Do you love email? Sure, we all do.

But it’s important to use email safely.  That’s why we here at Munkin Arts LLC wanted to share this important message with you, our earnest readers.

Recently a new exploit has cropped up in the ever expanding attempt to infect your computer with viruses.

Email messages are coming in saying that you need to complete an order at bluemountain.com, an online virtual greeting card company.   Or in another example, I received this message saying  my account was set up, but I need to log in to complete the process.

Thank you for becoming a member on our site

You have entered your email address and screen name:

Email: tom@[REDACTED]
Screen name: boosas05

Please login with the password you created.

In order to complete the free membership process, you must click on the attached link to activate your account:

You will have 30 days to confirm your registration or you will need to re-register on the site.

There are a few problems with this.

• I never use my home address to sign for web sites
• There’s no mention of what site it’s actually for.   The email came from boosas05@raschella.com, which you’ll notice happens to also be the password they sent.
• I’d never do any business that emails a username and password combination in one email.

Being a smart user, I saved the login.html attachment locally, scanned it with the virus software, then opened it in notepad to have a look.

The html is a mess, but it takes you to some URL no one has ever heard of or would have construct on their own.

So in conclusion, if it looks suspicious, don’t double click it.

Have a great day!

If one of their employees happens by, I’ve tried:

The unsubscribe link..it didn’t work

I tried politely asking…that didn’t work despite assurances someone would take care of it.

I tried changing the address on my account so it would email somewhere else, that didn’t work and now I can’t access the account because I don’t remember what benefit cosmetics newsletter address I used for the address.

And now their “customer service” people write back using a no-reply address.  My wife loves their products.  If *she* wants to buy more let her, but they won’t be seeing anymore of my money getting her the stuff as gifts.

Hello Tom Kies,

Thank you for writing to us at Benefit Cosmetics.

We value you as our customer and do not want to send you unwanted promotional e-mails.

If you wish to be excluded from any future promotional notices, please follow the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any promotional e-mail you receive from us.

Thank you for shopping with Benefit Cosmetics.

Kristie Black
Benefit Cosmetics Customer Service

—- Original message: —-

E-mail:menty666@yahoo.com
First Name:Tom
Last Name:Kies
Order Number:
Comments:Stop emailing me, I don’t give a shit about your rash inducing creams.

This email is regarding the Our Products.

Thanks
Tom

The first person that can give me a working answer on how to stop this wins a marble, I’ll make you something nice.

My hosting provider for the domain is bluehost, but that particular email account is pegged to charter.net.   I’ve redacted the domain portion to keep the spam to a minimum, but if you really need it, get in touch.

Here’s the message:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at outbound-mail-374.bluehost.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<mycharteraddress@charter.net>:
216.33.127.20 failed after I sent the message.
Remote host said: 550 5.2.0 kuah1d01S5W4AyA04uahgQ Message identified as SPAM - Please visit http://www.charter.com/postmaster E5110

--- Enclosed are the original headers of the message.

For tom, we cut prices to -80%.eml

Subject: For tom, we cut prices to -80%

From: “Best ED Meds” <tom@redacted.com>

To: tom@redacted.com

(Body supressed)

I’ve unsubscribed, I’ve complained when that didn’t work, I even tried changing my email address to your address so it would stop, but that doesn’t work, so how the hell do I need to tell you people to stop sending me ads?   I’m really regretting ever buying my wife your crappy products at this point and I can assure you it will NEVER happen again.

Thank you for you recent unsolicited mailing despite being told to stop!

In return I’d like to invite you to visit http://munkinarts.artfire.com for all your glass needs and desires.  Whether its a marble for your collection, a hummingbird feeder for the backyard, or a naughty something special for that special person in your life, you’re bound to find what you’re looking for.

Thank you for you recent unsolicited mailing despite being told to stop!
In return I’d like to invite you to visit http://munkinarts.artfire.com for all your glass needs and desires.  Whether its a marble for your collection, a hummingbird feeder for the backyard, or a naughty something special for that special person in your life, you’re bound to find what you’re looking for.

Unfortunately now that also includes spam from them whether you want it or not.    I’ve been getting emails from them, so on the 9th I used the link in their email to unsubscribe and got a message back the same day saying it had been done.

Today, the 11th, I got another ad from them.   So, I’m helping to spread the word that these imbeciles won’t respect their customer’s wishes.  So if you want flowers, great, give them a try, though you’re better off supporting a local florist than a national company, but that’s for you to wrestle with.   Just keep in mind you might want to use a throwaway address that expires soon thereafter.

Here’s the message I wound up sending them:

Hi, I unsubscribed from your ‘KB_Pure_Pre’ list yet I’m still getting crap from you.   So to thank you, I’ll be calling your 800 number ever couple of days to market for a random business to say thanks.  Oh, and Advertising (above in your Topic drop down) only has 1 ‘N’.

I’ve also left them a nice tweet:

f you want to get spam from kabloom (#flowers) sign up with them. They’ll send it whether you subscribe or unsubscribe

Incidentally, their contact form triggers an email message but doesn’t actually go away afterwards.  Maybe once they learn to use spell check they can hire a web developer.

But the superintendent of schools seems to also like to use the system for other things, albeit not always using both phone and email.   For example, before Christmas we got a phone call on the house phone and both cells wishing us a happy holiday and letting us know there are seats open on the school buildings committee.  Today I received an email letting me know that the high school team is playing some hockey game at the local stadium.  This, to me, isn’t an appropriate use.

I called the education office and I asked if there was a way to get on an emergency message only list vs. the emergency and oh all this other junk list.  There’s one list, you’re either on or off it, but I get the feeling the poor woman I talked to has fielded these calls before.

So what do I do here?  Do I remove my contact information from the list and miss out on the “there’s a knife wielding crazy in your son’s pre-school classroom” messages, or just leave it be and create a special filter for the superintendent’s drivel?

I’m thinking it might be worth taking up with the town selectmen at some point because it’s pretty obviously a misuse of a valuable system.  Or am I being too sensitive?

Worse, if you try to use the unsubscribe link, it takes you to a blank page.

I don’t know what they make, but I sure as hell won’t be buying any.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Um, Tom…Don’t you do that sometimes?”

The answer is yes, but with a difference.  It’s a company I have a prior business relationship with, AND I include an address to my shop.

But more often than not, this is what I receive:

Dear site owner We are interested to increase traffic to your website,

please get back to us in order to discuss the possibility in further detail. Thanks

Now, here’s the thing.   You’ll notice there’s no business name here.  No site to visit.  No phone number to call.   Instead they want me to return their email.  The messages aren’t coming from info@SEOWizards.com either.  They’re coming from addresses such as,

• kittyabraham07@hotmail.com
• jimgonzalez77@gmail.com
• martin.babcock5@gmail.com

just to shame a few.

So, what they expect is that not only will I write back to some random person who contacted me out of the blue and not only do business with them, but also to send them my email so they can sell that to other spammers.

I’m tempted to set up a fake gmail address to write back with myself and see if I can get them to pay a ‘partnership’ fee.

Idiots.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI Seattle Division
1110 Third Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98101-2904
Payment Code: R5109176K
Reg No: 132731593

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has discovered through our intelligence Monitoring Network that you are eligible to receive the sum of $12,500,000.00 USD regarding to an over-due Inheritance/Award payment which was fully endorsed to be paid in your favour.therefore,the FBI Seattle Division in conjunction with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Has screened through our various Monitoring Networks and has been confirmed and notified that the transaction you  have with the Financial Institution is Legal and you have the Lawful Right to claim your due fund.

The President His Excellency Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar Adua President of the Federal republic of Nigeria has given us the final approval to pay your fund to you within the next 48hrs, Your fund valued $12,500,000.00 USD has been deposited into a Gold smart Card number: 5179 1234 5678 personal identificationis ATM- 7997 this card will enable you buy and withdrawal cash anywhere around the world this is done for your own security, with this card you will not have to take the risk of sending us your personal banking details online as you have been strongly advise by your local bank not to send your banking details to anyone online.

What you are required to do now to Pay the fees of $380.00 USD for the shipment of your Gold Smart card to your choice location, $380 USD is the only fees that has been approved by both the FBI and the Bank that you are to pay as cost of Delivery of your Card to you by the courier company.Once the fees is been paid your ATM CARD
will get to you in the next 2-3 working day.

Note: Your funds are protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it Impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it can be remitted to you.this means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the Funds and hence must be provided by you before your fund is transferred to you.the payment for any of the above options should be sent via Western Union Money Transfer in the name of the Head of accounts Mr. ALEX OWO.
Find below the payment information.

Name of receiver: Alex Owo
Office Address: 47 St John Street Victoria Island, Lagos 23401
Nigeria.
Text Question: making friends
Answer: Good
Name of Sender:…………………
Address of Sender:………………
MTCN#………………………….
Amount….$380

As soon as we receive your payment, he shall proceed with your fund transfer immediately.
We anticipate your prompt response. If you need to contact me at any stage please do not hesitate to call (+1-206-203-4190)

Sincerely,
Steven M. Dean (Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge)
cc Robert Mueller (FBI Director)