How do I ensure I get SPAM?!

ewal · 11 Jun 2009, 11:56 PM

Yep, you read that right.

I want to make sure I get certain SPAM. To be precise I want to make sure that any spam that is sent to a particular subdomain address I have gets received, that is not rejected by automatic Fastmail controls or my custom spam filters.

Background.
Ages ago I used a subdomain email address (name at alias.sent.com) for my address at an online account. Seems there was a leak of some sort at the company with their user list being compromised and spammers then using that list. Certainly I did see tons of spam messages being received at that email address. At the time I changed my email address within my account at the company and created a reject rule within Fastmail.

Now it seems that a class action suit has been started against the company with a proposed remedy plan being agreed (subject to a fairness hearing and final court sanction). I'm automatically party to the class action (unless I remove myself).

Anyway, long story, but I have now deleted the fastmail reject rule and want to make sure I see all spam being sent to the particular email address. I have already created a file-into-folder rule, but that will only work if incoming emails are not first rejected. Oh yeah, I don't want to mess with Sieve.

thx
Ed

zhak · 12 Jun 2009, 10:34 AM

If the sending machine is on a block list used by FM, then that is beyond your control.

According to FM's email delivery sequence, alias targeting is done before spam checks, so you could also target the alias (but not just the subdomain) to another FM account, such as a guest account without spam checks, or an external account such as Gmail and set Gmail's filter to 'never send it to spam'. Then filter out everything but the compromised address.

But most likely you want the messages with the FM headers showing the x-delivered-to header equal to the compromised address, so just set your secret word to the compromised address. Even though the link I just gave you says "to, cc, or subject", the rule created by the secret word entry also checks the resent-to and x-delivered-to headers.

ewal · 12 Jun 2009, 03:28 PM

Hi zhak Ahh secret word. I did think of that but thought it was only 'subject' I did not realise it worked on 'to' as well. Thanks! Ed

JRobert · 14 Jun 2009, 05:45 AM

If you're referring to the company and the kind of spam I think your (and being in the same position myself), I can confirm that those spams are not rejected. At least, some of them are getting through. They may or may not get filtered to my Junk folder, but they don't go away until I make them go away.

11 Jun 2009, 11:56 PM	#1
ewal Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Sussex, UK Posts: 1,334	How do I ensure I get SPAM?! Yep, you read that right. I want to make sure I get certain SPAM. To be precise I want to make sure that any spam that is sent to a particular subdomain address I have gets received, that is not rejected by automatic Fastmail controls or my custom spam filters. Background. Ages ago I used a subdomain email address (name at alias.sent.com) for my address at an online account. Seems there was a leak of some sort at the company with their user list being compromised and spammers then using that list. Certainly I did see tons of spam messages being received at that email address. At the time I changed my email address within my account at the company and created a reject rule within Fastmail. Now it seems that a class action suit has been started against the company with a proposed remedy plan being agreed (subject to a fairness hearing and final court sanction). I'm automatically party to the class action (unless I remove myself). Anyway, long story, but I have now deleted the fastmail reject rule and want to make sure I see all spam being sent to the particular email address. I have already created a file-into-folder rule, but that will only work if incoming emails are not first rejected. Oh yeah, I don't want to mess with Sieve. thx Ed

12 Jun 2009, 10:34 AM	#2
zhak Master of the @ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Indiana, USA Posts: 1,861	If the sending machine is on a block list used by FM, then that is beyond your control. According to FM's email delivery sequence, alias targeting is done before spam checks, so you could also target the alias (but not just the subdomain) to another FM account, such as a guest account without spam checks, or an external account such as Gmail and set Gmail's filter to 'never send it to spam'. Then filter out everything but the compromised address. But most likely you want the messages with the FM headers showing the x-delivered-to header equal to the compromised address, so just set your secret word to the compromised address. Even though the link I just gave you says "to, cc, or subject", the rule created by the secret word entry also checks the resent-to and x-delivered-to headers.

12 Jun 2009, 03:28 PM	#3
ewal Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Sussex, UK Posts: 1,334	Hi zhak Ahh secret word. I did think of that but thought it was only 'subject' I did not realise it worked on 'to' as well. Thanks! Ed

14 Jun 2009, 05:45 AM	#4
JRobert Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: New Hampshire, USA Posts: 1,561	If you're referring to the company and the kind of spam I think your (and being in the same position myself), I can confirm that those spams are not rejected. At least, some of them are getting through. They may or may not get filtered to my Junk folder, but they don't go away until I make them go away.