SPAM! :(

hi guys,

i have a big issue that started around 2 months ago. my main email is getting a huge number of SPAM every day. Most are sent from Gmail accounts created by Google Form.
I am deleting every day 30-50 mails manually from my server. It starts getting very annoying and I don't know what to do. unfortunately, win10 build-in email app does not know how to filter spam and i don't know what to do.
i have Norton installed but it is also not doing the job. I would like to have a spam app that automatically deletes all spam from the server when i check for new mails.

i even made my own spam blocker app (created via b4j) that even work but it doesn't filter all spam and I always need to add new keywords to the DB to filter new spam.
the thing is that the spam is always changing and it is hard to build something that will catch the spam and remove it.

how are you dealing with such a problem? any advice would be very much appreciated I am just tired of all those spam mails ?

You might want to try what I did 15 years ago...

I have a domain name - lets say "mydomain.com" and I setup the domain with a catch-all email account (inbox@mydomain.com), meaning that anything to the left of the "@" (any alias) will go into this email account. So emails like Microsoft@mydomain or b4x@mydomain will both go into (forward into) the one email account of inbox@mydomain.com

Then as I give out a new email address to a new company, I format the alias of that email address to include the name of the company that I am giving it to.

For example, when I provide my email address to Microsoft, I'll give them the email address of "Microsoft-abc@mydomain.com"

And if I provide my email address to google, I'll give them the email address of "google-abc@mydomain.com"

The next thing to do is setup a rule that will simply delete any incoming email if the phrase "-abc" (or any other phrase you want to use) is not part of the "To:" address. This method of adding a "-abc" to all emails is useful because it will block all emails from spammers trying to "fish" for valid email accounts to my domain, such as using common alias's like "support@" and "sales@", etc. Without adding this "-abc" method, you will soon find yourself having to constantly add a new block rule for each of all the random "fishing" alias's spammers try to use to send email to your domain (boy are they creative!). However, because spammers don't know that "-abc" needs to be in the alias, all those made-up alias's from spammers will be swiftly deleted!

Now the magical part...

Because each email address I gave out is personalized, if I then get a spam email, all I have to do is look at the "To" address that they used to send me the spam email and they are BUSTED! - I will instantly know who gave (/sold/was hacked) out my email address to that spammer because the name of original company that I gave that email address to will be in the email address!

It's weirdly satisfying contacting a company and asking them why did they give/sell my email address to spammers, then hearing them say "we didn't", then me proving that they did, then hearing silence on the other end

For example, if I receive spam and it used the address of BBCAmerica-abc@mydomain.com, then I will know that my account with BBC America was either hacked on their end or that they gave out/sold my email address to this spammer!

The additional cool bonus is that if one of your alias's ever gets compromised, you can then simply update the email address with that company to a slight variant like BBCamerica1-abc@mydomain.com, and then setup a rule that will block any incoming emails that use the old/compromised "bbcamerica-abc@mydomain".com alias. You are then back to 0 spam messages using that alias.

I've been using this system for 15+ years and I rarely get any spam

Another VERY cool aspect of this method is that you can easily give out new email addresses on the fly without taking any further steps. Some other methods to block spam required you to also add every new email address that you give out to a "whitelist" so that the system will only accept emails using the new addresses you have in the whitelist. But with my method, no whitelist is needed - just make up a new email with "-abc" in it and the domain will accept it automatically.

You would have to gradually implement my system for it to work, but I feel it would be well worth the effort.

in gmail there is an amazing feature, called "Mute" just select an email and press on Mute.
This feature will hide any email muted from the SPAM and from the Inbox which saves the hazard of have to delete every spam email manually

I've got rid of most of the spam using Apache spam assassin which is installed on the email server.

thanx @JohnC for your detailed response. the problem is that it is not my server and i have no control over it. i ts the main email that i get from my internet provider.
and if i call my internet provider and complain about the huge amount of spam they tell me that they have a Spam Filter service that cost money and if i want i can purchase this package and i think its not fair to pay them also for this service. i pay enough already for the poor internet connection.

sfsameer said:

in gmail there is an amazing feature, called "Mute" just select an email and press on Mute.
This feature will hide any email muted from the SPAM and from the Inbox which saves the hazard of have to delete every spam email manually

Click to expand...

its not a gmail account it is my private account.

Erel said:

I've got rid of most of the spam using Apache spam assassin which is installed on the email server.

Click to expand...

unfortunately, i cannot access server settings and install something. i think i will switch to another provider

ilan said:

thanx @JohnC for your detailed response. the problem is that it is not my server and i have no control over it. i ts the main email that i get from my internet provider.

Click to expand...

You should consider getting your own domain for your email because if you ever want to switch ISP's, then that's a whole new other headache to figure out how to notify everyone (that you ever gave your email address out to), of your new email address.

When you own the domain, you can switch ISP's without having to change your email, and you'll have complete control over every aspect of the email server yourself.

In addition to @JohnC answer:
If you rent a VPS (there are cheap ones available) you can host by yourself:
- Your emailserver
- A Webpage (if needed)
- Any B4J Server

using dns blackholes fixed my spam problem on my server

DonManfred said:

In addition to @JohnC answer:
If you rent a VPS (there are cheap ones available) you can host by yourself:
- Your emailserver
- A Webpage (if needed)
- Any B4J Server

Click to expand...

can you recommend me one that i will be able to run b4j jar on it?
i have now 2 webhosting accounts (1 linux, 1 windows) on https://www.whois.com/
but running on it b4j jars is not possible as far as i know.

thanx

ilan said:

can you recommend me one that i will be able to run b4j jar on it?

Click to expand...

If you prefer Windows VPS (you even can install B4J )
for ex:
I own a V20 for myself. Good enough to run a DB, my Discord-Bot (B4J UI App+ Tools).
I do pay 30,- Euro in a Quarter. 10 a Month.
I even have B4J installed on this machine to develop over RemoteDesktop from my PC.

If you prefer Linux (Cheaper)

ilan said:

can you recommend me one that i will be able to run b4j jar on it?

Click to expand...

Server auction at Hetzner
I use the partner company here : xneelo.co.za which does have self-managed server options etc etc... the service i use just a web hosting and is 99-00ZAR/m. it has 5 databases attached / php / email I manage with 100 mailboxes and filters i can tweak if necessary. I get little span but its well managed by xneelo.

I guess you could get a virtual machine of your own for not much cost since ZAR is in the toilet and the exchange rate is good for all you folks out there.
Xneelo self-managed servers

Ive used this company for years and they have really really really good uptime and excellent services.

basically its up to your money availability. . . .