Have you ever received an E-mail addressed to you with a message
like - "Dear John, thanks. Mary and I will see you this weekend
- Mark."

Now your name isn't John and you have no idea who Mary and Mark
are. Being a compassionate person, you respond to the E-mail and
let them know John didn't get it, and suggest he rechecks their
E-mail address. People will very seldom complain to the senders
ISP about an E-mail that appears to be simply misdirected.

Well, guess what - Mark (if there really is a Mark) doesn't know
John either, but now knows that your E-mail address is valid.
Bingo! Your address has now been added to a mailing list.

People who build mailing lists usually do it in a two step
process. First they have software that scours the Internet
looking for E-mail addresses. A favorite is one that can have
search parameters entered into it to search web pages, similar to
the search engine submissions - they now have acquired the
addresses of the specific group they wish to spam. Many of these
addresses however may no longer exist.

The second step is to send an innocent looking E-mail, to all the
addresses they have gleaned from the Net, like the one above. If
your E-mail is not returned as undeliverable, they know they have
a good address. They will seldom get in trouble with their ISP
as most people will simply ignore the message, or respond letting
them know they sent it to the wrong address.

These are always sent out with a valid return address, otherwise
they won't know if the note is undeliverable. This is a "hit and
run" type of operation however, usually with a free E-mail
account as the return address. If complaints are made to their
ISP and their free E-mail address is terminated, they have already
achieved their goal and are on to bigger and better things.

When they actually start to spam, they normally use a forged
E-mail return address which doesn't exist, and may ask you to
call their toll free number. Now here is an instance where the
"spam" can turn into a "scam".

When you get that "Dear John" letter, be on the lookout for
offers which simply sound to good to be true. And while there is
not a whole lot you can do to protect yourself from getting them,
once received simply use your "Delete Key". If you cannot respond
to an E-mail because the return address has been forged, never
respond to their "800" telephone number or a PO Box.

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Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter
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