October 20, 2005: You  should be scared of spam-bots missions that complete orders with free e-mail account addresses this Halloween.

Products in your estore are at risk and 'Free Email Accounts' are often an indicator. Free email accounts are often used in fraudulent activity such as stolen credit cards, bank accounts and company credit information.

If you own a website with an estore, beware of users with free email address accounts. Many emails with the intent to fraud use 'Free Email Accounts' such as hotmail, yahoo and gmail. 'Free Email Accounts'  are easy to setup and easy  to dispose of after completing a spam-bot mission.

 

Fact: Not all orders from free email accounts are fraudulent. But, fraudulent emails, overwhelmingly  come from 'Free Email Accounts' .

'Free Email Accounts'  have been such a problem with business to business sites that many B to B websites won't accept free email accounts to transact business.
 

At minimum: Verify  that  the email address really goes to the intended recipient of the product ordered. This will at least assure you that you are taking to a real person and not a 'bot' running 'scripts' on your estore or product inquiry form.

 

There are over 1 billion malicious 'bots' on the web that do nothing but deliver spam services to every email and website order form findable on the internet.

Here's why: An unscrupulous programmer who asked not to be identified explained the logic behind the huge influx of spam: "When I create  one  bot, it goes on a mission 24-7. That bot will find at least  one  thing to exploit every hour of every day. I don't just make one  bot and neither do my friends."

 

Bottom line: Verify before working a lead or shipping a product.  It could be worse than a waste of time.

 

About the author:

John Beagle writes computer related articles for clients of Xponex Web and Media Services. http://www.Xponex.com
Client: Tech Special Forces - Help for all your complex corporate projects like new company offices, war rooms, disaster recovery and computer training rooms. http://www.TechSpecialForces.com