Nigerian scammers - Outlook rules?

[drothgery]

Like, say, Outlook 2003? Nigerian spam doesn't make it past the built-in junk mail filter.

 

[Mercule]

Speaking as a tech...

OhForTheLoveOfGodDon'tUseOutlook!

But what else syncs with my iPAQ and has a Franklin-Covey planner add-on?

 

[XCorvis]

Like, say, Outlook 2003? Nigerian spam doesn't make it past the built-in junk mail filter.

My comments above are directed at Outlook Express. I'm sure Outlook 2003's filtering is considerably more advanced than older versions, but I don't think Morrus has 2003. If he had it, he probably wouldn't be asking for assistance. He'd also have to pay a bunch of money to upgrade, especially since Outlook 2003 is only bundled with MS Office 2003. Thunderbird and Mozilla are free.

 

[Enkhidu]

Russ, if you're using Outlook (but not Outlook 2K3), then I suggest heading over to http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/ and picking up the Outlook add-in. It's a learning filter, and learns pretty quickly. And its free.

 

[Psionicist]

K9 (http://www.keir.net/k9.html) is a great spam filter that should work with all e-mail clients. K9 is a self-learning program that will recognize spam better the longer you use it. I have used the program for a couple of months and my accuracy is close to 99.97% (1 in a couple of 1000 e-mails is wrong, such as a spam mail passed or a legitimate e-mail flagged as spam).

When K9 finds a possible spam-letter, it will add [SPAM] to the subject line, allowing your e-mail program to move it to a particular folder.

 

[Simplicity]

Of course, you can always try to fight the problem at the source...

Nigerian E-mail Scam Conference

 

[Chris Tavares]

I strongly second the recommendation for SpamBayes. I've been using it for at least a year now, and after only a few days training I haven't had to read a nigerian scam since.

And it'll also filter out all your other spam too, unlike an outlook rule.

 

[drothgery]

I got a copy of Outlook 2K3 with my MSDN subscription, which admiditedly isn't a cost-effective way to get it unless you code for a living, but it works for me .

 

[Sniktch]

This is a great site on people who have "baited" those scammers.

http://www.whatsthebloodypoint.com/

Thanks for that link I've been doing that myself for a couple of months now - its nice to know that I'm not the only one. I've had some nice lively conversations with these people, never giving them a bit of information they can use. They recently stopped sending me messages when I copied all the messages from different e-mail addresses and sent the resulting document to every one of them, with a subject of "Who do you think you're trying to fool here?"

 

[Ghostknight]

What, am I the only one that has received the email for the 10 million dollars the Zimbabwe Farmer's Union is trying to move? Hmm, must be genuine so I guess I better contact them immediately!

What I don't get is this, surely by now people know better than to follow up on these scams. Is there anyone out there that actuallt thinks they are going to get millions for doing nothing but signing a few papers?

As for seeing them, my ISP has an excellent spam blocker, since they installed it I have gone form about 20 spam emails a day to only one or two, the scam letters especially seem to get caught, I haven't seen one in a couple of months and I used to get them almost daily.