Please do NOT spam geocachers!

[+wandering4cache]

If you obtain a geocachers email address thru caching related emails, do NOT start spamming them with political emails, junk emails, forward emails or any other crap.

 

Thank you.

 

Since the person won't stop as requested, they've been added to our blocked email list. From the list of names at the top of the email, looks like they are doing it to many others. Unfortunately, I don't seem to know which geocacher they are (yet), only that they got our email thru geocaching.

 

[+briansnat]

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

[+markandsandy]

If you obtain a geocachers email address thru caching related emails, do NOT start spamming ...

 

... I don't seem to know which geocacher they are (yet), only that they got our email thru geocaching.

 

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

 

Be a little careful about how you word things though. It may be that they aren't deliberately spamming. Their PC may have gotten a virus which grabbed their contact list and is using it to send spam. I've seen it happen. They should be made aware of it so they can fix it, and blocking their email as you have is probably the best you can do to prevent receiving it.

 

Of course, if they are doing it deliberately...

[+StarBrand]

yup - could be some malware that is abusing thier system. Block it and move on.

 

Unless you know they are doing it intentionally and can prove where they got your address. (very hard to know for certain)

[+wandering4cache]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

[+markandsandy]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Then definitely follow briansnat's suggestion.

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

[+StarBrand]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Then definitely follow briansnat's suggestion.

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

Yes and forward a copy of the email from them stating they used Geocaching.com as a source.

[+marcjboudreau]

Heck, you've got their email address you could always return the favour and start signing them up for every mailing list you can find on the 'net. One good turn deserves another, eh?

[+blb9556]

If you obtain a geocachers email address thru caching related emails, do NOT start spamming ...

 

... I don't seem to know which geocacher they are (yet), only that they got our email thru geocaching.

 

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

 

Be a little careful about how you word things though. It may be that they aren't deliberately spamming. Their PC may have gotten a virus which grabbed their contact list and is using it to send spam. I've seen it happen. They should be made aware of it so they can fix it, and blocking their email as you have is probably the best you can do to prevent receiving it.

 

Of course, if they are doing it deliberately...

 

I agree what with what you are saying... I give out my email all the time. I ALWAYS keep the send my email address with this message checked. I am aware of the risks.

[Skippermark]

I take the chance and always send my email when I contact someone through GC, but I was surprised when cachers from outside my home area got my cell phone number.

 

About a week after finding some caches in a state where we don't regularly cache, we got a call from someone in that area asking if we could give them a hint for a cache that we had found while there.

 

About a month later, someone from PA came through our area here and called me for a hint. I never quite figured out how either person got my number. They both said they got it from people that I didn't know. It was very strange, and I'm still bewildered to this day.

 

Maybe there's an underground database of phone a friend numbers?

Edited September 5, 2008 by Skippermark

[+wandering4cache]

I take the chance and always send my email when I contact someone through GC, but I was surprised when cachers from outside my home area got my cell phone number.

 

About a week after finding some caches in a state where we don't regularly cache, we got a call from someone in that area asking if we could give them a hint for a cache that we had found while there.

 

About a month later, someone from PA came through our area here and called me for a hint. I never quite figured out how either person got my number. They both said they got it from people that I didn't know. It was very strange, and I'm still bewildered to this day.

 

Maybe there's an underground database of phone a friend numbers?

 

OMG! Seriously?! That's scary & freaky.

 

I have your # but you gave it to us (just incase you forget). You have ours too. Don't be passing it around.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

Thanks for the additional info, and... weird! We have not yet had this happen, despite several years in the sport and despite the fact that many hundreds, if not thousands, of geocachers have our geo-specific email address (it is also listed on our Profile page...) I have noticed that a few of our geo correspondents have apparently had their PCs raided by malware, which lifted our geo-specific email address and passed it on to spam robots/factories, but have never had anyone spam us intentionally.

 

However, almost as annoying to me is the following genre of email received occasionally via GC.COM from overzealous owners of trackables, and they all go pretty much like this:

"Hi! I am the owner of a travel bug (or geocoin) named "Happy Smelly Hamster Farts" and the records at Groundspeak show that it was placed in XXX cache over a year ago and then went missing sometime thereafter. I noticed that you visited the XXX cache about seven months after my TB was placed there. Please, did you see it, or perhaps did you take it? If so, please let me know and also, set it free today! Do not take this personally -- I am sending this same letter through GC.com to every one of the 122 geocachers who have logged a find on XXX cache in the 15 months since our TB ended up there. Please do not ignore this letter, and please send me a reply immediately. This is important to me!"

 

In reality, most of the Groundspeak PMs of this genre which we receive are somewhat less coherent and clear and concise than my example above, but you get the drift! Frankly, when I receive such unsolicited emails via Groundspeak PM, I start to seriously think about euthanasia and mercy killing, and then I sit down and really really really consider performing a mercy killing on any blathering idiot who would send such an intrusive and annoying PM as this to fellow geocacher. The few times that I have answered such inquiries myself via email (no, not via Groundspeak PM) I have been downright scathing in my reply; Sue tends to be far more patient with such idiots, and reasons that perhaps they are mental/emotional basket cases who do not "have a life" and thus she tries to be nicer to them than I am when she answers their inquires.

[+mtn-man]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Then definitely follow briansnat's suggestion.

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

Yes and forward a copy of the email from them stating they used Geocaching.com as a source.

If I am reading this correctly, the person in question got the original poster's email address because the OP had written to them first. They saved the OP's address and are now spamming them. That is not an issue for the contact address. That is something the OP would have to deal with personally, either by working to get the point across that the other person needs to stop or by blocking their email address.

[+flask]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Then definitely follow briansnat's suggestion.

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

Yes and forward a copy of the email from them stating they used Geocaching.com as a source.

If I am reading this correctly, the person in question got the original poster's email address because the OP had written to them first. They saved the OP's address and are now spamming them. That is not an issue for the contact address. That is something the OP would have to deal with personally, either by working to get the point across that the other person needs to stop or by blocking their email address.

 

that's a cheap evasion. if someone is trolling for addresses by posing as a friendly geocacher, their account needs to be yanked.

[+WebChimp]

One good turn deserves another, eh?

 

Bad idea. The old adage"two wrongs don't make a right" is still valid.

[+wandering4cache]

They know they are sending me emails. At first, I had emailed stating I didn't believe I knew who they were, might they have my address confused with someone else, & please remove my address. They replied stating connection was thru geocaching.

 

The emails didn't stop.

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Then definitely follow briansnat's suggestion.

 

If someone is using the GC.Com system to spam you, report them to contact@geocaching.com.

Yes and forward a copy of the email from them stating they used Geocaching.com as a source.

If I am reading this correctly, the person in question got the original poster's email address because the OP had written to them first. They saved the OP's address and are now spamming them. That is not an issue for the contact address. That is something the OP would have to deal with personally, either by working to get the point across that the other person needs to stop or by blocking their email address.

 

Yes, you have it right. I contacted them first....AND LAST since they are now blocked. I have no plan to contact gc.com about it. Spamming them did cross my mind however. lol But I would never do it. I have thought about emailing them this thread though.

[AZcachemeister]

Sad to think that the 'spammer' has so few friends and little else to do...

[+Sioneva]

Is heavy use of the comma key a feature in these emails?

[+Silfron Mandotheneset]

Is heavy use of the comma key a feature in these emails?

 

I think I know where this is going...

[+TotemLake]

One good turn deserves another, eh?

 

Bad idea. The old adage"two wrongs don't make a right" is still valid.

AKA Funny but wrong.

[+paleolith]

I note that this person answered one of the two questions in the email. One thing I've observed over the years is that some people simply don't notice anything beyond the first question or request. I don't understand this, but it happens with people who are otherwise coherent and generally OK people. For this reason, I would send a second request to be removed, making it ... very ... simple ... "take me off your distribution list".

 

There are people who get into email, see some friends passing around emails, and don't realize the annoyance the practice causes to those who did not consent. So I would not assume that this is a bad person (and I consider "spammer" to be a far stronger insult than most of the unprintable epithets) unless there's evidence beyond that given here that they are presenting a fraudulent face to get addresses, sending commercial email, etc. When spammers sell addresses at about a dollar for a million, it makes little sense to collect addresses manually.

 

Edward

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Is heavy use of the comma key a feature in these emails?

,,,,,,,Sionevil,,,,, I swear,,,,,, I,,,, don,t know what you,,,,,, are talking about,,,,, I never spam you,,,, those emails that I send you about vacation timeshare opportunities,,,,,, and libido enhancers and Nigerian investment opportunities,,,,,,,, are messages that,,,,,, you,,,, very much want to read,,,,,

[+HockeyPuck]

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Without seeing the original message, I believe I received the same political spam (to 2 different e-mail addresses). To emphasise, the e-mail is not generated through the GC.com servers however the spammer has obtained our e-mail through geocaching.

 

The e-mails are generated through a do not reply to this message address and any replies get bounced back as an unknown addressee.. I've added the spammer to my spam folder and he's lost my vote!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

 

I just found which cacher it is. Just joined in August 2008. Political spam is what I get for congratulating someone on finding their first cache while finding one of ours. Great!

 

Without seeing the original message, I believe I received the same political spam (to 2 different e-mail addresses). To emphasise, the e-mail is not generated through the GC.com servers however the spammer has obtained our e-mail through geocaching.

 

The e-mails are generated through a do not reply to this message address and any replies get bounced back as an unknown addressee.. I've added the spammer to my spam folder and he's lost my vote!

Well, what is happening here in many of these cases is this:

You had sent one or more innocent geo-related emails to the geocacher in question, and thus your email address ended up as a "contact" email address in their email address book. Then, at some point this person got enthused about some political cause (it is usually a "Paris Hilton for president" movement, in my experience) and they end up visiting one of the sites promoting that cause. That site offers an option saying something along the lines of "Tell All Your Friends About this Wonderful Candidate" and the by-now slightly overzealous geocacher clicks on that option, and then, in their fanatical enthusiasm, they give permission to the website (actually an application running on the website) to upload the email contact list from their email client (email program, for non-techies) or from their email service (if they use an online service such as Yahoo mail or Gmail), and, of course, this "email contact list" is really their email address book, and, of course, your email address is tucked inside that address book, aka email contact list. So now, this political spam site has not only your email address but the email address of ANYONE to whom the geocacher in question has ever sent an email or from whom they have ever received an email, and then... the political site, with full permission from the idiot geocacher, sends spam political emails to every person listed in that email address book! And that is why the email is usually sent from an automated "do not respond to this address" server.

 

Personally, and I may simply be feeling and acting a bit curmudgeonly here, I believe that people who do such things, that is, upload their email address books, aka email contact lists, to such political spam sites or other spam sites (i.e., "SUBJECT: Your best friend Daffy Duck wants you to join StumbleUpon - Join Today" or "SUBJECT: Sionevil [see footnote #1] Wants You to to Join LinkedIn - Respond Today") should be hunted down by troops belonging to a special domestic branch of the military and shot, if only as due token punishment for their stupidity and arrogance. However, that is just me, thinking aloud...

 

footnote #1: It should be noted here that according to leading conspiracy websites, Martha Stewart is no longer the Anti-Christ, and instead Sionevil has usurped her for the position of Anti-Christ.

 

.

Edited September 6, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+blb9556]

If it had a virus then what happen was their may have been a keystroke logger to log the email and password. Then sent to the "hacker" which contained their address book. He/she makes everyone mad.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

If it had a virus then what happen was their may have been a keystroke logger to log the email and password. Then sent to the "hacker" which contained their address book. He/she makes everyone mad.

And, much as referenced by earlier posters, there are also types of malware, most of them parts of bot networks, which, once installed on a host PC, will raid the email address book, steal the email addresses, and then send spam to them. However, this is rarely if ever done for political spamming, and rather, the scenario which I described in my earlier post above, where the geocacher/PC owner willingly gives their entire email address book to the political website (or to LinkedIn, or to StumbleUpon, etc.) to allow it to spam all their contacts, is by far the more common scenario for political spam.

[+flask]

the key piece is that when contacted, the spammer admitted to getting the address through gc.com and using it on purpose.

 

that's someone who needs to have their account yanked.

[+OzzieSan]

 

If I am reading this correctly, the person in question got the original poster's email address because the OP had written to them first. They saved the OP's address and are now spamming them. That is not an issue for the contact address. That is something the OP would have to deal with personally, either by working to get the point across that the other person needs to stop or by blocking their email address.

 

Or send an email to the spammers isp via the proper channels. Usually abuse@theirISP.com