How to autoformard GMail Spam messages ?

December 23, 2005 8:19 AM

How can I autoforward my Gmail messages labelled as "SPAM"

I want to create a new Filter in GMail that automatically forwards all SPAM messages to another email address. How can I do that in GMail ?

posted by labnol to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

To piggy back, I've never once used my gmail address, but I have been receiving spam there, how does that work?
posted by TuxHeDoh at 8:26 AM on December 23, 2005

To answer the piggyback:

You don't have to use an address once to get spammed thanks to "directory harvest" attacks. Automated software blasts out a message to combinations common names and words ([e-mail]) or initials/names ([e-mail]).

I wrote about these in February. Here's the pertinent graf from my file:

Directory harvest attacks generally involve a simple process of elimination: Spammers blitz a mail server with e-mail addressed to a variety of likely addresses drawn from a dictionary of names. Messages that aren't bounced as addressed to non-existent users are assumed to have been sent to good addresses, which are kept for further use.

I got my name for a yahoo address last month when they opened up the availability of dots (.) to user names, and my "real name" address vs. my mildly improbable original Yahoo login has gotten hundreds of spams a week thanks to directory harvest attacks.
posted by mph at 9:12 AM on December 23, 2005

Try using "in:spam" for the "Has the words" field of the new filter search criterion screen.
posted by gsteff at 9:15 AM on December 23, 2005

Response by poster: gsteff, Cool find - I never knew about this syntax. But unfortunately, the in:spam or label:spam filter doesn't work.
posted by labnol at 11:17 PM on December 23, 2005

A thread in the gMail discussion group says use the "from" field when constructing the query.
posted by mph at 11:41 PM on December 23, 2005