Suddenly lots of spam

Author
Discussion

jonwm

Original Poster:

2,613 posts

129 months

Wednesday 6th September 2023
quotequote all
Evening all.

I use a 365 account for home / family and pay yearly for it.
It's on my Hotmail account I've had for many years (first name.lastname@hotmail.co UK) all of a sudden I'm getting 40+ emails of spam a day, most are "shipment notification" or credits for betting.
They are feeding into my junk folder but over the years I've never been bombarded like now, it's been a few weeks now, can't think of anything purchased dodgy and entered email address etc.
Is there anything I can do to stop it?

Ezra

759 posts

42 months

Wednesday 6th September 2023
quotequote all
V interested in this as exactly same happened to me - started about 2-3 months ago. I now get about 30 emails each day, all to spam, mostly slots/betting promos and similar stuff. Can't think what I did that prompted the onslaught but would love to hear how to stop them.

jamesbilluk

4,142 posts

198 months

Wednesday 6th September 2023
quotequote all
No help I’m afraid, but I’ve also been getting the same recently. I have a Hotmail account.

None are going into my spam for some reason .

geoffd

104 posts

204 months

Thursday 7th September 2023
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You can try reporting them as phishing, sometimes this helps.

WY86

1,555 posts

42 months

Thursday 7th September 2023
quotequote all
Someone you bought from either sold or got hacked for their data. is most likely the reason behind a sudden increase, that or you been on dodgy adult sites.

Jamescrs

5,301 posts

80 months

Thursday 7th September 2023
quotequote all
Doesn't help but I have a Hotmail.com email address and i'm getting the same, loads about Solar panels (I have never had the slightest interest in solar panels) and the other is claiming there are parcels awaiting me to authorise delivery, I keep labeling them Spam but I must get at least 2-3 of these emails a day currently.

I've had the email address for 20 years probably.

Hoofy

78,517 posts

297 months

Thursday 7th September 2023
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Ditto for the last 6 months. Bit annoying.

Dermot O'Logical

3,109 posts

144 months

Wednesday 28th May
quotequote all
Apologies for the dragging this thread up from the depths, but has anybody else who is a user of Pharmacy2U had spam emails which they suspect, but cannot prove, came from a scrape of Pharmacy2U's database?

I had suspected for some time that their database had been infiltrated, but was unable to prove it.

I have ditched my original BT Internet email address, and my primary email address is now iCloud. I have systematically changed any email addresses on sites that I had signed up to using Apple's "Hide My Email" system.

This morning, I have received a spam email on my icloud email account, addressed to the unique email address assigned to Pharmacy2U, thereby proving that their customer email addresses have been compromised. I'm going to email Pharmacy2U to let them know, not that I expect any action or response from them, and once again will change my email address on my account.

Moderator edit: no potentially defamatory comments please

davek_964

10,131 posts

190 months

Wednesday 28th May
quotequote all
Infiltrated?

I thought it was accepted that companies sell off email addresses - even though they will likely deny it?

Dermot O'Logical

3,109 posts

144 months

Wednesday 28th May
quotequote all
davek_964 said:
Infiltrated?

I thought it was accepted that companies sell off email addresses - even though they will likely deny it?
I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

I'll wait and see what (if any) response I recdeive.

wyson

3,483 posts

119 months

Wednesday 28th May
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Was there some sort of clause when you were opening the account that they will sell your data and they want your consent?

Prolex-UK

4,332 posts

223 months

Wednesday 28th May
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I have a BT internet email address as does my wife.

Last 6 months am being bombarded by spam.

Maybe 50 a day

Annoying

nvubu

521 posts

144 months

Wednesday 28th May
quotequote all
Dermot O'Logical said:
Apologies for the dragging this thread up from the depths, but has anybody else who is a user of Pharmacy2U had spam emails which they suspect, but cannot prove, came from a scrape of Pharmacy2U's database?

I had suspected for some time that their database had been infiltrated, but was unable to prove it.

I have ditched my original BT Internet email address, and my primary email address is now iCloud. I have systematically changed any email addresses on sites that I had signed up to using Apple's "Hide My Email" system.

This morning, I have received a spam email on my icloud email account, addressed to the unique email address assigned to Pharmacy2U, thereby proving that their customer email addresses have been compromised. I'm going to email Pharmacy2U to let them know, not that I expect any action or response from them, and once again will change my email address on my account.
Been using Pharmacy2U for 5 years - using a unique address at my own domain - and I have never received an email to that address from anyone else - I've probably now jinxed it and will start getting spam.

Lucas Ayde

3,913 posts

183 months

Thursday 29th May
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Worth remembering that a lot of websites force you to use an email as your 'username' when logging in, so if they get compromised not only does your password for that site get nicked (which you may have stupidly used on other sites too) but your email is also now on a dodgy list that nefarious types can buy quite cheaply.

Always worth setting up a separate address just for online use. Even free services often allow you to have multiple inboxes under the same account, with a different name for each. GMX are pretty good for this.