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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Sep 05, 2008

Not exactly poker but ...

Computer savvy poker folks don't ignore this, especially if you find your inbox filled with phony casino signup spam. You might now know where it's coming from or how you're getting it. You know the kind of messages, I'm sure. The ones that use all kinds of come-on subjects, stuff that sounds like it might be coming from legitimate web addresses.

I get them daily, sometimes 50 at a pop.

They don't actually come from any specific person. They come from a few different sources.

They arrive from get-rich-quick hopefuls who have been conned into thinking if they send thousands of messages a day to randomly chosen emails (more on that later), they will get a solid percentage of hits. A certain percentage of these hits will result in a sign-up and that hopeful will get a commission.

They also arrive from individuals who craft messages specifically for the purpose of messing with your computer. The messages contain keyloggers that keep track of your typing so they can steal personal information; they might contain viruses or Trojans set to clog your hard drive, use that drive as storage, reset your web browser with all sorts of ads (and yes, porn), or just ruin your computer use for the fun of it.

How do these people get your email address?

Oh, let's say you signed up to play on an online casino, and that casino went bust. Your email address is now up for grabs to the highest, lowest, or any bidder. Perhaps you filled out a survey with a question that related to gambling and you were asked for your email address. Bingo! One of your friends forwarded a casino-related message to his entire address book in a cc format (rather than bcc format). That address book probably also contained the contact for a gambling messenger. But even more underhandedly, your email address might just have come as a result of some random name generator. Software exists that will create a name and append it to any Internet address.

Anywhere your email address appears on the web is a place a phisher can find you. This includes forums, newsgroups, websites, social networks, and every other conceivable place you or someone you know made that email address visible.

People phish for you, constantly, looking for access to your email inbox, and they almost never have an acceptable (to you) or good motive.

Now, here's something many people don't know. When these messages come to your inbox the first time, your own email program might be telling the sender you exist and that your email address is hot, hot, hot.

Here's how that works. Options in email software such as Outlook or Thunderbird have a preference selection that allows them to always send what's known as a read receipt. So these phishing pros start blasting messages at every opportunity, telling their own software to get an email receipt.

In many cases, email addresses become so polluted with garbage of all kinds that the address is no longer useful. The user can't write enough message filters to handle all the junk and soon, email becomes a burden. When this happens, it's best to start changing your address and starting all over.

I know. It's drastic. But if you want to save your sanity, do it.

No matter where or how you plan to receive email, give yourself a unique name. Throw in a number or spell it backwards or use gibberish letters. Then choose only those folks you know and trust. Tell them never, never, never put you in a message that gets copied to everybody in their address book. If necessary, teach them how to use the BCC segment of their software. Make sure any and all the sites you access for important and personal information are made aware of your new address. This includes your bank, your saved sites, your poker rooms and your credit stuff.

As a last but sometimes necessary resort, get an anti-spam program. This kind of software doesn't always work with web mail; it's generally set up for email specific programs such as Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird and the like.

Finally, notify your provider about any spam you receive. Sooner or later that company will institute filters at their end to help keep those messages from getting to you.