical people who need help stopping Spam.

Anti-Spam software and services

Anti-Spam Tips and Tricks

The reality of Spam is that you as a user need to valid email addresses to register for websites, verify passwords and so on.  Some of those websites sell or rent their list of email address to Spammers.

Here is a list of techniques used for managing Spam in random order:

(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 how to fight Spam
The volume of Spam has increased ten times throughout the year 2001 - these numbers are staggering - and we're sure that you have noticed the increase of Spam in your mailbox. 
Spam is handled with internally-maintained lists of offending domains and IP addresses, they are carefully used to monitor text filtering and scan attachments for viruses.

Overall, the defense is helping to curb the load of Spam but it's not eliminating this continually growing problem.  Spammers often use various techniques to make it difficult or impossible to block them and ISP's need to be careful that legitimate messages aren't blocked.   One person's Spam could be another's legitimate message.  ISP's tend to err on the side of letting the message through.

You can help with the "war" on Spam - here are a few suggestions:

PREVENTION

If you send e-mail or surf the net,  Spammers can find your contact information.  Here are five things that expose you to Spam:

  • Chatting Online
  • Posting notes to message boards or newsgroups
  • Joining mailing lists
  • Creating a member profile on a Web Site
  • Creating a Web Page and being listed as the Webmaster

Precautions to help limit your exposure on the net:

  • Create "Dummy" Identities
  • Be careful where you expose your address
  • Check a Web Site's Privacy Statement
  • Avoid replying to any Spam

Read a report on what behaviors generate the most Spam: www.cnet.com

 

EVADE SPAM

Spammers will often use programs to scan the net and collect e-mail addresses.  No matter how careful you are with your e-mail address, you will get Spam.  When you find it in your mailbox, here are some suggestions to avoid getting more:

  • DELETE IT! The best defense is using this button in your mail program.
  • Choose carefully when you reply to an e-mail.  Replying to Spam often validates your e-mail address and ensures that you'll get even more Spam!
  • Don't click on any links in a Spam e-mail.  Spammers are now using html (Internet language) messages with embedded links (another way of validating your e-mail address).  More often then not, these links don't lead to a valid page.
  • Use e-mail filters in your mail program.  

 

REPORT SPAM

Reporting Spam is one of the most productive defensive strategies.   ISP's dislike Spammers as much as you do and Spammers also move around quite a bit.  The problem is getting the correct information to the right people.  Here are some links we have found that can help:

DEFENSE

There are many programs available to help you combat the war on Spam. 

  • ZD-Net and C-Net are two sites that are always on the lookout for new tools to help with Spam.

 

 

 

 


(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 How to Filter Junk and Adult Content E-mail Messages
in Microsoft Mail Programs (Exchange, Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.)

There is a growing business in using e-mail messages as a direct marketing tool.  If you do not wish to receive these kind of messages, Microsoft mail can search for commonly used phrases in such messages, and automatically move them from you Inbox to a junk e-mail folder, your deleted items folder, or any other folder you specify.  The list of terms that Microsoft Mail uses to filter suspected junk e-mail messages, can be found in a file called Filters.txt (please refer to the help menu within the mail program, for more information on this file and the usage of e-mail filtering).

You can also filter messages based on a list of e-mail addresses of junk and adult content senders.  There are third party filters, which are regularly updated, that you can add to Microsoft's mail.  These filter's have the latest list of commercial and adult content senders. For more information on setting up and using e-mail filters, please visit Microsoft's site by going to http://www.microsoft.com

 

How to Filter Junk and Adult Content E-mail Messages
in Netscape Communicator
To activate the Mail Filters in Netscape, open the Netscape program, and open the Mail window.  In the Mail window, click on the Edit menu, select Message Filters, and adjust the settings as needed.  For more information on using Mail Filters in Netscape, please refer to the Help menu located within the software program, or go to Netscape's site located at http://www.netscape.com.

(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 The "419" Scam or Nigerian Letter Scam
This scam has been around for over 20 years according to the Oregon Attorney General's office.  In broken often sheepish English, the writer claims to be from Africa, most often from Nigeria, Zimbabwe or South Africa.  The writer is desperate to move large amounts of money out of the country and into a foreign bank.  Targets of the shakedown are told they can keep a share of the money in exchange for their help.  The cut is usually around a fourth of the total making for a multimillion dollar payoff.  The US State Department has published a booklet about this scam and it can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format at: 

 www.state.gov/www/regions/africa/naffpub.pdf

If you have lost money to this scam, please contact Financial Crimes Division at 950 H Street NW, Washington D.C.; call 202-406-5850; or visit www.secretservice.gov/contact_fcd.shtml

If you have NOT lost money, but received a letter are being asked to fax a copy of the letter to the Secret Service in Washington D.C. at 202-406-5031.

To protect yourself from other scams, please check out this website:

Korva Multimedia - this website is devoted to exposing scams including the McDonalds meat story, lost children, etc.  

(Back to the top of the page)

CVC Internet

 EMAIL SCAMS AND HOAXES
Have you ever wondered how true an email is? Have you ever wondered if the virus warning is real? Here is a place you can check for the truth:  http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/  This site is maintained by the Department of Energy and has a list of all the known hoaxes and virus warnings that circulate through email.  If you aren't sure, or if it just plain doesn't make sense, check it out before you forward it to everyone in your address book!

There is also a new site that checks out each chain letter sent to them for it's true meaning.  To make sure you have a legitimate letter, check out this site for more information: www.breakthechain.org.  It covers all types of chain letters and hoaxes.

(Back to the top of the page) 

 

CVC Internet

This Web page contains links to other Internet sites.  Such links are not endorsements of any
products or services in such Web sites, and no information in such site has been endorsed or approved
by CVC Internet.  CVC Internet disclaims any responsibility if some Web site you link to has material
on it that offends you in any way.  If problems or questions arise with the use of any of the
Websites showing above, please contact the company that owns or operates the site.

By using this Web site (CVC Internet), you acknowledge that you have read the
Terms of Conditions of Service
and the disclaimers contained in this site,
and that you accept and will be bound by the terms thereof.

Copyright © 1996 - 2006, CVC Internet. All rights reserved.

Certain names, logos, designs, titles, words or phrases on this site may constitute trademarks,
service marks or trade names of CVC Internet  or other entities which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.