(no subject)
Okay, scariest spam ever: I just got an email from a political action group in NC. This has happened before, since my Yahoo profile did once list me as a NC resident. How I ended up on party- and issue-specific mailing lists, I don't know, since I have never expressed any political affiliation in any online profile. I figured they had just grabbed every NC profile, I reported it as spam, and after a couple rounds of that they disappeared. (Yay for Yahoo on that count.) But this one isn't just random spam. It is most definitely addressed to my mother.
See, my mother's name is the same as my first name, with one letter difference. I always use my middle name IRL. People misspell my first name all the time, so if that were the only thing I would handwave it as them having bought my name from some company that obviously doesn't deserve my business but would be impossible to root out as the culprit. But here's the scary part: while my mom is registered with that party, it is under her married name only. And this is addressed to her maiden name.
Anyone see why I'm freaked out? On top of all this, my mom is pretty old school about not using her maiden name unless it's necessary for some sort of government form or something, so this information is not out there in, say, a phone book or something. In short, there is definitely TMI out there for me to be happy with.
Do you think sending an unsubscribe request would actually make them go away, or just let them know this is an active address? Furthermore, should I contact Yahoo with my concerns that these people are not only spamming but have some way of gathering private information beyond what is easily searchable on their site? It's abuse of their system spam-wise, but some of this info (most notably the scariest parts) came from somewhere else as well, so they might declare a Somebody Else's Problem Field.
ETA: I just realized that the only two companies that have that address are my credit card and LJ. And thinking about either of those any further really hurts my head, so I'm going to get some decaf mint green tea now and do something non-freak-out-inducing like knit or watch vids, or maybe both together.
See, my mother's name is the same as my first name, with one letter difference. I always use my middle name IRL. People misspell my first name all the time, so if that were the only thing I would handwave it as them having bought my name from some company that obviously doesn't deserve my business but would be impossible to root out as the culprit. But here's the scary part: while my mom is registered with that party, it is under her married name only. And this is addressed to her maiden name.
Anyone see why I'm freaked out? On top of all this, my mom is pretty old school about not using her maiden name unless it's necessary for some sort of government form or something, so this information is not out there in, say, a phone book or something. In short, there is definitely TMI out there for me to be happy with.
Do you think sending an unsubscribe request would actually make them go away, or just let them know this is an active address? Furthermore, should I contact Yahoo with my concerns that these people are not only spamming but have some way of gathering private information beyond what is easily searchable on their site? It's abuse of their system spam-wise, but some of this info (most notably the scariest parts) came from somewhere else as well, so they might declare a Somebody Else's Problem Field.
ETA: I just realized that the only two companies that have that address are my credit card and LJ. And thinking about either of those any further really hurts my head, so I'm going to get some decaf mint green tea now and do something non-freak-out-inducing like knit or watch vids, or maybe both together.