A Serious Warning About Those Forwards...Heads Up Folks
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
March 1, 2009 9:46pm CST
Okay many of us are uh...guilty of maybe sending those forwards to our friends. Some are funny ones and we want to share them, but there are some warnings folks should know about them.
Number one: Many forwards may contain viruses. This may or may not be news to many of you but there are so many forward type things going around it could be easy to be hit with just one that will wreck havoc with computers. I especially am cautious about forwards that contain links to some video to watch.
Number two: And this is also a serious issue. One of my MyLotters friends email account was just hacked into tonight and she believes it was the result of forwards (I'll explain in a minute)---she has had to quick change her email addy to a different one, change her addy in various accounts that had her former hacked email addy. This could happen to anyone of us.
Now as mentioned, this friend of mine believes the hacker got her email due to those forwards. Send the forward to just one wrong person who could be a potential hacker and you could go through the same thing she's going through, in fact she got a strange email from someone from an addy that KIND OF LOOKED like a friend's email addy..but like the impersonator we've been experienced here at MyLot, no doubt changed the addy by one letter.
Many of us forward these dumb forwards (sorry, half the time I just don't pay attention to them...no offense folks) without thinking....when you hit the forward button, the listing of all email addresses are still there in plain view. IF, IF you insist on sending forwards....ERASE ALL NAMES LISTED IN THE FORWARDS...as a just in case. Most names I'll recognize as friends of mine, but then there are a few I don't. Also if you're going to send these forwards, in the "SEND TO" section, just type in the one email addy, then for the rest use the BCC option...then those listed in the BCC will not see any other address (in theory anyway)---otherwise...just forward the forward ONE AT A TIME INDIVIDUALLY...yes,it will take longer but this will be the only guarantee that email addresses aren't falling into the wrong hands...that of a hacker.
So just the heads up here...
9 people like this
20 responses
@alicia812 (646)
• Australia
2 Mar 09
Hi Pye. I am not really fond of forwarding messages unless they are really useful to many of my friends or family. I also delete all the names of those people already appearing in the forwarded page to whom the email was forwarded previously. I was warned before by a friend here in MyLot to do that to protect other people's privacy and email addresses. I also use the BCC option now, which one of our friends here MikeBC taught me long time ago.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
To be honest I just plain don't pay attention to forwards...there are usually so many of them that I plain just don't have the time to read them all anyway
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
2 Mar 09
That is all very good advice that bears repeating over and over. I did a discussion on this point myself and I think you hit on almost all the things we can do to protect ourselves. One more point that I thought was good was don't leave fwd: in the subject box. Change it to Re: Then anyone who sees it cannot tell if it had been forwarded as long as the list of people who's hands it had passed had been erased. The discussion I did was based on an email addressing these issues that had come from a friend of mine who got the information from an IT expert. If you would like to look at it here is the link:
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1864786.aspx
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
LOL--yep I just answered your discussion about how to forward emails...It's a shame how careful we have to be isn't it?
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
2 Mar 09
This is a good thing to be aware of. I get tons of forwards from my dad. I usually just ignore them, and do not link to the videos either. BCC is a great tool.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
Since I get so many forwards also, I just honestly have time to read them all and usually just delete them
@moondancer (7433)
• United States
2 Mar 09
I too know this friend and has been told of this. It's sad that people have nothing better to do than to make other people lives miserable.
I only send forwards to my family and a 2 or 3 friends. Many of them I only send to a few people at a time, not a long list of many people.
I'd hate for this to happen to me or any more of my friends.
Thanks pye for the warning.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
A few of my friends know about that BCC thing and to eliminate the names in forwards but a lot don't and I often see a listing sometimes it seems a mile long of email addresses in them
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
2 Mar 09
Hi pye
Yes I have just heard about it and I think it is disgusting, we have to play at their own games here, our mylotter friend is right to be so angry as the addy had to be changed, I wish Mylot would keep a close eye on things here, its getting serious now.
Bright Blessings.
xxxxx
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
You no doubt got an email from our friend from that other place...that's how I heard about it.
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
2 Mar 09
For forwarding emails, yahoo used to require that at least one address show, and the rest could be entered under the BCC option. They have changed that (fairly recently). Now ALL addresses you send something to can be listed under BCC, then on the email it just shows as 'undisclosed recipients". Perhaps they changed it because of that reason.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
Unfortunately I still see all the names listed in most peoples forwards that are sent to me so I guess they don't know about the BCC options
@Darkwing (21583)
•
2 Mar 09
I rarely send them back out, because they've been going around for years and are stale but that's been a practice of mine for a long, long time, and also, I take the Fwd out of the subject line. I also have my security scanner on both incoming and outgoing mail, so that if I do get a virus, it won't be passed on to my friends.
Brightest Blessings.
@kareng (54676)
• United States
2 Mar 09
This is a great reminder about forwards. I hate getting email that is a forward. I got one the other day about an amber alert. The kid mentioned in the email had been found over a year ago. This just goes to show how long these things go around!
1 person likes this
@someonesmom (5761)
• Canada
2 Mar 09
Hi pye, 
First off, I'm sorry about all of the trouble you've been having lately (online). I do hope that the Admin., take all of these complaints seriously, and put a stop to this. Don't they realize that their wonderful site is being ruined!
I too, receive a lot of forwards, in fact sometimes I have too many to deal with, so they remain unopened, and eventually get deleted. Granted, there are some lovely ones, and some that are so funny they're worth receiving. My sister and I send a limited amount back and forth, of just the ones we feel are worthwhile. It's important too (as I'm sure you know), to have a good anti-virus program, because mine warns me of the forwards that contain viruses.
When I do send anything to a group of people, I limit them to online friends that I know already have each others e-mail addresses, or the friends are people they trust. I keep the ones I send to my online friends, separate from those I send to family. Finally, there have been times when I've deleted all of the e-mail addresses, so they can't be seen by anyone. I 'hate' the forwards that contain a 'veiled threat,' if you don't comply with whatever it says in the message. Ridiculous!
I do hope you're doing well, and that you're having lots of success with your writing and photography.
Take care.
Hugs
First off, I'm sorry about all of the trouble you've been having lately (online). I do hope that the Admin., take all of these complaints seriously, and put a stop to this. Don't they realize that their wonderful site is being ruined!
I too, receive a lot of forwards, in fact sometimes I have too many to deal with, so they remain unopened, and eventually get deleted. Granted, there are some lovely ones, and some that are so funny they're worth receiving. My sister and I send a limited amount back and forth, of just the ones we feel are worthwhile. It's important too (as I'm sure you know), to have a good anti-virus program, because mine warns me of the forwards that contain viruses.
When I do send anything to a group of people, I limit them to online friends that I know already have each others e-mail addresses, or the friends are people they trust. I keep the ones I send to my online friends, separate from those I send to family. Finally, there have been times when I've deleted all of the e-mail addresses, so they can't be seen by anyone. I 'hate' the forwards that contain a 'veiled threat,' if you don't comply with whatever it says in the message. Ridiculous!
I do hope you're doing well, and that you're having lots of success with your writing and photography.
Take care.
Hugs1 person likes this
@4mymak (1793)
• Malaysia
2 Mar 09
i am guilty of forwarding emails to friends..
but i do take the time to delete all the sender's addresses, and use the 'BCC' option whenever i forward any personal emails.. this way the recipient will not see anyone else's name on the email they get from me..
i have warned my friends the same whenever they forward any emails from / to me..
some do listen and have practiced this.. some just dont care, i guess...
as for spreading virus.. i am not sure, but i think most computers are equipped with some kind of protection..
1 person likes this
@Amberina (1541)
• United States
2 Mar 09
I don't like forwards I only open ones from my dad because he is very aware of all the hazards and he scans everything. When I come across a funny thing that I want to send to someone I will only take the part that is funny and I never forward I do the BCC thing. Or if I'm just sending to one person I just type their email in. When I get emails have have miles upon miles of email addresses in it I just shake my head it's a waste and everyone out there knows at least your first name and your email address. I would hope that everyone will start erasing emails that are in the email itself I don't want to see them the only people who do are the hackers and the people who love to send emails I swear that's where my email address gets caught is it's on a list of others and people start at A and go through the whole alphabet and write them down and then that's more people for them to forward emails to so that they can get more than 5 people on their list so they can see that neat video that magically loads when you send it to a trillion people on your friends list. So annoying, anyway I know I am just a small number but I figure over time maybe it will catch on. One day people will learn how to send an email.......we can at least hope.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
2 Mar 09
I do erase them all and I also bcc the addresses of the people I send them to. Better safe than sorry.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
2 Mar 09
I think that you have made some fine points about forwards. They can be very easy ways to get information about someone without knowing. Like you have said, a similar email address to a friend of your friend, and yet if your friend had not paid attention she could have been conversing freely about someone, all the while giving out information about herself that is innocent to her, but to this imposter, is just the ticket to whatever they might do!
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Mar 09
It could also explain how many of us get spam mail somehow, don't you think??
@snowcat46 (2322)
• United States
2 Mar 09
I'm not a huge fan of forwards. Sorry, but they tend to get on my nerves. But this is a good point to make to all those out there. I use my hotmail account all the time now, and never use my real address. I never could get a strong enough anti-virus to keep them all out. But this way, my anti-virus does ok because all my email has to go through hotmail and that keeps it extra clean. No more viruses! Yay!
@BarBaraPrz (45487)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
2 Mar 09
I always delete the forwarded addresses, unless I'm forwarding something to one person and want them to know where it came from, such as passing on news from one family member to another.
@faith210 (11224)
• Philippines
3 Mar 09
Hi pyewacket! When I forward email messages, I usually erase all the attached email addies. I just have one email address or sometimes just a few people who are all related with each other to which the message will be sent. And most of the time, I really don't just open emails that came from people that I never knew at all.
Take care and blessings to you dear!
lovelots..faith
@AnnieOakley1 (5596)
• Canada
3 Mar 09
I always delete the other email addy's that others send in their forwards and it irritates me to no end that they still do it. 
Nowadays, I don't send mass emails unless I bcc everyone, just to be safe.
But there was one person on our mutual email list, that insisted that every email to him MUST be sent individually. I thought that to be paranoid, since if you are using bcc, nobody else gets anybody's email addy.
But thanks for the heads up anyway.
There seems to be a rash of discussion deletions lately. Mylot must be cleaning house or the trolls are reporting before we hunt them down and they get deleted. I admmit, I haven't been doing my share the past few days. Too busy lambing like a frenzy.
Nowadays, I don't send mass emails unless I bcc everyone, just to be safe.
But there was one person on our mutual email list, that insisted that every email to him MUST be sent individually. I thought that to be paranoid, since if you are using bcc, nobody else gets anybody's email addy.
But thanks for the heads up anyway.
There seems to be a rash of discussion deletions lately. Mylot must be cleaning house or the trolls are reporting before we hunt them down and they get deleted. I admmit, I haven't been doing my share the past few days. Too busy lambing like a frenzy.
@brandypelland (586)
• United States
2 Mar 09
thanks so much . this was all helpfull things i did not know at all.
