I'm not sure what to make of this spam email...

[Creamy_Goodness]

> Has anyone received an e-mail like this? I could explain the letter here, but this message I sent to the Pottery Barn just about covers it. I tried to highlight some of the text, but that's when I found that the body of the letter was actually three gifs, and it led me to another site. So I did a Google search for the Pottery Barn and complained to them directly, just to make sure I had the genuine site. This is what I wrote to them...

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> I checked my e-mail just now, and received what appeared to be a confirmation letter for something I apparently ordered from the Pottery Barn. The problem is that I never ordered anything from PB, but somehow this letter was sent to my e-mail address. The confirmation number was listed as #PT5n430so2s39s. When I opened the e-mail, the body of the letter was actually bitmap images instead of text, and the links pointed to this site...
http://programrewardcenter.com/rd_p?p=10...otmail.com& (http://programrewardcenter.com/rd_p?p=101083&c=9763-potbarnvspier1vscrate_emc_d30&a=CD4740&em=jrascot% 40hotmail.com&)

> Thank you.

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> This is the actual letter I received, as close as I can copy it...

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From : Processing & Tracking Dept <smartship@tiptopbid.com>
Sent : Friday, April 22, 2005 3:17 AM
To : jrascot@hotmail.com
Subject : Pottery Barn Offer Confirmation #PT5n430so2s39s

http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/cottages/iwow/Sources/driftlock.gif
http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/cottages/iwow/Sources/driftlock1.gif
http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/cottages/iwow/Sources/driftlock2.gif

Oradesky surname - d 4/02/05 Re: Oradesky surname - Phillip Applebaum 4/04/05 Harris family - suzanne vincent 3/28/05 Re: Harris family - lee wilson 3/31/05 Re: Harris family - Phillip Applebaum 3/29/05 Zelmanovics/Katz - Hungary/Romania>NY - Fern Ward 3/26/05 Yitzhac/Jacob Kutcher of Brooklyn - Sandra Bergman 3/25/05 Re: Yitzhac/Jacob Kutcher of Brooklyn - Zlatica Beca 4/09/05 paternal grandfather Moses Michailetz - Sandra Bergman 3/25/05 Re: paternal grandfather Moses Michailetz - Phillip Applebaum 3/29/05 Re: paternal grandfather Moses Michailetz - Sandra Bergman 4/05/05 Re: paternal grandfather Moses Michailetz - Phillip Applebaum 4/07/05 Research near Berlin - Sean Curry 3/24/05 Re: Research near Berlin - Daniel Schiffer 4/01/05 The Nickname Spitznagel - Rinnah Burns 3/22/05 The Surname Weizacker - James Schmidt 3/21/05 Re: The Surname Weizacker - Phillip Applebaum 3/24/05 Trying to locate Max Keitel - frieda betman 3/19/05 Re: Trying to locate Max Keitel - Zlatica Beca 3/19/05 BROWN/ FINKLEBRAUN CHAIM - Jean McKay 3/18/05 JACOBS FAMILY LONDON - Jean McKay 3/18/05 Re: JACOBS FAMILY LONDON - Phillip Applebaum 3/20/05 "VENAHAFOCH HU" (turnover) - tsbr tsbr 3/17/05 "Earl" as a Jewish first name - Lisa A 3/14/05 Thorman's in Germany? - james 3/12/05 Re: Thorman's in Germany? - Zlatica Beca 3/16/05 Re: Thorman's in Germany? - Phillip Applebaum 3/15/05 Re: Thorman's in Germany? - james 3/15/05 Abraham Rosenthal 1915-1987 New York birth; Florida Death - Nathan Rosenthal 3/10/05 seeking jewish genealogy book collectors - menashe caplan 3/09/05 joseph protter - diana simon 3/07/05 Re: joseph protter - Phillip Applebaum 3/08/05 Possible surname of Charkofsky or something similar - Sara Brown 3/03/05 Re: Possible surname of Charkofsky or something similar - lee wilson 3/26/05 Re: Possible surname of Charkofsky or something similar - Zlatica Beca 3/04/05 kalashnikoff - lena kurenoff 2/27/05 Re: kalashnikoff - Amram 3/02/05 Kahn-Jewish? - Callie N. 2/24/05 Re: Kahn-Jewish? - James Schmidt 3/21/05 Re: Kahn-Jewish? - James Schmidt 3/21/05 Re: Kahn-Jewish? - Phillip Applebaum 2/28/05 Re: Kahn-Jewish? - mpfreed 2/26/05 PLOTKA / VOLHYNIA GUBERNIA / 1890-1930/ - Sande White 2/24/05 Re: PLOTKA / VOLHYNIA GUBERNIA / 1890-1930/ - Linda Winkleman 3/23/05 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is jewish - David 2/19/05 Re: Mustafa Kemal is jewish - David 2/23/05 Any help much appreciated. - liz pilsbury 2/19/05 Re: Any help much appreciated. - Phillip Applebaum 2/23/05 Schmegelsky: Jewish or not? - Cindy Schmegelsky 2/11/05 Re: Schmegelsky: Jewish or not? - Amram 2/16/05 Re: Schmegelsky: Jewish or not? - Phillip Applebaum 2/14/05 Sasson Los Angeles, CA 1924 - Marlayna Glynn Brown 2/11/05 Re: Sasson Los Angeles, CA 1924 - Phillip Applebaum 2/14/05 Jews In US Merchant MArine KIA ? - P.Fazzini 2/02/05 Re: Jews In US Merchant MArine KIA ? - Phillip Applebaum 2/07/05 Ancestor who dropped his surname, Salunsky - Ephraim Salins 1/30/05 bar-mitzvah in poland - Jay Fertig 1/26/05 Re: bar-mitzvah in poland - Phillip Applebaum 1/31/05 Russian Jewish surname??? - Jennifer Foty 1/23/05 Re: Russian Jewish surname??? Vashenko - Zlatica Beca 1/24/05 Organization against religious persecution http://www.har-tzion.com - petermasonhk@yahoo.com 1/22/05 Is there any one has contact with the polish Archives( archw@siedlce.com.) - corrine lachmi 1/18/05 Re: post on Poland's Genforum - Zlatica Beca 1/18/05 The Name Hennen--Maynor - Rinnah Burns 1/16/05 Russian Jewish Birth Certificate? - Barbara 1/06/05 Re: Russian Jewish Birth Certificate? - Sam Vass 1/08/05 Canadian Anusim/Sephardic Jewish DNA testing - Deborah 12/31/04 Re: Canadian Anusim/Sephardic Jewish DNA testing - Steve Franklin 12/31/04 Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Gilbert T. Alligood 12/25/04 Re: Elias LeGarde - Not the 1st Jew in America - Phillip Applebaum 1/19/05 Re: Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Phillip Applebaum 1/18/05 Re: Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Gilbert T. Alligood 1/19/05 Re: Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Phillip Applebaum 1/19/05 Re: Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Phillip Applebaum 12/27/04 Re: Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Gilbert T. Alligood 12/27/04 Re: Elias LeGarde - 1st Jew in America - Steve Franklin 12/28/04 Principate in Israel - Darrell Pursiful 12/23/04 vengrow poland wolowski family - corrine lachmi 12/22/04 Re: vengrow poland wolowski family - Phillip Applebaum 12/22/04 jewish ancestry - maya nash papps 12/15/04 Such / Sich - Zlatica Beca 12/17/04 Re: jewish ancestry - Hanna Goldmann 12/16/04 Re: jewish ancestry - Phillip Applebaum 12/20/04 Re: jewish ancestry - Phillip Applebaum 12/15/04 Re: jewish ancestry - maya nash papps 12/16/04 Vichevsky or Vichebski - dayna 12/08/04 Re: Vichevsky or Vichebski - Denis Vitchevsky 4/03/05 Sonnenberg ( Zonenberg)Family - Bernard Partegas 12/07/04 New Haven Drabkins - Harold Drabkin 12/06/04 neal edward gordon - bethanie sue gordon 12/04/04 Jeish Temples etc - Barbara 12/03/04 Re: Jewish Temples; - Barbara 12/03/04 Re: Jewish Temples; - dayna 12/08/04 Re: Jewish Temples; - Barbara 12/26/04 Re: Jewish Temples; - Barbara 1/06/05 Abugov obit look up please - Barbara 12/02/04 Gardner from Dorchester or Roxbury Ma obit look up please - Barbara 12/02/04 A Few Questions - Heather 12/06/04 Re: A Few Questions - Barbara 1/06/05 Surname Ruckel - JöRuckel 12/02/04 Lavine - Bonnie Gerber 11/23/04
| |

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> As I've said, I've already complained to the Pottery Barn about this incident, but is there anything more I can do to shut these fuckers down, or at least keep this shit out of my inbox?

[kleinluka]

welcome to the wonderful world of the internets.
spam is nothing unusual. just delete it :/

[Mojo2k]

yeah .. what you should be worried aobut is actualy being silly enought to open it and reading it. that subject wouldsa got it instadelteted from me.

[CheapAlert]

DELETED!

[Moz]

I once got an spam mail that contained the text

"DO IT, YOU NEED TO KILL THEM ALL"

I still don't understand why someone would spam with that? How do you make money from that?

[oXYnary]

I must say, Thunderbird is awesome for catching these. Once you give it a few examples.

[JKMakowka]

Disable HTML e-mails... this way they can't confirm your adress to be working by including jpgs/gifs in the message.

[Cubik]

DELORTED!

[ElysiumGX]

I get emails like that all the time confirming my order from some company I've never ordered from. I've also received hundreds of emails with the subject "your new password" from websites that were mostly game related, but I never registered with. Delete them all!!!

[Creamy_Goodness]

> Well I just got this response from PB, and by the looks of it, they seem to be doing something about the problem.

-----

Dear Jason R. Tenn,

Thank you for your email.

Currently, there are several spam emails that are being sent from
non-Pottery Barn entities. These are not legitimate emails from
Pottery Barn and we are not affiliated with these offers in any way.
Our Legal Department and Technical Team are currently conducting an
investigation regarding these emails and the use of our name.

Please do not open any attachments on these emails. Please delete it from your
e-mail. We regret any confusion or inconvenience the unauthorized use, of our
Pottery Barn name, has caused.

If we may be of any further assistance, please contact us.

Regards,

Suzie Alcini
Pottery Barn
Customer Service

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> I guess I can put this behind me now, or something. Maybe this is just some petty issue I'm taking too personally, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

oXYnary - What's Thunderbird? Is that a browser like FireFox or something?

JKMakowka - How can an image file help them confirm my address? I don't know much about e-mail so I didn't know that it could be done.

[JKMakowka]

[ QUOTE ]
JKMakowka - How can an image file help them confirm my address? I don't know much about e-mail so I didn't know that it could be done.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you open a html email with a picture in it it gets loaded from a webserver (often it is only a one pixel picture to save the spammers webtraffic). Now if they have a single picture for every email adress they randomly try, and one of these gets requested from their webserver, then they know that someone is actually using that adress.
(It actually matters because they can sell advertising to confirmed addresses for more mony that just normal spam to random adresses).
At least thats what I have been told /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[oXYnary]

Thunderbird is the email client from Mozilla. But I just realized your using hotmail. So unless your paying for MSN or the full hotmail service, you will be stuck checking your messages through a browser.

[KDR_11k]

Note: That URL contains your email address. If you clicked it your addy is now flagged as "confirmed" on the spammers' lists, i.e. they know you actually exist.

On the bright side, recently a spammer got jailed for 9 years. Always remember, whoever spammed you might get 9 years of anal rape as a payback.

[MoP]

KDR: That made me laugh out loud. Good work!