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Subject: "blank" or "empty" e-mails
Posted by: rockafellerskank
- Dude [27652109] Thu, Jun 03, 2004, 18:47
I have pretty decent spam filters, but an e-mail came through today that perplexed me.
It had no subject line, no reply address, no from e-mail address, no text. Everything about it was blank. No attachment of any sort.
What might be the purpose of this type of e-mail? A spammer with a method to see if I opened it to verify my account? Could a potential virus/trojan be delivered this way? I just deleted the e-mail, but am curious if there is a trick out there that this type of e-mail serves? |
| 1 | PermDude
ID: 2343587
Thu, Jun 03, 2004, 21:10
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maybe just to verify that your email was legit? Bad email addresses get returned.
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| 2 | Guru
ID: 330592710
Thu, Jun 03, 2004, 22:23
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I always assumed they were just botched spam.
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| 3 | KrazyKoalaBears
Leader
ID: 517553018
Sat, Jun 05, 2004, 10:02
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I would tend to agree with Guru. I've done that on occassion with a mailing list I have. However, since I have the headers created automatically with the script, it just sent out a blank message. If a spammer had it set up so they could choose header information and they accidentally submitted blank information, then I can see how you would get a completely blank email. Realistically, if they wanted to test your email address for validity, they would sent content along with it. Otherwise, it's kind of a wasted attempt. They could send a regular message and still test the validity of the address. If it was bad, it would get bounced. If it wasn't, the content is delivered. From a content delivery standpoint, it makes sense to go ahead and send a regular message. Then again, we are talking about spammers, so...
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| 4 | Guru
ID: 330592710
Sat, Jun 05, 2004, 11:09
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Besides, since spammers almost never use a traceable address, a bounced email would never be returned to anyone that would be able to act on it.
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| 5 | culdeus
ID: 14452520
Tue, Jun 22, 2004, 23:41
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These emails are the result of some sort of virus going around. I'm getting about 1-3 per day now as well. Harmless.
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Post a reply to this message: (But first, how about checking out this sponsor?)
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