Banned email accounts.

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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:44 pm

Has anyone here had their GMail / GoogleMail accounts banned? Google's Terms of Service says not to

Quote:

Impersonate another person (via the use of an email address or otherwise) or otherwise misrepresent yourself or the source of any email.

I hope this doesn't include fictional persons! (Or say, if a JJ Jingleheimer exists somewhere out there.)

Has anyone had their personal/real account closed down for their baiting activities on another account?

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:48 pm

^^^ You mean I am not DoraTheExplorer? Shocked

Nope, never happened to me. And who is going to report me? A lad? And how would gmail connect my baiting account to my RL account? Very Happy

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:57 pm

No need to full quote the messages directly above, just use "^^" - OD

Well, they do track the IP addresses used for logins. Basically if they see your IP login to [email protected] then a few minutes later login to real-account@gmail they could potentially know both are yours. I don't know if they create a link like that or not, though.

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2009 Posts: 1440

I had an account at Mail.com banned. This was for replying to a scammer, since Mail.com flags all the suspicious words and thought I was a scammer. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:04 pm

Potato, I can see that. I suppose it is possible. I am currently signed in to 3 different gmail accounts * at this moment and usually am all day long. So someone could connect the dots if they tried.

I would guess gmail has it in the TOS to be able to enforce it if needed. I just wonder why they would worry about it unless they had a specific complaint.

Very Happy

* I just realized they were all fake accounts. I hardly ever check my RL email addy. I just did. 87 emails! I suppose I should actually answer RL people every now and then. Laughing

Master Baiter Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 226

I have had a gmail account disabled. Not sure why though.

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:16 pm

dadeciple wrote:

I have had a gmail account disabled. Not sure why though.

That's mostly the only reason why I am worried. I know with some of their other products Google tends to close/ban accounts without listing reasons or allowing anyway to get it back or find out why it was closed. GMail doesn't deal with any money or payment though, so it is probably different as it avoids any direct fraud on their part.

I'd just hate to have all my accounts go 'poof' one day on Google's whim. Now's a good time to download hard copies of those emails I guess. Smile

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:16 pm

Gmail is usually pretty friendly towards baiters. I've only lost one account and it was a fake lad account.

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:22 pm

Between all my baiter characters and my fake lads, I have literally dozens of gmail accounts. Never lost one.

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:24 pm

I had two Fastmail accounts closed on me.

Master Baiter Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 226

I have around 10 or so gmail accounts and only had one of them closed. If I had to guess why it was probably because I was sending a lot of mail out of it for a certain mass lotto bait involving a certain Mr. Gom3r.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 17 Jun 2007 Posts: 37

I have reported HUNDREDS of scam emails to Yahoo and they closed maybe one in five that I reported. Even so, I reported some a second or third time before they actually closed it.

If they banned you for baiting, it would seem that they are doing too little too late and to the wrong person.

This is why I gave-up reporting scams to these guys.

If you look at 419baiter's lists, you'll see that the vast majority of email accounts are either from Yahoo or Hotmail/Live. You can't tell me that most of those accounts haven't been reported by somebody. Yet, they are still around.

As I have always said: if free webmail providers like Yahoo and Hotmail had taken more aggressive action in the days when this scam was new, it wouldn't be as prevalent as it is right now.

But, no they dragged their feet and let some accounts stay open for YEARS so that people could get scammed. It's not like they didn't know the scams were happening and that their services were being used to facilitate them. They knew and did nothing about it.

If Yahoo, Hotmail, et al had slammed the door on these guys when they had just gotten started, then they might have realized the futility of trying to pull these scams and maybe tried something else.

If a smalltimer like O2.PL can shutdown a scammer account with one report and take less than a couple of days to do it, you can't tell me that Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc can't do the same thing.

Let me tell you, if Yahoo, Hotmail and the other companies would go through 419baiter's site and see all the accounts listed there and shut them down, then go through baiting sites and shutdown the accounts listed in the Surplus forums, then you'd see a drastic decline in scams in less than a couple of weeks. It would cripple the scammers if they had their accounts closed on a massive level and if they knew that a new account would get shutdown in a day or so of being reported.

But, that's not going to happen in our lifetimes.

Sorry for ranting. But, when I think about all the accounts I reported that were never shutdown and all the people who were scammed from mugus using Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail and the others, while the webmail companies sat back and didn't do a goddamned thing, it just makes me RAGE!

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:42 pm

gonzo4life wrote:

I have reported HUNDREDS of scam emails to Yahoo and they closed maybe one in five that I reported.

It's not a good idea to try to get the lads' accounts shut down since they will just pop back up with another one. The more effective solution is to get information about their scams posted online (at ScamWarners.com for instance) with their email address so if a potential victim does a Google search they will find this information. So in this sense it is an asset for a lad to keep the same email address for a long period of time because they will leave a footprint on the internet that will easily reveal them as a scammer if searched. Wink

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:44 pm

nope!
but my main one has been disabled a couple of times requiring me to prove im a human and not a spambot when i log in

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 289

@gonzo

Actually closing down lads accounts isn't real effective. From what I understand they write down all of their victims names and emails, so closing down an account won't necessarily result in them losing victims.

And it's way too easy to set up a new account. Give a lad five minutes and they have a new account with a slightly modified name and will still be going strong.

Shutting down a lads account is nothing more than a mild inconvenience for them, and risks compromising any baiters efforts that were baiting them.

Moderator Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 14513

In the past, I have lost about a dozen gmail accounts I use for mass insult baits. However, in about the past six months that has not been the case.

Now, getting lad accounts closed is not really very helpfull. They will just open another one. A few years ago, you needed an invitation to open a gmail account. Back then, account closings were likely a bit more inconvient for lads.

Wasting the lads time by baiting them is a better use of resources.

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:30 pm

gonzo4life wrote:

As I have always said: if free webmail providers like Yahoo and Hotmail had taken more aggressive action in the days when this scam was new, it wouldn't be as prevalent as it is right now.

with all due respect, i think that is nonsense. "in the days when this scam was new", email didn't exist. email was simply a new delivery system for the same old scams that have been around for years. as for more action on the part of yahoo or hotmail... I honestly don't think they, or anyone, would have guessed to sheer volume of spam/scam mail that is now delivered. in hindsight, it's easy to say they should have done more, but at the time I'm sure they thought whatever measures they had in place were adequate.

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:56 pm

gonzo4life wrote:

If you look at 419baiter's lists, you'll see that the vast majority of email accounts are either from Yahoo or Hotmail/Live. You can't tell me that most of those accounts haven't been reported by somebody. Yet, they are still around.

gonzo, this is an interesting and naive view. It takes a scammer/lad only a minute or two to start a new email account (just as it does baiters). Many lads use a "disposable" account to send their script out, then a different one for the "reply to".

gonzo4life wrote:

But, no they dragged their feet and let some accounts stay open for YEARS so that people could get scammed. It's not like they didn't know the scams were happening and that their services were being used to facilitate them. They knew and did nothing about it.

There is not a "super cop" on the internet. I know that some times people get upset at a "friend" or "ex" and report their account so that it gets closed out of spite. I can understand why providers don't instantly close user accounts AND why they don't give users that option either. The spam filters do a pretty good job if they are set tight enough.

Law enforcement itself is not that preventative. They have cause for action typically AFTER some law breaking action has occurred. Why an email provider would be quicker to respond is a mystery to me. I understand your passion against scammers, and I share that. I dont' put the onus on the email providers though.

gonzo4life wrote:

If Yahoo, Hotmail, et al had slammed the door on these guys when they had just gotten started, then they might have realized the futility of trying to pull these scams and maybe tried something else.

Scams existed before email. The go on in other forms of RL too. I like your dreamer thinking, I just think that it is fantasy and spitting into the wind. I don't think that email providers thought that their medium would be used in that way and they have done some to try to eliminate scammers. (Remember the internet was developed by academic and government to communicate and convey information between like agencies. Only later was it opened to the public.)

gonzo4life wrote:

If a smalltimer like O2.PL can shutdown a scammer account with one report and take less than a couple of days to do it, you can't tell me that Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc can't do the same thing.

It is easier to do that the smaller you are. Remember the email provider's primary function to to generate an audience for their ads and revenue for their stock holders. For them, scammers are a minor nuisance, that is all. It is like suing the beer producers for alcoholism. We try to educate as well as baiting (edubaiting?). I hate scammers and what they do to victims.

gonzo4life wrote:

Let me tell you, if Yahoo, Hotmail and the other companies would go through 419baiter's site and see all the accounts listed there and shut them down, then go through baiting sites and shutdown the accounts listed in the Surplus forums, then you'd see a drastic decline in scams in less than a couple of weeks. It would cripple the scammers if they had their accounts closed on a massive level and if they knew that a new account would get shutdown in a day or so of being reported.

Again, this seems like naive thinking to me. The scammers would open new accounts, Surplus gets only a small percentage of scams that are out on the net. Those providers do have filters that look for markers to help stem the tide. It is impossible to totally stop scamming and spamming, just as pick pockets and Ponzi schemers are impossible to stop. The best thing is awareness and Eater does that as do the victim support sites.

I like your passion. I think your wish is just that a wish into the wind. Sad

gonzo4life wrote:

Sorry for ranting. But, when I think about all the accounts I reported that were never shutdown and all the people who were scammed from mugus using Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail and the others, while the webmail companies sat back and didn't do a goddamned thing, it just makes me RAGE!

Take it out on the lads with your baiting! Cool

Reporting accounts (obviously) doesn't do much if anything. Baiting "takes a bite out of crime". I encourage you to use your passion to make the lads hurt! Thumbs up

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:35 pm

Connie L. Gus wrote:

I had two Fastmail accounts closed on me.

I just had my Fastmail account closed on me. I wasn't spamming or doing the ASEM thing. And I had just received a bank account and wanted to turn it in to Allen. Mad

Here is what they gave for an excuse:

Quote:

Your FastMail account '[email protected]' was recently detected as
an account sending bulk/duplicative email. The Terms of Service that you
agreed to on signup prohibits sending of "duplicative messages".

They went on to say this:

Quote:

Section 4
...
By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to: Use the
Service in connection with ... any duplicative or unsolicited messages
---

Due to your breaking of our Terms and Service we have no way but to
permanently lock your account.

Needless to say I was upset about this as I had some hours invested in numerous baiting schemes, now all out the window.

I wonder if it had anything to do with the Webmaster himself? This is the guy who signed the email:

Quote:

Yassar Ali Abdussalam
FastMail.FM Webmaster

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:26 pm

ScammedOut wrote:

I had an account at Mail.com banned. This was for replying to a scammer, since Mail.com flags all the suspicious words and thought I was a scammer. Very Happy

You are joking right?
Mail.com? Anti-scammer?

Please keep you head down, them there flyin' pigs might hit ya...

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:30 pm

I've had 2 of my gmail baiter accounts innaccesable for unknown reasons.

I contacted Gmail and they were back up and running in short order. maybe it was a coincidence and my email did nothing?

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2009 Posts: 1440

Quote:

You are joking right?
Mail.com? Anti-scammer?

Please keep you head down, them there flyin' pigs might hit ya...

I guess you didn't read my post correctly. Where did I say they are "anti-scammer"? What I actually said:

Quote:

since Mail.com flags all the suspicious words and thought I was a scammer.

When they closed my account I asked why. They told me I sent a scamming email.

Clearer now?

419Eater is my life Joined: 27 Jan 2009 Posts: 479

yes, but not for the reasons you cite. I had several baiting accounts frozen permanently for weaponizing gmail, a new modality, a few years back. That soured me on baiting for a few years.