Just about everyone phones it in during the holidays, even spammers. Whether due to tightened security or office parties, the amount of worldwide spam activity nosedived in late December. The bad news is that the spambots have reportedly woken up and are getting back to work. [More]
Some Hotmail Users Report Vanishing Accounts — Microsoft Says Problem Is Fixed
By 1.3.11
Whenever you clean out your Hotmail inbox, you get a message complimenting you on the feat. Some Hotmail users reportedly found themselves with an accidentally clean inbox due to an apparent server error that has deleted their accounts [More]
Hacking Your Spouse's Email Could Land You In Jail For Half A Decade
By 12.28.10
Before you consider snooping in your spouse’s email, you may want to pay close attention to a case unfolding in Michigan in which a man faces up to five years of prison for hacking into his wife’s messages. [More]
Russia Goes After 1 Guy, Worldwide Spam Drops By 1/5
By 10.28.10
After Russian authorities started an investigation into alleged spammaster Igor A. Gusev, worldwide spam has dropped by a sustained one-fifth. [More]
Help! My Gmail Account Was Hacked! How Do I Clean This Up?
By 10.12.10
Reader Lisa would like to ask the Consumerist hive mind for advice on cleaning up her recently hacked Gmail account. Here’s her story: [More]
How Not To Be Annoying And Incompetent At E-mail
By 10.2.10
Just because you’ve fired off dozens of emails every day for more than a decade, it doesn’t mean you’ve been doing it right. You may reinforcing bad habits with each misfired message, unaware that you’re rankling friends, business contacts and customer service reps. [More]
Best Fraud Spam Ever
By 9.10.10
Something about this spammed fraud attempt that landed in our inbox amused me. Maybe it was the chicken burgers for mother. [More]
When Online Stores Get All Email Smothery
By 9.10.10
Some places you buy stuff from online are so super duper excited about your new business that they can’t stop emailing you about every little thing. The Brads webcomic does a cute little skewering of the overly communicative online store that even gets clingy when you try to unsubscribe. Relationship tip for companies trying to hook up with customers: desperation is a turnoff. Hit the link to get the full monty. [More]
How To Block Specific @holes From Emailing You
By 9.8.10
If there’s a special someone who makes your stomach churn when you see a new email from him pop up in your inbox, you’re probably looking for a way to stop him from harassing you. [More]
Save Money By Emailing Phones Rather Than Texting
By 8.18.10
If you’ve got a smart phone it doesn’t make much sense to pay $5, $10 or more a month for text messaging plans once you realize you can send free messages to friends’ phones via email. All you need to pull off the trick is your text-ees’ phone numbers and service providers. [More]
Verizon Sent My Billing Info To Some Other Guy
By 8.12.10
When Matt ordered his phone from Verizon, he expected a confirmation email. What he got instead was a phone call from a stranger who got his email by accident. The message contained loads of personal information. Matt, freaked out about the privacy violation, is going to use the free month of service Verizon offered to make up for the lapse to reduce his early termination fee. [More]
Cablevision Customers Suffer Email Outage
By 7.17.10
Starting on Thursday and continuing into Friday, some unknown number of Cablevision customers were thrust into the darkness, unable to communicate via email, for more than 24 hours, forcing them to take to Twitter, Facebook, and whatever other myriad ways people jabber on the Internet these days to complain. [More]
Southwest Sent My Flight Confirmation To Someone, But It Wasn't Me
By 5.13.10
If you like to use a plus sign to create unique addresses in Gmail or another mail system for filtering, spam tracking, or other purposes, don’t try it with Southwest Airlines. Instead of returning an error, Southwest will simply fling your message into the ether, never to be heard from again. [More]
Just For The Record, Your Friend Wasn't Mugged In London
By 5.6.10
You get a desperate email from a friend or acquaintance. It’s urgent. They say they were overseas and got mugged, getting robbed of their cellphone and all their cash and credit cards. Now they’re stranded and need your help. Could you please wire over $900 immediately? [More]
Hey Google, Hows About An Auto-Harass Button For Gmail?
By 3.23.10
Morten Just complains that Gmail doesn’t have a feature that lets you resend messages to those who haven’t responded to you within a week. [More]
A Volvo Dealership E-Stalked Me
By 2.11.10
Inspired by yesterday’s post about Victoria’s Secret’s e-snooping, Julia says she felt cyberstalked by a Volvo dealership. When she sent the business an email, she got a response back to not only the account she sent the email from, but a different, personal address. [More]
Help, I'm Getting Someone Else's Newegg Emails!
By 1.31.10
Reader IfThenElvis has a problem with his Newegg account. Well, technically, it’s not his account. It was just registered using his email address. [More]
My Gmail Pulled A Vanishing Act — What Do I Do?
By 1.27.10
Will says his Gmail account disappeared on him, wiping out nearly a decade of email memories. [More]
