• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Let me know if you are receiving spam from anyone on this website.

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I've just been disappointed to receive spam from the name of one of our good members. It might be that the name was harvested or that person is a smart harvester!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Please let us know if you receive spam. Check the sender, is it the name of someone on our website. They should have no access you our private emails. We take considerable pans with multiple steps to protect the information on this website. We do not give out you emails to anyone.

Asher
 
I have been getting a lot more junk lately.

This site requires real-name names. Email addresses do not

How would we know if this site is the origin? We can't see any member's email address.

Can you share with us the content of what you are receiving?
 
I have been getting a lot more junk lately.

This site requires real-name names. Email addresses do not

How would we know if this site is the origin? We can't see any member's email address.

Can you share with us the content of what you are receiving?

Hi Winston,

It's not about the amount of Spam, that's a function of people being active in mass mailing activity in conjunction with compromised personal computers which are used as intermediaries without their owners knowing it.

What Asher was probably referring to was a spam message with an OPF member's name as sender (maybe both share a common ISP). That by itself may just be a coincidence, and not necessarily from a breach in security at OPF. Heck I sometimes get Spam from myself as sender. All that means is that somebody has a list of email adresses that seem to be active (the mail doesn't bounce). Those email adresses are used at random to fill in the sender's name and the recipient's name, so one can receive Spam with one's own name as sender.

Just something to look at if it starts happening more frequently between OPF members, but not worth getting paranoid about. More worrying is the amount of people that apparently respond/reply to Spam (it must be lucrative otherwise it wouldn't exist). Spam is sent to check for active email addresses (which can be sold in bulk), and to hook naive people.

Cheers,
Bart
 
Who's paranoid? Just trying to help.

The emails are much easier to identify by content than by sender's name as there are over 4,800 OPF members. Due to my state of advanced decrepitude, I am no longer capable of memorizing the member list ;-)
 
Who's paranoid? Just trying to help.

Winston, that qualifier was not intended as directed at anyone in particular, just a remark in general about getting worked up about something (Spam) that's, regrettably, unavoidable. The paranoia can lead to hoaxes, another only too prolific type of Spam, this time by one's direct friends.

Your help is appreciated.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Rachel Foster

New member
I get spam from friends whom I *know* did not send it every once in a while. I worry same stuff goes out with my name on it.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
..........

What Asher was probably referring to was a spam message with an OPF member's name as sender (maybe both share a common ISP). That by itself may just be a coincidence, and not necessarily from a breach in security at OPF.


Exactly correct, Bart!

I have identified the source. One member with a windows account has had all the email contacts harvested and then sent emails to promote some business on behalf of the hacked person. I didn't disclose the name as t will be recorded for ever and reference that person as a possible spammer, LOL! Not really a joke!

I think that person's email might even have been used in a clever way in December 2009. I received a copy of an image, as I often do, from the OPFr and t had a one line promotional message that could have been from the spammer or else from the hosting service. That I'm looking into. In any case, it's a good idea to use anti virus software on your computer, especially Windows computers.

So, after all, we are still secure.

Asher
 
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