Spam is really starting to pi$$ me off. I don't know how I get onto these lists, but it's really getting out of hand. In the last 2-3 months the amount of spam I get is going up exponentially. I'm now getting something like 50-60 unsolicited emails per day.

Yet I never asked for emails about free hosting, credit cards, low interest loans, or penis enlargement. But that's the crap I'm getting. IT MAKES ME SOOOOOOO MAD!!! :angry: :angry: :angry:

Some of them will say that if I want to unsubscribe, I should send a blank email to a specific address they provide. But when they send me an email, it isn't always to an actual POP account of mine. For instance, if my address is info@mysite.com, and it's a catchall, they'll send to d@mysite.com. So in order to unsubscribe, I have to go to the trouble of creating a POP account d@mysite.com and then unsubscribe using that account. Then a week later I'll get email at w@mysite.com. REALLY PI$$ES ME OFF.

How do I find out the ISP or host of these lowlifes? I read about "headers" that you guys refer to all the time. How do I see that? And will it tell me what I need to know? I think it's time I start reporting these jerks and causing them some grief in return.

Any advice would be appreciated. My rising blood pressure could use the help...

Vito

Well, I get about 2 spam emails a week to my personal Hostnexus email address. I get 50 a day to my Hotmail address that I don't really use. :D

If I knew I'd tell ya, I myself am getting far to much spam. I even got one that said "to remove yourself from the list please send an email with remove as the subject" so I did this and I get a mail delivery demon.

I'm starting to think that clicking on the "unsubscribe" link does not unsubscribe me, but rather confirms that it's an active address, and then adds me to MORE lists.

Bottom line: I need someone to tell me how to report these jackasses to their ISPs/hosts/whoever. Anything to try to shut them down (or at least make their life hell).

Not that I want this to be my life's work. I'm not interested in being the next Charles Bronson of the Internet. BTW, is the domain spamvigilante.com taken??

Vito

vito is partially correct

Generally, when you click a link or send an email to unsubscribe, the people who sent you that spam will remove you from that specific spam list. IE, if you click the link in a "bob's penis enlargement" email, you will no longer get emails from "bob's penis enlargement".

However, they generally then use your (now confirmed as active) email address either for their other spam customers "jim's 19 year old high school pr0n" or "dave's free diplomas" or they sell it as a confirmed as active address to other spam companies.

Bottom line - DONT EVER click a link or send an email to unsubscribe to spam.

Thanks, tagalaxy.net. I will remember that. In the meantime, though, how do I fight fire with fire? I want to go after these #%^*@?/$>\ clowns. How can I report them?

Vito

Originally posted by vito
Thanks, tagalaxy.net. I will remember that. In the meantime, though, how do I fight fire with fire? I want to go after these #%^*@?/$>\ clowns. How can I report them?
I don't think it will make much difference, honestly. Most of these are faked email addresses, and sent from (or promoting) ISP's outside the US. Many could care less if you complain. You can spend hours every day tracking down and reporting these idiots, but the amount of junk mail will just increase anyway. There's always another spammer.

You said you get 50 or so a day? I had enabled the catch-all address for one of my domains for about 6 hours the other day. When I checked the webmail folder before re-enabling the block, there were 236 messages in there.

You can set up forwards for email addresses you want to get mail at (IE: info@, sales@, etc.). You should then set a forward for the default POP account to :fail: or :blackhole:. This will take mail that isn't addressed specifically to those other forwards and trash it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't report these if you want, but in the end it's like shovelling against the tide. You can't win.

Good idea. I'll try the blackhole route. It'll at least eliminate the ones that are to directed to my actual addresses.

I wish I knew a way to set up an automated system whereby I could send them 1000 return emails for every one they send me...

Vito

I get about... 10 a day :( I block the address but it's no use :(

You could also try something like MailWasher (www.mailwasher.net) that lets you blacklist spammers and send specially crafted bounce messages to them. Most usually get the message after a while and remove you.

There are some tools that will remove spam from you inbox, but they are not 100% faul proof, hence they someties remove mail that was directed to you (because f.e. someone used to many "spam keywords" in his subject line) ...

Well,

I've gottn spam in some of my accounts,and most of them,when you click the unsubscribe link,ITS INVALID!!! Theres no way to unsubscribe :angry: :angry: :angry:

The best thing to do is use the BLOCK FEATURE and block thier domain *@whatever.* Thats the best way to do it....

The Dude :angry:

We pay for interent servie and still we get bombarded with spam,i tihnk its crap!! :angry:

Originally posted by mind21_98
You could also try something like MailWasher (www.mailwasher.net) that lets you blacklist spammers and send specially crafted bounce messages to them. Most usually get the message after a while and remove you.

Looks pretty good. I think I'll give it a try. Thanks for the link. :)

Vito

You can also check out who sent the email @whatever.com do a WHOIS on that domain name to see who is hosting them and send an email to host letting them know one of their clients is spamming from their servers. A reputible host should shut them down or at least warn them. That will work until they move to the next. I agree with what others said don't ever click on the remove link since that just lets them know that they have an active email address and your email address will be sold as an active address to other spammers. I also keep a couple throw way accounts on hotmail and yahoo for spam. I only get 1 or 2 per week on my "real" email address which I only give out to family, friends and known associates. On my web sites or online I use the throw away emails. Yahoo has a pretty a good spam filter so I don't see most spam and if spam makes it to your inbox you can click a "This is spam" link to report them to yahoo. My 2cents! :D

Originally posted by arpmn
...On my web sites or online I use the throw away emails. ...

Problem with that is it doesn't look very good if the contact email address on my business web site is a yahoo account...unless I misunderstood your point...

Vito

No your right Vito I only have personal websites I'm not a host but you're right webhost@yahoo.com wouldn't look very good. My advice was for people who have personal-hobby sites or for people who are at a site that is asking for an email address for whatever reason.

You might try this JavaScript:
http://javascript.internet.com/miscellaneous/no-spam-e-mail.html

Supposedly it will prevent email harvesting bots which search the net for email addresses from harvesting your address.

Well, it wouldn't be a bad idea to stop the bots from harvesting addresses off my sites. I know they already do it, because sometimes I'll suddenly get 6 identical spam emails sent to 6 different email addresses that I have listed on a particular site. So that's obviously how they do it.

But I followed your link and looked at the js code. It wants me to put some code in the <head> which is fine. But it also wants me to put the following into the body of every page:

<p><center>

<font face="arial, helvetica" size"-2">Free JavaScripts provided<br>
by <a href="http://javascriptsource.com">The JavaScript Source</a></font>
</center><p>

I'm not crazy about having to do that. I suppose I can just use the <head> code only, but I'd prefer to respect the wishes of the script author, so I think I'll have to pass.

Thanks for the suggestion anyways...

Vito

Originally posted by mind21_98
You could also try something like MailWasher (www.mailwasher.net) that lets you blacklist spammers and send specially crafted bounce messages to them. Most usually get the message after a while and remove you. Be careful using MailWasher to bounce. I've been using the newest version, and decided to try bouncing for a short while. The volume of junk actually *increased*. To test this, I began using a throw-away Hotmail account for the account's 'bounce address' (in the advanced bouncing tab). The very next day after doing this, I began receiving mail to the account. Within a week, it was a flood.
Best method IMHO, bounce junk once, and then edit the filter it creates to regular expression...works very well.

I wonder if these stupid idiotic people who use the messenger to spam people are aware you can block it simply by having a firewall in place (hehehehe -- Stops them dead cold)

The Dude :D

Originally posted by vito
I'm starting to think that clicking on the "unsubscribe" link does not unsubscribe me, but rather confirms that it's an active address, and then adds me to MORE lists.

Bottom line: I need someone to tell me how to report these jackasses to their ISPs/hosts/whoever. Anything to try to shut them down (or at least make their life hell).

Not that I want this to be my life's work. I'm not interested in being the next Charles Bronson of the Internet. BTW, is the domain spamvigilante.com taken??

Vito

There are some legitimate mail companies out there and they do Confirmed Opt-IN if they don't they should be considered Rogue.

NEVER Click a remove link, instead read the header of where it originated and where the site is being hosted thats being spammed and complain to them or Block them by IP/Domain complain to the tier1 if you dont know if the hosting company is a farse to hide their spamming.

Remove links generally are used to confirm email addresses and then to avoid legal issues may not be sent the same spam, but will be sold as a Confirmed Address.

I have worked in the Anti-Abuse area for some time and can tell you thats 100%

It would be cool if we could somehow fight fire with fire. Kind of like how Jim Florentine fights back with "Terrorizing Telemarketers". He really cracks me up - http://www.jimflorentine.com/ :emlaugh: :emlaugh: :D :D

Vito

Fight fire with fire.

Visit the spammers website get all the e-mail addresses the spammer uses then visit all the sign up for spam sites google can find and sign him up.

great taste of their own medicine

except the vast majority of spammers dont read their emails. thats why you dont get replies if you reply to them most of the time :P

We've started using ORDB.org and SPAMCOP and its reduced our spam as much as 90%. It was really starting to be problem.. now, I hardly notice it.

I've stopped clicking on the unsubscribe link. What I have done:

- Find the host, and email, call and fax the host to complain about the spammer. Works for me. This includes the host of the website promoted, the host of where the email was sent from, and any contact email included in the SPAM. If the contact email is a yahoo email address, report it to yahoo and they will promptly terminate the email account.

- Call the offending company and complain about the spam. If they laugh or hangup, keep calling and then hangup on them until they get annoyed. Best to do this randomly. Be sure to use *67 to block caller id. Beware: Depending on the laws in your state/county, this might be considered against the law under the "prank calls ordinance".

- If they have a fax, fax 20 black pages with the word SPAMMER written/typed in white (save these 20 pages as they can be used over and over again).

- If they have an address, forward all your junk mail to them. This can be accomplished by blacking out your address from the mail you receive and writing/print their address near the "TO" location on the piece of mail. The post office will usually forward the mail to one address free of charge.

I've done all of these and all tend to work....

Good stuff, akash. I'll have to try a few of those.

Vito

@ the server level, such as with exim, setup rbl blocking....spamcop, ordb.org etc...

even if you set to warn instead of deny, you can setup your spam monitor to throw the email in its basket (@ warn it will add its tag to the header), that way you can still retreive it later on...

Originally posted by akash
I've stopped clicking on the unsubscribe link. What I have done:
I didn't think anyone clicked on the "confirm this email address is an active email" [unsubscribe link]. :emlaugh: :D
- If they have a fax, fax 20 black pages with the word SPAMMER written/typed in white (save these 20 pages as they can be used over and over again).
Shouldn't that be in black ink to waste their printer or ink supply? Am I missing something here? :)

Bob,

You want it on black paper with white writing .. as the paper itself takes up more ink then the word spam ...

Shouldn't that be in black ink to waste their printer or ink supply? Am I missing something here?

the whole page except the text is in black. the word spammer should be centered on the page, 12 point font times new roman.

I feel your pain vito, I hate them @#$%@#!
Funny stuff there akash, I like it!
I like it when spammers have a live help on their site. Pretty fun to harass them back, asking them why they spam.

Lately I see supersize hosting is back at it.

Funny stuff there akash, I like it!

SPAM is a serious matter my friend. No funny business about it (or for you northerners: No funny business aboot it, eh?)

Check this out!

http://tinyurl.com/2ymx

And he even admits using harvested email addy's.

What a luser

i know EVERYONE hates spam , the problem is , people must be clicking these links , or visiting these sites , something for these people to keep spamming . I know it must become very costly to signup with different isps just to abuse there services . Now i know the majority of us could careless what these people send . I dont think we will ever be able to stop spam , but i think it would be better to educate people what exactly it is , once people stop using these spam services , spam will die to .

That's actually a really good point. If NOBODY responded or clicked through on the ads in their emails, I don't suppose they would keep sending them out, would they?

So who ARE these people who click through? Newbies, lonely people, and people who don't know any better, I suppose...

Vito

why do people always say slander on the internet , jesus people ....slander is something you say , not write , its called liable when you write it . Anyways , i was just reading that emarketing forum , and had to comment on that , i guess maybe i should have registered for there forum to say that , but... im to lazy , and i fear spam from any website that has the magic word "marketing" in it

I remember 1 time when i was getting spam from nb@national-brands.com it wouldnt stop.......I emailed them and asked them to stop sending me thier junk,etc........Still nothing.....

Finally,i blocked thier domain from emailing me,that worked for about 1 week!!! Then i got another spam

From: www.sss.com
Reply to:nb@national-brands.com

I was pissed to no end!!! I blocked that one,then a week later it happened again (W/a different addy in the From) So i clicked forward and i sent thier spam right back to them (nb@national-brands.com) and i clicked the send button about 80 times!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally i stopped getting thier crap (Must have finally gotton the point)

Some of these companies suck,and suck big they do........Who the hell do they think they are??????

The Dude :angry:

lible, not liable.

edit - actually, i think its spelt libel.