I get a lot of spam (150+ per day), mainly because my email addy is publicly available in a few places on the net. Now, I’ve noticed a few different levels of sophistication in the various spammers’ harvesting techniques (bear in mind that my user name [the bit before the @] is the same as my surname, and I have my full real name as the “sent by” name in my email client):
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The lowest level. No attempt to harvest my email program (Eudora) for info. Just something like SENDER: “Cindee” SUBJECT: “Co-ed Slutzzz”
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Use of info harvested from an online form (I submitted my first name fakely as “Carlos” once (to test this), and now get spam for that name). SENDER: “Joe” SUBJECT: “Hey Carlos! Pen1s enla R gement”
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Using my surname/user ID (as they are the same, I can’t be sure which). SENDER: “Natasha” SUBJECT “[Surname], instant credit pre-approved!”
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The email appears to be from me (Rare, and I haven’t seen it for a while) SENDER: “[My full name, or my email address]” SUBJECT: “Sick of Spam???”
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Email to my first name only (this one is the most convincing).
SENDER: “Susan Nguyen” SUBJECT: “Hey, [my real first name], check my webcam”
Now, there is the sixth one, and this is the one about which I am confused and alarmed. I have been receiving spams from folks with the same names as those in my address book. Actually, they use partial names. So I get a legitimate email from a friend who has their full name listed in the “from” field, and the next day, I get a mail from somebody using their first name. So if Dave Robertson (for a fake example) sends me real mail, a couple days later “Dave” thinks I need a larger tadger, and could benefit from herbal supplements, and “Dave” has never spammed me before. Up until today, this has always happened with first names only, and they have been common names, so I’ve been only guessing that there may be a connection. Yesterday, I received an email from somebody who has their “sender” info as initials / surname. The surname is only marginally common, and is also a given name sometimes. Today, I was spammed by that name.
Are they reading my address book? If so, does this necessarily mean I have a virus, or spyware? I regularly run both AdAware and SpyBot, and I come up clean. Or is there a “legitimate” way they can do this? Or, am I imagining it, and it’s coincidence alone?