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I can't stand it.

No matter how many times I hit SPAM to the Viagra email that come in... they never go to SPAM (actually, I don't know that - I don't look at the SPAM folder. I do know that more Viagra emails are still coming to my Inbox).

Why isn't GMail's SPAM filtering stopping this?

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viagra is paying google off. – DataPimp Nov 17 at 23:23
You're the one with the email right in front of you. If you want to know what's in it, look at its source. – NSD Nov 17 at 23:38
@DataPimp - that is an answer I can accept. ;) – jason Nov 18 at 0:07
Did you bought viagra from spammer in the past? ;P – DaNieL Nov 19 at 11:09
Only once, but that doesn't matter. – jason Nov 19 at 16:41
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3 Answers

vote up 7 vote down

The simple answer is because the spam e-mailers are using a technique that GMail's filters haven't caught up with. As to what that technique is I don't know.

By flagging the e-mails as spam you're helping to train the algorithms and present new examples to the developers. Eventually the filters will catch up and then the spammers will try something else. So don't stop reporting them.

It's a never ending arms race between the two sides, and as long as someone somewhere responds to the e-mail it's worth the spammers investing time and money in trying to outwit the spam filters. Only when no one responds to these e-mails will they stop - but then they'll be trying some other way of separating you from your money.

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@ChrisF... thanks... but there has to be a reason why these email are getting through and most of the other spammers are not. I understand they are using a technique that GMail isn't stopping... what is it? – jason Nov 17 at 22:23
@jason, ask Google. They're the ones keeping this algorithm secret. And for good reason, if spammers knew the algorithm, it would be even easier to bypass it. – sirlancelot Nov 17 at 23:53
@sirlancelot You just made an argument for why encryption algorithms should be kept secret, but the common opinion is that these should be open sourced and in the public view for scrutiny. It's a secret because it adds value to their product. IMO, Gmail has fantastic spam filtering and I bet several other people/companies would love to add that to their email product for free. – rodey Dec 29 at 18:47
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Unfortunately there are many techniques that someone can use to bypass the anti-spam filters. Most recently I have noticed the use a "text body" which looks innocent, but is replaced by a graphic with the ad. Most of the ones I have seen use a graphic which is slightly manipulated so that each version of it has a different byte signature which helps prevent matching. The text is artfully crafted so that no two messages are exactly alike...many appear to be "scraped" from various web pages or blogs on the web.

It will take pattern recognition software to detect the image by its characteristics. I'm sure there would be some false positives, and I'm also sure that this will cause an additional delay in the mail delivery process as EVERY email with an image attachment would have to be analyzed.

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vote up 1 vote down

these are also being sent to me, but they go into spam... I believe it is a new form of malware.

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