"Ruined iPhone" Invulnerable Spam

[Kevin Dunahee]

Hey guys,

Many of you signed the petition from the website Ruined iPhone or perhaps better known as F*** You Rogers. Signing the petition signed me up for their newsletter which is perfectly fine by me because I'm interested to hear how it turns out. Here's where it gets strange.

They sent me an update via email. The email is entirely blank with absolutely no characters on the page. Weird, right? So I delete it. It disappears and then reappears less than a second later! Typically I would worry about malware of something to that effect but I am running the latest version of Leopard and it's Apple Mail that is doing this.

I have never seen anything like it and was wondering if anybody here had any input.

Thanks ahead of time.

-Superman

[Snoop1990]

I never saw anything like that on the mac !

Two tips :
1. open the mail press Apple + a to mark all then copy and look at it in a text editor are there any characters ?
2. check the received day to see if it is the same mail poping up or if it is a similar mail !

[Kevin Dunahee]

There are definitely no characters on the page at all. I tried copying and pasting it to see if there was anything there and there certainly isn't.

It is the same message for sure. Once I delete it, it disappears for about half a second and then reappears. I checked my trash and it's not in there. I just can't kill this thing.

I've gotten more messages since then and it continues to move down my inbox. It isn't a problem but it sure is strange to see.

[Edward Kirk]

Superman, I sure hope this isn't as bad as it sounds.

f**kyourogers.com/ruinediphone.com was recently sold to Oilchange.com, a super-spammy, super-shady looking web design site. When I was first told about it, I didn't think anything of it, but if they're sending out some sort of crazy spam (I assume they now have control of the mailing list you were on) then I wouldn't be at all surprised. Still, I haven't heard any confirmation that Oilchange.com is evil.

And for the record, I think that the original owners of ruinediphone.com are total and complete sellouts.

[Kevin Dunahee]

Well if they are indeed evil, I will bring them to justice!

Just kidding. That is very interesting though. I saw that oilchange.com thing yesterday and couldn't figure out what the heck that had to do with iPhones or Canada for that matter. You're absolutely right too. If this place is as spammy as you suggest then it makes perfect sense for them to spit out undeletable spam. If that is the case, I can't believe it hit me first...using a Mac.

I agree with you yet again. Ruinediphone.com guys did completely sell out. Of all places though, why does Oilchange.com see potential there?

[Snoop1990]

I agree with you yet again. Ruinediphone.com guys did completely sell out. Of all places though, why does Oilchange.com see potential there?

They are business guys ;) Just keep an eye on both sides to see what is next !

[Kevin Dunahee]

Just noticed something else that might add a piece to the puzzle. After I try to delete it. The message title gets several shades lighter!? It turns gray until the next time Mail goes out to see if there are any new messages, then it turns black again... Don't know if this will spark any ideas but there it is.

[xxx]

have you tried getting rid of apple mail and re-installing. I will ask my friend who is an apple programmer and maybe he will have something that can help you out.


Very strange problem tho, maybe try deleting it different ways like at the same time as another email?

[Kevin Dunahee]

have you tried getting rid of apple mail and re-installing. I will ask my friend who is an apple programmer and maybe he will have something that can help you out.


Very strange problem tho, maybe try deleting it different ways like at the same time as another email?

It's not worth it to me to delete Apple Mail and copy it back from the install disks. I don't think that would get rid of the email message itself anyway. I've good a few solid backup measures so if it destroys everything, I can just restore.

As per you suggestion, I tried deleting with other emails at the same time. The other emails disappear just fine but good ol' Ruined iPhone stays with me. I also tried moving the darn thing and it will not move to another box either. This is messed up stuff.

F*** You, F***yourogers.com

[Bernie]

Url 1 (http://chriseverything.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-up-with-ruinediphonecom.html)
Craigslist (http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/web/739147694.html)
This said they were gone (http://thecitydesk.net/2008/02/04/tech-company-defriends-city-investors/)
And more abut the spam (http://www.onelittlecog.com/2008/07/06/a-ruined-ruinediphonecom/)
My point is that you are the only one so far reporting this problem.
Have you tried marking it as junk mail? Dragging them to a new folder then after a restart, trashing that mail folder? This is new to me.:[

[Kevin Dunahee]

It does seem like I'm the only one this has happened to. Oh well, like I say, it hasn't become a problem yet, just something that has got me curious.

Marking it as junk has the same effect. After about half a second, it just goes back to the way it was. Also, I can't move the message at all to test out your other suggestion.

I really doubt it's worth anything to call AppleCare and whine about it to them, but I am considering it to see what they have to say. They will probably want me to send it in which is completely not worth it to me.

[Snoop1990]

Did you try to "bounce" it ?

[Kevin Dunahee]

Yes, same effect.

[Snoop1990]

The I guess you contact the apple forums or your local apple store ... I never had such a issue and if nothing works ... I do not know what to do !

You can not move it either right ? (move to another mailbox)

[Kevin Dunahee]

*sigh* No, it cannot be moved either. Nor can it be kicked, punched, thrown, shot, stabbed, burned, shredded, or any other action to change its state of being. It just sits there and stares at me.

[Snoop1990]

That is interesting.

Are you using a pop connection or imap ? have you checked your mails on dude to a web interface ? It might be not your issue but an issue on the mail server ...

[Kevin Dunahee]

I'm using IMAP. I log into GMAIL via browser and delete the message (successfully). Yet it remains for eternity on my Macbook Pro.

Seriously, WTF?

[Snoop1990]

Then backup your mailboxes and afterwards delete your google mail account (in mail) this should delete all messages in this account as well. Finally after all is gone just restore the message.

OR: go to googlemail inside your trash folder and delete the message again. Maybe this helps, I also had some issues with googlemail and IMAP.