A Note on Spamming/Scamming and PipingDesign

Recent attempts have been to try to to use valid PipingDesign members' usernames to force attachments (likely SPAMMER trojans) onto other listmembers' computers. Fortunately, attachments are auto-stripped for messages to the PipingDesign list. Another recently-discovered fraud attempt was that a subscribed member of PipingDesign apparently subscribed us to another dubious list, which was causing many bounced messages back to me.

Message contents such as "Here is the file" and "Your document is attached" (without additional info) are common scammer tactics to get you to open a file which will infect your computer and turn it into a "zombie". Or worse. Here's a recent mainstream media CNN online article about SPAM zombies:

<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/02/17/spam.zombies.ap/">http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/02/17/spam.zombies.ap/</a>

These assholes (pardon my English) are rapidly turning email into a useless communication medium, and maybe the operators of the world's state-owned stale mail services are behind the exploding SPAM problem. Sorry, got carried away there with the tinfoil hat thing.

<a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=Y2eo-ltzxm4fwlIaCLQZC4jP8QjnRm7bMMY8rDx6LBAZEMFDBANldip-cfE_ky5BmSXAsci9JX08fWvOqsCH">gguerra_geci@terra.com.mx</a> and <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=o3PFotPRvut6QDHIMmHr4S_lFQfHNEmld5De-wvhzwG5UddFZG36z9_2Og4TkJ5STQf8pnwrMJ7e">cvg_gang@yahoo.com</a> seem to be respected contributors, I suggest that these people run anti-spyware, a firewall and anti-virus software on their machines.

Paul Received on Thu Apr 15 21:14:00 2004