I would guess just to Know that someone is wasting time on it. Thats the reward. The Smarter Ones Make Computer Viruses

If you 'view source' on these emails you'll see that there is no attachment, so there can't be any virus or worm included. Here are a few more samples: http://www.toastedspam.com/articles/disptext/empty_spams_0001

There has been a lot of debate about these emails, but not much conclusion yet. The most convincing argument so far is that someone has released a very buggy version of their spamware (software to sent bulk email) that crashes now and then. The second most popular idea is that these are sent to test your address for deliverability. However, this idea has lots of flaws. For one thing, just because it doesn't bounce back doesn't mean it was delivered. It may be sent to an unused account, it may have been dropped in a junk mail folder and silently deleted, etc. Also, if someone is going to go to all the effort to send the email, why not advertise something at the same time?

Anyway, it's an enigma, but compared to the vast amount of other email abuse, we consider this one to be pretty harmless.

Thanks, Kelly. It is truly odd!

J--

I just read of another more plausible theory in N.A.N.A.E. (go google it, it's quite instructive). There are several sleazy spamware programs out there that don't comply with RFC standards for email transmissions. Their reasons for doing this are myriad and can range from attempts to fool other mail servers into accepting their spew all the way down to pure simple lousy programming. Occasionally one of these spamwares will try connecting to a mail server that can't properly handle it's sleazy tactics. It may detect something weird going on before it's even received the entire header and cut off communication at that point (often the Message-ID: tag is only partially there). Oddly enough, it will then send on what it has received rather than trashing it. So, what we have is a mixture of non-compliant spam sleezeware having hiccups with poorly written mail servers.

Still odd, but at least it kinda sorta almost maybe makes sense.

I have also heard that the blank emails result from internet providers removing known virus files befroe delivery. Yahoo and AOL have done this a few times to my mail.

Yeah . .I've just got some emails "bounced-back" at me from a contact organisation that up to now I've had no problem with. I can emqil anywhere else .. .the Spam programme that is presently getting in the way is "SPamCop . . ." - it's a real pain, says it will "pass" in 48 hours . . . . anybody come across this one -? Kelly?

TIA

Grazie

SpamCop doesn't block or bounce any emails. That's not a service area they are involved with in the slightest. They are an automated abuse reporting agency. My guess is that the organization you are attempting to mail to has installed some sort of filtering on their own. Most likely the message you get back is referring you to the SpamCop website to find out if you (or your ISP or network block) have been incorrectly reported as a spam source.

My mail server makes use of the SBL & XBL blocking lists from spamhaus.org. When an email is blocked, a message is sent back to the sender telling them to look at spamhaus.org's site for for more information. Now, to be technically correct, spamhaus.org does not block these emails; my own mail server does the blocking. All spamhaus.org does is supply me with an automatic and continually updated list of people/places/things to block. The choice to block or not is entirely mine. The only reason to refer the senders back to spamhaus.org is for them to find out why they were blocked, and to request correction of the blocking list if they are falsely listed.

Thanks for that. Should I therefore get back to the "organisation" and inform them that this is the case and lift the ban - well at least they can decide . . haha!

Grazie

It's worth a shot. Of course, you may have to go get yourself a hotmail or yahoo email address to be able to send your request to them.

Good point! . . I did think of this, but they are a only a local phone call away . .but yes, point taken . . .ahahah .. . <wink>

Grazie

BTW I wanted to mention that, last Christmas, I installed a new filter called Qurb, and it's amazing. It automatically builds a "whitelist" (good email) based on your address book and other files of your choosing. Everything else it quarantines in a special folder. If that were all it did, I wouldn't think it was worth the bother, but Qurb can also be told to send a "challenge" email back to the source. It only has to do this once, and if your sender is a real person and hits the "reply" button, then Qurb adds his address to your whitelist.

Another nice thing about this product is that it integrates very gracefully into Outlook or Outlook Express. No separate program to run.

It takes about a week of emails to get things in shape, and then it's terrific. Before installing Qurb I was getting a dozen "enhancement" emails a day and now, zero.

Richard, Qurb sounds like it operates the same way MailShield does, which I am now using. Sure do wish I had known about Qurb first, it cost half as much!

J--