Who are Spammers?

There are a few different types of Spammers. Some are professionals and go to great lengths to hide their identity and fool junk filters while others often don’t even consider what they are doing is spam!

Email is very cheap way to advertise and can be tempting for people to use to sell their products and services. Lists of ‘prospects’ or ‘leads’ can be easily found and purchased from numerous websites.

Often the people selling your details are VERY well known companies. If you are interested, do a search for ‘mailing lists’ and visit any of the results. You will see exactly what information is for sale and often who is selling it.

The point is that it is once your details are collected by one of these companies, they are available to ANYONE.

What about Junk Filters?

Most email services and ISP’s have some kind of junk filter to help sort spam from legitimate email. Some fiiters will compare the senders address to a list of known spammers. Some will also look for certain words and characteristics in the email to decide is it is spam or not. Words like FREE, CHEAP, VIAGRA and thousands of others are often found in spam.

Filters do a good job but there is a fine balance that needs to be constantly adjusted as spammers get smarter. If the junk filter is too ’strict’ then it may block legitimate emails from friends or business. If it is too loose then it will allow too much junk.

We recommend Junk filters that will separate Junk into a ‘Junk’ folder. You can then scan this folder regularly to see if any ’safe’ email has been filtered accidentally. If so then you can add the sender to a ’safe’ list to avoid being filtered in future.

What about Spam laws?

Some spammers go to great lengths to hide their identity so they can be difficult to track. By the time they have been tracked or stopped they have usually setup a new email account and started again. They will often use computers infected with viruses, or ‘Zombies’ to send email so the actual sender does not even know they are sending it. Your computer may even be a zombie and you don’t know!

Spammers will also get around spam laws by something called an ‘opt in’ email. If you visit a website that asks for your email then it can be argued that you are giving permission for them to email you.

Websites will often have a question asking if you would like to receive ’special offers’ in future. By checking, or unchecking the box depending how the question is worded, you may be giving them permission to sell your details.

They may even be tricky and say something like ‘Click here if you do not want to receive emails from us’ (note the use of ‘NOT’). This is called a double opt-in and often tricks people into UNCHECKING it and ‘agreeing’ to be be spammed.

Why do people Spam?

Email is a free way for people to advertise. If a message is sent to millions of people and just a fraction of a percent respond then they consider it effective advertising

What is Spam?

Spam is ANY unsolicted communication.
Spam is usually by email, but can also be other electronic mediums like SMS, instant messenger, blogs, forums and newsgroups. Email spam is probably the most common, and arguably the most annoying so that’s what we are focussing on.

The Spam Safe Seal is not displaying on my site…

IF IT HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN WORKING…

• Have you deleted the listing? If so you you will need to redo it and get the new code.
• Have you cancelled the subscription from within Paypal? If so then you will need to redo the listing.
• Have you recently changed your site? If so you may have altered the code. Check to make sure the code is exactly the same as the code in the Member Logos area.
• We may be updating the logos. Check back in a few minutes to see if works.
• Still not working? Contact support by clicking here

IF IT HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY WORKED…

Please follow the instructions for how to install the code.

Will you read my emails?

No. Our email system is similar to how you would send any other email. Although it is possible for us to see the message your customer sends you, we don’t. To read every email would take hundreds if not thousands of people.

Our job is to make sure that our system allows your customers through, but stops spammers contacting you.

You should remember that NO email system is safe unless you are using added security like a digital certificate, so you should never send important personal info by email.

If you still don’t want to use our system then you don’t have to. Simply leave the email field empty when you create your listing and customers will not be able to contact you.

How to put the Seal on your site

The Site Seal is displayed using a small script so that the Seal is updated automatically. If you have ever uploaded a Google Adsense code you will be familar with how to do this. If not, it is very simple:

1. First you will need access to your webpage source code and an HTML editor like Dreamweaver, Frontpage or other editor. You can download a free editor from Trellian. You will also need to upload your site when you have finished editing. Filezilla is free FTP program to upload your site.
2. When you are ready, login to your account
3. Click on ‘view/ edit’ for the listing
4. You should now see the full details of your listing. Near the top click on the ‘member logos’ button.
5. Copy the FULL code of the logo you want to display
6. Open your html editor where you can edit your website
7. Navigate to the area where you want the Seal to display
8. Now switch to the SOURCE VIEW of the editor. You should see the cursor in the place corressponding to the spot where you want the seal.
9. Paste (ctrl + V) the full code you copied into the source code
10. Preview the page to view the updated site (make sure you are connected to the internet). You should now see the seal on your page.
11. Save your page.
12. Upload your new page to the web.

Troubleshooting

• Check that you have copied and pasted the complete code.
• The code must be placed between the <body> tags.
• Check that you are connected to the internet. The logo is hosted on our servers so you need to be connected for the logo to display.
• Check that you have uploaded the correct file, to the correct location
• It is possible that our servers are being updated. You could try again a bit later
• If you are still having problems contact our support staff

Phishing scams

‘Phishing’ is a term used for a type of scam where the sender poses as someone else trying to try to steal personal information such as bank accounts details, PINs and passwords.

They may also try to plant a virus on your computer and steal information without you knowing. Below is an example of a typical phishing scam:

“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.”

Clicking the link will usually direct you to a COPY of the website you expect to see and prompt you for personal information.

How to identify a phishing scam

Legitimate companies will never ask for your personal information by email. Email is NOT considered a secure method of communication.

It is also very easy for senders to present a false email address. DO NOT TRUST THEM just because the senders address seems legitimate.

If you are unsure then call them by phone or type their website into your browser directly. DO NOT CLICK THE LINKS IN THE EMAIL. This can also apply to phone calls. You should NEVER give out personal information if they have initiated the contact (either by email or by phone)

For more information about phishing and other scams visit the phishtank to see a list of the latest scams and for more information about phishing.