Scripting of Email Headers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Spid
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S

Spid

I'm lucky that I held on to an email account whose domain (scr*****g.net)
enables me to have an infinite number of aliases. That's great for
registering with on-line providers because I can craft a unique contact
email address for each provider and when the spam arrives I know the
culprit, because the spam will be addressed to the email address I
registered with them. (FYI Insuresupermarket.com are a major culprit)

Now, the question I am going to ask might make be sound like a spammer,
which I am not (but you've only got my word for it).

What I would like to do is have a simple script that changes my email
address and reply-to address in the headers of emails I write according to
the date and time I create an email. E.g. 20090124_1525@<my email
account><my email domain>. The reason is the impact of emails being
repetitively forwarded with the previous senders' details intact (see the
end of this rant - http://www.kitz.co.uk/tech/forwardmail.htm) and I would
at least like to know know which recipients of mine have a contact path to a
spammer. If I start getting spam addressed to 20090124_1530@<..><..> I'll be
able to trace back to the person I sent the email to that triggered it all
off.

I can do this manually but it gets laborious and I forget to update it each
time. I know in reality my true email address won't be hidden to the clever
ones (I send through google and receive through this other account), but it
should improve my situation to some degree.

As I don't know the first thing about scripting (XP) I thought I could ask
you experts out there.

My email client is Windows Live Mail, but even an example for OE would be
fantastic.

TIA

S





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I'm lucky that I held on to an email account
whose domain
(scr*****g.net) enables me to have an infinite
number of
aliases. That's great for registering with
on-line
providers because I can craft a unique contact
email
address for each provider and when the spam
arrives I
know the culprit, because the spam will be
addressed to
the email address I registered with them. (FYI
Insuresupermarket.com are a major culprit)
Now, the question I am going to ask might make
be sound
like a spammer, which I am not (but you've only
got my
word for it).
What I would like to do is have a simple script
that
changes my email address and reply-to address
in the
headers of emails I write according to the date
and time
I create an email. E.g. 20090124_1525@<my email
account><my email domain>. The reason is the
impact of
emails being repetitively forwarded with the
previous
senders' details intact (see the end of this
rant -
http://www.kitz.co.uk/tech/forwardmail.htm) and
I would
at least like to know know which recipients of
mine have
a contact path to a spammer. If I start getting
spam
addressed to 20090124_1530@<..><..> I'll be able
to trace
back to the person I sent the email to that
triggered it
all off.
Click to expand...

That's probably good intent, but ... it won't work
very well. Anytime you get a forward like that,
it means your address is already in many machines
and address books already and any one of them
could have sent the e-mail you received, or any of
the future such e-mails.
Forwards are also usually gray areas of spam;
sent by ignorant and innocent bystanders as one
would with a chain letter almost, and you don't
make much of a dent in the spammers themselves by
chasing innocent bystanders, whether it be their
ignorance or not. Your chances of ever getting a
tie on the actual perpetrator are close to nil.

I have my doubts that you could have enough
forwards to make that worth writing a script for
and thus there must be another reason, whatever it
may be. Personally I don't see it worth the
effort either way. I've been reporting spam for
years with one specific throw-away account, which
I switch off should it become infested and create
another, and never had a problem. That's all you
need. There is little to no reason to "hide" from
spam reports unless you're ignorant enough to be
sending reports to the spammers themselve and not
their upstreams and A/C, etc.
Anonymous complaints are also always bit
bucketed.

My 2 ¢ anyway

Twayne
 
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