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Smart Gmail trick to keep spammer/scammers at bay

4 Comments Tuesday, August 14, 2007   Save Article As PDF

 

How many times have you been tricked into giving your email address to an online service, only to later find yourself at the mercy of their spam-bots? Quite a few times, right? (unless you are a self proclaimed AHEM "web-guru" like myself) . Some of you have also used disposable email services like ipoo or pookmail. But why resort to other services when you can use your uncanny Gmail account? I've been using this trick for some time now, and so far it has worked wonders :) Basically the idea is to supply a potential spamming site (like a website that asks for your email address to send a news letter or something like that) with a Gmail alias that is safe to use since you can later define a filter to sort out the incoming spams sent to that address. So here's what you should do.

Phase 1

Lets say your actual gmail address is " xyz@gmail.com " . Now when ever you are in doubt about a website thinking if they are gonna spam the hell out of your email address or not, just append a " + " (plus) sign followed by a  recognizable alias like "spam" to your actual Gmail ID. Like, this xyz+spam@gmail.com . The thing with Gmail is that they automatically ignore anything written after the plus (+) sign in an email address-field. Meaning something like " xyz+spam@gmail.com " would actually mean " xyz@gmail.com " in Gmail's terminology and sent to this address.  I'd recommend making an alias that would later help you find which site spammed you with your fake alias, like this xyz+site-abc@gmail.com

 

 

Phase 2

Now that you've set up the trap, its time to initiate phase 2. Assuming that you've started receiving spams sent to xyz+site-abc@gmail.com in your inbox. You now know which site (site-abc) is spamming you and at what address (xyz+site-abc@gmail.com) . All you need to do is setup a custom filter like the one above in your Gmail options, select "Delete it " (or you can also apply an suitable lebel like "spam", what ever you wish) on the next step, and "Voila" , no more annoyance.

 

Thanks to Amit for the original idea. Dunno why he republished the same post twice though.


4 Responses to “Smart Gmail trick to keep spammer/scammers at bay”

  1. Hmmm ... and what prevents a spammer from figuring out your email the exact same way that gmail does?

    :-|

    --Das  

    Anonymous Anonymous on 9/30/2007

  2. @-Das: Hmm..I don't think spammers own either sophisticated algorithmic servers or expensive HQ's in Mount View Calif :) They mostly operate their scam via crude spam bots/email indexers that roam throught the WWW looking for unprotected email addresses.

    So no, a spammer doesn't generally have the resource to employ the same tactics as Google and I doubt if any of them filters actual email address from fakes ones "in person".  

    Blogger NiH on 9/30/2007

  3. I am writing from a country where cyberserveillance and intrusion into one's privacy and freedom of speech is becoming increasingly commonplace/business as usual since a military run puppet civil government came into power in Jan 1, 2007. The military intelligence apparatus has been modelled in the Pakistani ISI outfit according to the CIA doctrine of srengthening the hands of the Pak army for keeping democracy at bay during the bushy years. Hopefully, the most depraved era in mankind will come to an end soon.

    The Stasi like much feared DFI(defence forces intelligence) has acquired very sophisticated gadets from foreign intelligence sources of US and UK with full backing of those governments and un to derail democracy in bangladesh so that our natural gas, offshore oil and coal can be given to mainly MNCs of british, american and indian involvement too.

    Can you advice how we can dodge the demons who spy illegally on the conscience of a nation and have been terrorizing and torturing the proponents of freedom of speech and right to free flow of information.

    How can we mask our IP adresses to fool the killers of netizens so that our lives are not jeopardized. It is an irony that so called democracies like the uk and us and the un sg bun is behind this fascist regime extending legitimacy here while calling for democracy in burma. god damned hypocrites!!  

    Anonymous Anonymous on 10/05/2007

  4. You can use free dot tk domains too to get disposable emails.  

    Anonymous Free Domain Registration on 1/07/2009
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    mE
    Ahoy, I'm Naser I Hossain, a student of Mechanical Engineering (from Bangladesh) currently studying in BUET with my fingers crossed. My serenade(!) of life includes DIY projects,hacking random pestilence, taking photographs,occasionally designing websites/pages and playing with Web 2.0 stuff to keep myself aesthetically appeased from time to time. I also listen to Jazz and Blues (like those of Bob Seger and Louis Armstrong) profusely. If my rants interest you in the least detail I'd advice you to stick around . Meanwhile, to stay updated subscribe to my blog feed. For those interested in a part passionate web-designer part freelance hacker, consider taking a look at my incomplete resumé ;)

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