Email Account Compromised

What to do if you clicked on the phishing link in Hotmail ...

Report them directly to Hotmail, as a new "My friend’s been hacked!" option under the Junk menu.

On click, MSN returns you this message:

Give Hotmail notice that the email account may have been compromised so they can follow the spammer's behavior and determine if they need to stop the account from being abused.

On the other hand, if it is your account being compromised:

1. Change your password,
2. Change the secret question and answer,
3. Change the alternative email address.

If you think that personal information from your Hotmail account has been used to commit ID theft, you can contact the following authorities:

• Your credit card company
• The FTC: National Resource for Identity Theft (In the United States).
• The Anti-Phishing Working Group at spam@uce.gov.

SPAM Rules of Engagement

Spam = any unwanted, unsolicited, irrelevant, or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of users.

Spam is generated from email, instant messaging, Usenet newsgroups, web search engines, blogs, wikis, online classified ads, Internet forums fax and more.

CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) enacted on January 2004.

By law, all mass mailing must contain:

• accurate routing information,
• a subject line that accurately reflects the content of the message, 
• and an opt-out option to cancel future mailings.

Additionally, by law:

• the message must be identified as an advertisement,
• include the sender's valid postal address.

Failure to obey can result in fines up to $11,000.  Under the new law, states are also given the right to enforce much of their own spam legislation.

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Hide Your Email Addresses List

If you've ever sent an email to a group of people you probably wondered how to hide email addresses or lists.  Maybe you've been hit by a lot of spam and you may wonder which of your friends or services are distributing your email address.   Used correctly, Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) is the field used for email addresses which are hidden from other recipients.

To: This is where to leave the address field blank.

CC: Carbon Copy is where to leave the address field blank. Adding addresses here is the most common way your email gets shared.

BCC: Blind Carbon Copy is where you enter the individual email addresses or the list of your email addresses.

It is email etiquette to hide a friend's or client's email addresses when sending an email. Ignoring common courtesy can lead to devastating consequences for you or your lists.  Email addresses can be used for profit and for malice. They can be sold to data lists for direct mail marketing thus increasing spam in your email box and anyone else's email that was listed. Some of your friends or clients may be upset at you (quite rightly they will!). An email address can be used as a disguise for a spammer's redirected email address.

In conclusion, only the BCC hides email addresses so use other address fields appropriately.