anais
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posted on December 9, 2000 04:57:30 PM
Hi, I got a message today that only contained an attachment. No message at all in the body and nothing noted in the subject line. Just an attachment that said Congrads.txt. Year before last I opened an attachment with the same kind of name and it was a trojan that really messed up my computer system. I don't open attachments anymore.
I wrote to the person and basically said I don't know you and the attachment you sent is a virus and I am forwarding it back.
Within an hour I was looking at my bids and noticed that the email address which contained the attachment was actually a seller's name and was probably a win notification. I wrote to him/her immediately and explained and told her that if she would send me the postage due I would add my bids and send her the amount by paypal. I haven't heard back and feel that I probably made her/him angry by refusing to open this attachment.
I really don't think sellers should send out notifications in attachments with nothing whatsoever to indicate what it is in the body or subject line. Am I being unfair here? Is this an acceptable practice?
Anais
Live,Laugh,Love
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Freddy57
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posted on December 9, 2000 05:01:19 PM
Sending attachements to any one without their permission is not an acceptable pracice at all. EOA's need to be in text format and sent as a message. I don't blame you for not opening an attachment from someone you don't know.
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Joanne
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posted on December 9, 2000 05:31:39 PM
I don't even open attachments from people I DO know. Too many people are completely in the dark when it comes to viruses, etc. I've told my family and friends not to send me any attachments at all, because I won't look at them.
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LLampi
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posted on December 9, 2000 05:35:21 PM
I get at least 3 attachments per day from friends! I NEVER open them up - especially if they are from Hotmail accounts. That free email service has always been littered with virus problems!
Just my two cents!
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anais
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posted on December 9, 2000 05:41:46 PM
Well I'm glad to know that I'm not being overly paranoid. I am still concerned that I may have made the seller mad. I can't pay my bid because I don't know how much to send. And I refuse to open the attachment. I pay all my bids with paypal usually within 24 hours. And I sure would like to pay this one but so far she/he hasn't answered my email.
Anais
Live,Laugh,Love
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triplesnack
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posted on December 9, 2000 06:01:20 PM
I also just received an email from a seller with no text, only an attachment! The subject line referenced the auction #. I didn't open it, and emailed the seller back, saying "I don't open attachments for security reasons - could you please send me your EOA notice with the payment info in the text of the email instead?" She replied that she had mistakenly sent my EOA notice to the wrong email address, and rather than re-type it she just attached it and forwarded it on to me.
I don't open attachments unless they're from someone I know, and it's something I'm expecting. I particularly wouldn't open an attachment that had no text in the email. I've heard of at least one trojan that arrives in this exact way.
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Pocono
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posted on December 9, 2000 06:48:24 PM
You are all very smart.
I see systems everyday that are screwed by email virus', trojans, worms, etc.
One thing you want to remember, which most people do not know, is that you NEVER use reply or forward when writing back to tell them that you will not open their attachments.
Some of these viri will execute a program on doing so. Maybe not on your system, but just last week for instance, my friend received an attachment, and decided to reply to the sender, and it mass mailed 1700 aol users, filling their mailboxes with "garbage".
His AOL account was shut down within minutes, and he had to go through hoops with the AOL fraud and security department to get his account back.
Just a heads up.
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ricketylin
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posted on December 9, 2000 07:27:41 PM
Hi Pokeyfriend!
Thanks for that info. I've gotten several EOA's with attachments from sellers, and I always email them back and ask them to put the information in the body of an email, because I won't open their attachment. I've always done this by hitting the "reply" button. From now on, I'll start a new email instead of using "reply."
Lin
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stockticker
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posted on December 9, 2000 07:41:30 PM
I received 3 e-mails at my office last Sunday which contained viruses which were detected and disarmed. All 3 were from people at another company we do business with. The virus had just taken names from their Outlook address book which lists the e-mail addresses of everyone in our company.
Same thing happened earlier this year with another virus. That virus was not detected and I subesequently received a number of virus e-mails supposedly from co-workers.
Don't trust ANY attachments - no matter who sent the e-mail.
Irene
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anais
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posted on December 10, 2000 02:34:40 PM
Hiya,
Thanks for the feedback on the issue and Pocono I had no idea so I really appreciate you letting us know abouut the reply issue.
This seller has still not replied to my request for shipping charges so I can pay my bid with Paypal dollars.
So my next question is, Would you has a buyer quess at the shipping charges and send the payment? She is a relativly new seller with GOOD feedback.
Anais
Live,Laugh,Love
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overworked
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posted on December 10, 2000 03:39:30 PM
What's with the attachments? Copy and paste an EOA in 2 seconds, good grief!
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Meya
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posted on December 10, 2000 03:47:45 PM
4 times we have been sent various viruses in attachments. 3 of those times they were sent by people I know.
I don't open any attachments at all. Word files can contain macro viruses, (at least they used to), so I don't open those either.
This almost sounds to me like the seller is trying to not follow through on this auction, and is going to attempt to blame the buyer, since the seller did send the EOA.
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msstone
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posted on December 10, 2000 03:49:38 PM
I got an email this morning with the Happy99.exe attached. I didn't open it.
See the thread I started about that.
http://www.auctionwatch.com/mesg/read.html?num=2&thread=298589
I do not know why a seller would send an attachment for EOA.
Call the seller and ask for their shipping rates.
I know it will cost a phone call but it will eliminate all possiblities for misunderstandings.
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amalgamated2000
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posted on December 10, 2000 04:06:50 PM
I agree with your course of action except for one major exception:
I wrote to the person and basically said I don't know you and the attachment you sent is a virus and I am forwarding it back.
You didn't say you were just being cautious because attachments can contain viruses. You didn't say that you suspected that this might be a virus.
You said that it was a virus.
If I had receieved your email, I would have spent hours downloading the latest versions of virus software, scanning my computer, ananlyzing my email program, and going in to a general panic because I would be totally unable to find the virus on my system.
I suggest that you might want to at least gather one or two facts before making such serious accusations.
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Shoshanah
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posted on December 10, 2000 05:40:56 PM
Pocono....Excellent advice....thanks...
********************
Gosh Shosh!
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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anais
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posted on December 10, 2000 05:45:27 PM
Meya, I've had the same experience with attachments. Never open them anymore and was surprised when I learned a seller had sent this. Moreover, the absence of any information to identify the attachment in the title line or body was a little strange although I am more then willing to concde that this is a case of innocent bad judgement more then anything else.
msstone I may try to call this seller if I don't hear something by tommorrow. Very Good Suggestion. Thanks.
amalgamated2000. I was sent an attachment with this name before and it was a trojan. Within an hour of sending him/her the first email I followed up with a second email. explaining in more detail. I have written to him or her twice since then and she/he still hasn't sent me the information in the attachment in the form of an email. Thanks for your feedback.
Anais
Live,Laugh,Love
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toomanycomics
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posted on December 10, 2000 05:52:15 PM
some of the viruses that came with the attachments are worms that wormed their way to the emails without the user knowing it.
I know because it happened to me
I had this Happy99 for over 8 months until a friend of mine wrote to me that I sent them a virus.
I fixed it and learned to update my antivirus programs about once a month.
only one time I received a email from one of my buyers that had the virus attachment, Luckily my program warned me what it was without having to opening it.
 the one and only toomanycomics on AW!
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