I run a website, and I am getting frequent email abuse from a hotmail account, and Microsoft don't seem to be interested in sorting the problem out, in the latest threatening email I have recieved the sender, he talks about :


However, I would very much like to come round to CENSORED and wring the neck of the little tosser that is Justin.


The Censored bit is my address, and that he is making various threats and bad language to our entire website team over at BluesWeb.co.uk.

What i was wondering was, as Microsoft don't seem to be too bothered what can I do in other ways?

Thanks!

You have reported the abuser to Microsoft security? Abuse? Surely the abuser is violating some term of service for Hotmail.

If that gets no action, report the abuser, include all details that you can, in as unemotional a manner as possible, to:

- the police in your jurisdiction
- the police in the jurisdiction of the abuser, if known

Threats are threats. I have seen positive outcomes as a result of reporting abusers to authorities. Worth a try.

Or, set your mail server to bounce all email from the abuser and ignore.

There's no law about email harrasment i don't think..
If you tell the police he sent you a child porn picture they will follow it up without a doubt and then you will know who the guy is..

Block hotmail. Harrasment, i belive, depending on what is said, can be illegal, but dont expect anyone to do much about it. Just block hotmail for a month or so, then let it open. After people see their email will just get bounced back, they might stop.

ned patter clearly you are just "guessing". Don't.

Anyone that threatens violence against another ups the ante. You will find that some police forces are sympathetic to this and will follow up.

Your mileage may vary, but I *have* seen this work. A user was receiving threatening email including the "ring your neck" variety and after being advised to contact police, the user did in fact see the police make a call to the abuser.

Abuse stopped immediately.

Post the headers here, so that we get his IP. Then report him to his ISP.

download a program called MailWasher. (download.com)

With that program you can just blacklist his address and it will bounce (like when an address is nonexistent).
It actually helps also with all kind of spam, as with time you get removed from the spam lists.

Definitely do not make something up, like say the mailer is sending your child porn if he isn't. Doing so is committing a crime yourself. The police will want to see proof and if you don't have anything the best thing that will come out of it is they'll decided to ignore you and if worst comes to worst you'll receive some kind of citation.

Block him and be done with it. If someone was stalking you and the cops put a hold on the person, you'd be satisfied right? Block him, bounce him, blacklist him - you have options, lots of them.

Originally posted by JustinSurfer
what can I do in other ways?

I'm assuming you don't already know who the person is?

As Timechange said, post the headers. Mail from hotmail accounts includes an "X-Originating IP" header, which will give you the IP the person is accessing Hotmail from. It's not much, but it's a start.

As for what to do, this person made a direct physical threat to you. I don't know about UK law, but that is something that the cops will act on here in the States. Only you can decide whether or not it's worth following up on, though.

-Bob

Right well obviously you are not going to get anywhere justin because nothing can be done about abusive emails unless it's being sent to a child.

Originally posted by ians
Definitely do not make something up, like say the mailer is sending your child porn if he isn't. Doing so is committing a crime yourself. The police will want to see proof and if you don't have anything the best thing that will come out of it is they'll decided to ignore you and if worst comes to worst you'll receive some kind of citation.

Well no because the persons not commiting a crime sending emails and unless you make something up you won't get anywhere..
Get into his email account then you should be able to get his phone number i think and then phone his mother up.

Originally posted by ned patter


Get into his email account then you should be able to get his phone number i think and then phone his mother up.

What's his mother got to do with anything? :rolleyes:

Well no because the persons not commiting a crime sending emails and unless you make something up you won't get anywhere..

I'm sure about in the UK but here in the US accusing someone of a crime just to get the police after them is a crime. It's called filing a false report or something similar to that. Not only will you open yourself up to penalities from the state, but you might even be liable in a civil court if the guy ends up in court for child porn charges and it comes out that the only reason he's there is because you made the whole thing up.

The police aren't going to take you seriously when they found out you're lying. They'll think you made the harassment charges up also because you're obviously out to get the guy.

Originally posted by ians


I'm sure about in the UK but here in the US accusing someone of a crime just to get the police after them is a crime. It's called filing a false report or something similar to that. Not only will you open yourself up to penalities from the state, but you might even be liable in a civil court if the guy ends up in court for child porn charges and it comes out that the only reason he's there is because you made the whole thing up.

The police aren't going to take you seriously when they found out you're lying. They'll think you made the harassment charges up also because you're obviously out to get the guy.

Ok fine but he's just not going to get anywhere anway that's football fans for you, always abusive.

ned patter should not be doling out legal advice, period.

Originally posted by NexDog
Block him and be done with it. If someone was stalking you and the cops put a hold on the person, you'd be satisfied right? Block him, bounce him, blacklist him - you have options, lots of them.

Aren't blacklists illegal ? Is the spamcop blacklist legal ?

http://spamcop.net/bl.shtml

Originally posted by mwatkins
ned patter should not be doling out legal advice, period.


Fine but i'll say again that he won't get anywhere.

Put the Email address on your mail servers kill list and be done with it.