Партнёры:
Хостинг:
Archive-name: net-abuse-faq/spam-faq
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 20001127
URL: http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html
Greetings and Salutations:
This FAQ will help in deciphering which machine a fake e-Mail or post
came from, and who (generally or specifically) you should contact.
The three sections to this twelve portion FAQ (With apologies to
Douglas Adams :-)) :
o Introduction
o Tracing an e-mail message
o MAILING LIST messages
o Reporting Spam and tracing a posted message
o WWW IP Lookup URL's
o Converting that IP to a name
o What to do with "strange" looking Web links
o Getting a World Wide Web page busted
o A list of Usenet complaint addresses
o Fraud on the Internet and The MMF (Make Money Fast)
Posts
o Trying to catch the suspect still logged on
o Filtering E-Mail BlackMail, procmail or News with Gnus
o Rejecting E-Mail from domains that continue to Spam
o Misc. (Because I can't spell miscellaneous :-)) stuff
I couldn't think to put anywhere else.
o Origins of Spam
o How *did* I get this unsolicited e-mail anyway?
o How To Respond to Spam
o Firewalls and protecting your computer
o Revenge - What to do & not to do (mostly not)
o Telephoning someone
o Snail Mailing someone
o 1-900, 1-800, 888, 877 and 1-### may be expensive long distance
phone calls
o Junk Mail - The Law
o Additional Resources - Lots Of Links and a *really* good book
Introduction
============================================
Please feel free to repost this, e-mail it, put this FAQ on CD's or
any other media you can think of.
The latest & greatest version of the Spam FAQ is found at:
http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html
PLEASE email follow-ups, additions / changes to [email protected]
My news source is OK, but I sometimes miss items.
I accept all and any input. I consider myself to be the manager of
this FAQ for the good of everyone, not the absolute & controlling
Owner Of The FAQ. I do not always write in a completely coherent
manner. What makes sense to me may not make sense to others. If the
community wants something added or deleted, I will do so. I removed
any e-mail and last name references to someone making a suggestion /
addition. This is so that someone doesn't get upset at this FAQ and
do something stupid. If you don't mind having your e-mail in this FAQ
(or where it is required), please tell me and I will add it back in.
First off if you received a spam (Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail) there
is no "easy" way to get the spam stopped. Generally if you reply
(unsubscribe) all this does is confirm that your e-mail address is
"live" and just gets your e-mail address sold to other spammers. Spam
has to be delt with one at a time. Sorry, it isn't easy to stop the
spam. The "Internet" (the collective non-profit and profit entities
of the network) is trying to fix this problem but it is taking time.
Before trying to determine where the post or e-mail originated from,
you should realize that (just like the The National Enquirer
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/ or a logical argument from Canter and
Siegel) the message will have *some* amount of truth, but all or most
of the information may be forged. Be careful before accusing someone.
Commands used in this FAQ are UNIX & VMS commands. Sorry if they
don't work for you, you might wish to try looking around at your
commands to find an equivalent command (or I might be able to help out
some). There are programs for the Macintosh and Windows machines that
do the same thing the UNIX commands do, see the above URL's for where
to locate this software.
And no, I am not going to tell you how to post a fake message or fake
e-mail. It only took me about 2 days (a few hours a day) to figure it
out. It ain't difficult. RTFM (or more appropriately, Read The
@&%^@# RFC).
Every e-mail or post will have a point at which it was injected into
the information stream. E-mail will have a real computer from which
it was passed along. Likewise a post will have a news server that
started passing the post. You need to get cooperation of the
postmaster at the sites the message passed thru. Then you can get
information from the logs telling you what sites the message actually
passed thru, and where the message "looked" like it passed thru (but
actually didn't). Of course you do have to have the cooperation of
all the postmasters in a string of sites...
Tracing an e-mail message
============================================
To trace the e-mail you have to look at the header. Most mail readers
do not show the header because it contains information that is for
computer to computer routing. The information you usually see from
the header is the subject, date and the "From" / "Return" address.
About the only thing in an e-mail header that can't be faked is the
"Received" portion referencing your computer (the last received).
You will need to take a look at the headers on the message as follows
(Thanks to Michael, Piers and others) :
Claris E-Mailer - under Mail select Show Long Headers.
Eudora (before ver. 3) - Select Tools , Options... , then Fonts &
Display then Show all headers
Eudora (ver. 3.x, 4.x IBM or Macintosh) - Press the BLAH button on the
incoming mail message
HotMail - To expose the full message header, click "Options" on the
Hotmail Navigation Bar on the left side of the page. On the Options
page, click "Preferences." Scroll down to "Message Headers" and select
"Full."
For Lotus Notes 4.6.x - From the menu bar, select Actions, then
Delivery Information. Copy the information from the bottom box into
your e-mail report at the top of the spam.
For Lotus Notes R5 - From the menu bar, select Actions, then Tools,
then Delivery Information. Copy the information from the bottom box
into your e-mail report at the top of the spam.
MS Outlook - Double click on the email in your inbox. This will bring
the message into a window. Click on View - Options. You can also open
a message then choose File....Properties....Details.
MS Outlook Express - Alt-Enter, or Alt-F then R.
MS Outlook Express - More Detailed:
To look for, copy and send headers In Outlook Express
1- Press CTRL F3
2- Press CTRL A
3- Press CTRL C
4- Press Alt F4. (At this point the message is already
copied)
5- Open a new message. Right click and paste or select
Edit and paste.
Netscape 3 - In the Netscape Mail window, click View/Document Source.
Netscape 4.xx - Double click on the email in your inbox. Click on View
- Headers - All.
PINE - You have to turn on the header option in setup, then just hit
"h" to get headers.
Programs that do not comply with any Internet standards (like cc-Mail,
Beyond Mail, VAX VMS) throw away the headers. You will not be able to
get headers from these e-mail messages.
Aussie tells us that in Pegasus to view the full headers for each
message, use CTRL-H. This will show the full headers for the
particular message, but will not add them to any reply or forward. You
need to cut/paste the message into the reply/forward to send these
headers.
Richard tells us with Nettamer, a MS DOS based email and USENET group
reader you must save the message as an ASCII file, then the full
header will be displayed when you open the saved file with your
favorite ASCII editor.
At this point if you are "pushing the envelope" on your ability to
figure out how to get that complaint to the correct person, I would
suggest joining the Usenet group alt.spam or news.admin.net-
abuse.email and post the message with a title like "Please help me
decipher this header". Unfortunately there is no "single" place to
complain to about spam (or Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail). Complaints
have to be directed to the correct ISP (Internet Service Provider)
that the spam originated from. See the below section entitled
"Reporting spam".
URL's to help you figure out how to look at the headers:
http://www.concentric.net/~Nvam
http://www.rahul.net/falk/mailtrack.html
A little different description of headers:
http://help.mindspring.com/features/emailheaders/index.htm
http://help.mindspring.com/features/emailheaders/extended.htm
http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemaildeal.html - Another Header Analysis
http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers/headers.html - In depth header
analysis
There is spamming software that sends the e-mail directly to your
computer. This makes only one received line in the e-mail making your
life many times easier. The computer that is not your computer is the
spamming computer.
Also, please look through the body of the message for e-mail addresses
to reply to. Complain to the postmasters of those sites also (see
below for a list of complaint addresses).
Gregory tells us that assuming a reasonably standard and recent
sendmail setup, a Received line that looks like :
Received: from host1 (host2 [ww.xx.yy.zz]) by host3
(8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id MAA04298; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 12:18:06
-0600
shows four pieces of useful information (reading from back to front,
in order of decreasing reliability):
- The host that added the Received line (host3)
- The IP address of the incoming SMTP connection (ww.xx.yy.zz)
- The reverse-DNS lookup of that IP address (host2)
- The name the sender used in the SMTP HELO command when they
connected (host1).
Looking at the below we see 6 received lines. Received lines are like
links in a chain. The message is passed from one computer to the next
with no breaks in the chain. The received lines indicate that it
ended up at ddi.digital.net (my computer) from mail.bestnetpc.com. It
was received at mail.bestnetpc.com from unknown (HELO paul-s.-aiello)
([205.160.183.123]). The last three lines suggests that it was
received at in2.|bm.net from mh.tomsurl|.com and from
reb50.rs41|1date.net. Since none of these computers are in the first
two received lines then we can ignore these lines and every received
entry after this line (this UCE had 4 or 5 more faked Received lines
in it that were deleted for this example). We also know that these
lines are faked because no domain name has a "|" character in the
name. Domain names only have alphabetic or numeric characters in the
name.
Do not get confused by the "Received: from unknown" portion. The word
"unknown" can be *anything* and should be ignored, this is whatever
the spammer put in the SMTP HELO command when they connected to the
SMTP server.
Received: from mail.bestnetpc.com (IDENT:[email protected]
[205.160.183.3]) by ddi.digital.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id
CAA10768 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 26 Nov 1998 02:55:11 -0500
(EST)
Received: (qmail 25259 invoked from network); 26 Nov 1998 08:05:49 -
0000
Received: from unknown (HELO paul-s.-aiello) ([205.160.183.123]) by
mail.bestnetpc.com with SMTP; 26 Nov 1998 08:05:49 -0000
Received: (from uudp@lcl|lhost) by in2.|bm.net (8.6.9/8.6.9) id
CFF569794 for <suppressed>; Thursday, November 26, 1998
Received: from tomsurl|.com (mh.tomsurl|.com [100.257.57.69]) by
m4.tomsurl|.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id PAA21932 Thursday,
November 26, 1998
Received: from reb50.rs41|1date.net ([email protected]|1date.net
[256.36.1.176]) by tomsurl|.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id
PBA023891 for <suppressed>;
So we complain to whomever owns unknown (HELO paul-s.-aiello)
([205.160.183.123]). Make sure that you do a nslookup (or use
http://samspade.org/t/ , put the address in the section "address
digger", click on Whois IP block and Traceroute and click on "do
stuff") on the IP address's. I try to verify 205.160.183.123 is paul-
s.-aiello. Indeed paul-s.-aiello does not even exist and
205.160.183.123 does not resolve to a name when I do a NSLookup. Next
would be a traceroute. See further below for more in-depth tracking
on resolving an IP.
IP portion = 205.160.183.123
Traceroute 205.160.183.123 gives us:
Step Host IP
Find route from: 0.0.0.0 to: 205.160.183.123 (205.160.183.123), Max 30
hops, 40 byte packets
<snip>
13 acsi-sw-gw.customer.alter.net. (157.130.128.26 ): 235ms
14 atlant-ga-2.espire.net. (206.222.97.24 ): 272ms
15 206.222.104.37 (206.222.104.37 ): 279ms
16 orland-fl-1-a5-0.espire.net. (206.222.99.7 ): 362ms
17 iag.net.orland-fl-1.espire.net. (206.222.106.6 ): 195ms
18 d1.s0.gw.dayb.fl.iag.net. (207.30.70.38 ): 230ms
19 s0.gw.bestnetpc.net. (207.30.70.254 ): 231ms
20 * * *
21 205.160.183.123 (205.160.183.123): 372ms
See the traceroute section below for how to interpret the "*" (and
other codes) that are returned from a traceroute.
Note - if you see something like the following realize that the only
portion you can trust is within the "([" and the "])". The spammer
put in the (faked) portion "mail.zebra.net (209.12.13.2)" :
Received: from mail.zebra.net (209.12.13.2) ([209.12.69.42])
Kamiel tells us that you might also want to make sure that the IP is
not hosted by an intermediary site. Check it out at:
http://www.arin.net
You should complain to the abuse@ or postmaster@<Last Two or Three
words at the end of the name>. I would complain to [email protected] OR
[email protected] (but NOT both sites) since after looking below at the
list of complaint addresses in this FAQ there are no alternate
addresses for iag.net or espire.net. Unless it is a "major provider"
(someone in the below complaint list) I usually complain to the
upstream provider rather than risk the chance of complaining to the
spammer and being ignored. If you go too far up the chain, however,
it may take quite some time for the complaint to filter down to the
correct person.
Louise tells us that you are entitled to make an 'alleged' accusation
but to prevent yourself from being libel, prefix your statement with:-
"Without prejudice: I suspect you are the culprit of such and such."
The constitutional and legal boundary of 'Without prejudice' exempts
Politician's opinions being spoken publicly and this prefix is often
adopted by Solicitors (English) or Lawyers/Attorneys (USA).
I use :
abuse@XXXXX - Without prejudice I submit to you this Unsolicited
Commercial E-Mail is from your user XXXX. UCE is unappreciated
because it costs my provider (and ultimately myself) money to process
just like an unsolicited FAX. Please look into this. Thank you.
BE SURE to verify the IP address. Windows '95 machines place the name
of the machine as the "name" and place the real IP address after the
name, meaning a spammer can give a legitimate "name" of someone else
to get someone innocent in trouble. A spammer at cyberpromo changed
their SMTP HELO so that it claimed to be from Compuserve. The
Received line looked like the below, but a quick verification of the
IP address 208.9.65.20 showed it was indeed from cyberpromo :
Received: from dub-img-4.compuserve.com (cyberpromo.com [208.9.65.20])
by karpes.stu.rpi.edu
The below e-mail was passed to me thru a "mule" (un1.satlink.com
[200.9.212.3]). The Spammer hijacked an open SMTP port to reroute e-
mail to me:
Received: from un1.satlink.com (un1.satlink.com [200.9.212.3]) by
ddi.digital.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id GAA06372; Fri, 27 Nov
1998 06:53:20 -0500 (EST)
Received: from usa.net ([209.86.128.234]) by un1.satlink.com (Netscape
Messaging Server 3.54) with SMTP id AAT2FEA; Fri, 27 Nov 1998
08:46:07 -0200
A NSLookup on 209.86.128.234 resolves to
user38ld07a.dialup.mindspring.com, so after I complain to
mindspring.com I also send the postmaster of the open SMTP port the
following :
postmaster@XXXXX - Your SMTP mail server XXXXX was used as a mule to
pass (and waste your system resources) this e-mail on to me. You can
stop your SMTP port from allowing rerouting of e-mail back outside of
your domain if you wish to. FYI only. Info on how to block your
server, see:
http://maps.vix.com/tsi/
http://mail-abuse.org/rbl/usage.html
http://samspade.org/t/
http://www.abuse.net/relay.html - Test for server vulnerability
There are some systems that "claim" to "cloak" e-mail. It is not
true. If you receive one that looks like the following :
Received: from relay4.ispam.net (root@[207.124.161.39]) by
ddi.digital.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id KAA28969 for
<[email protected]>; Thu, 26 Jun 1997 10:41:46 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from --- CLOAKED! ---
or
Received: from cerberus.njsmu.com ([204.142.120.2]) by ddi.digital.net
(8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id HAA06250 for <[email protected]>; Mon,
25 Jan 1999 07:11:18 -0500 (EST)
From: [email protected]
Received: from The.sender.of.this.untracable.email.used.MAILGOD.by.IMI
It is still broken down as follows :
- The route the e-mail took originated from one of the systems above
the line marked "cloaked" or the line "untraceable" (in fact this
makes it even easier to trace). There is no magic to it. Complain to
that provider. If you get no response from the site that spammed, you
should ask your provider to no longer allow the above site
[207.124.161.39] to connect to your system.
It has been kindly pointed out to me that there is a "feature" (read
"bug") in the UNIX mail spool wherein the person e-mailing you a
message can append a "message" (with the headers) to the end of their
message. It makes the mail reader think you have 2 messages when the
joker that sent the original message only sent one message (with a
fake message appended). If the headers look *really* screwy, you
might look at the message before the screwy message and consider if it
may not be a "joke" message.
There are also IBM mainframes and misconfigured Sun Sendmail machines
(SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) that do not include the machine that they received
the SMTP traffic from. You have to route the message (with headers)
back to the postmaster at that system and ask them to tell you what
the IP of the machine is that hooked into their system for that
message.
An example of a Microsoft Exchange server that the "HELO" transaction
is taken as the "From" portion (and is completely false) :
Received: from dpi.dpi-conseil.fr (dpi.dpi-conseil.fr [195.115.136.1])
by ddi.digital.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA06614 for
<[email protected]>; Thu, 26 Aug 1999 10:51:31 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from FIREWALL ([192.168.0.254]) by dpi.dpi-conseil.fr with
SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2448.0)
id QW11TJV1; Thu, 26 Aug 1999 16:44:38 +0200
It has also been pointed out that someone on your server can telnet
back to the mail port and send you mail. This also makes the forgery
virtually untraceable by you, but as always your admin should be able
to catch the telnet back to the server. If they telnet to a foreign
SMTP server and then use the "name" of a user on that system, it may
appear to you that the message came from that user. Be very careful
when making assumptions about where the e-mail came from.
Note for AOL users when looking at headers:
If you get double headers at the end of a message (like the below) the
spammer has tacked on a extra set of headers to confuse the issue.
Ignore everything except the last set of headers. These are the
*real* headers.
------------------ Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from rly-za05.mx.aol.com (rly-za05.mail.aol.com
[172.31.36.101]) byair-za04.mail.aol.com (v51.16) with SMTP; Mon, 16
Nov 1998 19:16:02 1900
Received: from mailb.telia.com (mailb.telia.com [194.22.194.6]) by
rly-za05.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id TAA05189;
Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:15:53 -0500 (EST)
From: [email protected]
Received: from signal.dk ([194.255.7.40]) by mailb.telia.com
(8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id BAA14174; Tue, 17 Nov 1998 01:15:50 +0100
(CET)
Received: from 194.255.7.40 by signal.dk
viaSMTP(950413.SGI.8.6.12/940406.SGI.AUTO) id AAA28586; Tue, 17 Nov
1998 00:53:13 +0100
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 98 18:27:19 EST
To: [email protected]
Subject: ATTENTION SMOKERS - QUIT SMOKING IN JUST 7 DAYS
Reply-To: [email protected]
------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from rly-yd04.mx.aol.com (rly-yd04.mail.aol.com
[172.18.150.4]) by air-yd02.mx.aol.com (v56.14) with SMTP; Mon, 11 Jan
1999 23:54:48 -0500
Received: from phone.net ([207.18.137.42])
by rly-yd04.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with SMTP id XAA01327;
Mon, 11 Jan 1999 23:51:03 -0500 (EST)
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 20:54:19 -0600
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: Life insurance, do you have it?
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
MAILING LIST messages
========================================
Stephanie kindly defines MAILING LIST versus LISTSERVER :
A MAILING LIST is a type of email distribution in which email is sent
to a fixed site which holds a list of email recipients and mail is
distributed to those recipients automatically (or through a
moderator).
A LISTSERVER is a software program designed to manage one or more
mailing lists. One of the more popular packages is named "LISTSERV".
Besides Listserv, other popular packages include Listproc which is a
Unix Listserv clone (Listservs originated on BITNET), Majordomo and
Mailserve. Most importantly -- not all mailing lists run on
listservers, there are many mailing lists that are manually managed.
You may hear of mailing lists being referred to as many things, some
strange, some which on the surface make sense, like "email discussion
groups". But this isn't accurate either, since not all mailing lists
are set up for discussion.
Istvan suggests "Majordomo software is remarkably funny about headers.
It does not like headers which contain anything odd. All messages the
software receives which do not conform to its rigorous standards are
simply forwarded to the list moderator. It turns out this feature is
effective at stopping between 80 and 90% of spam actually getting to
the list."
Kirk tells us that you can set majordomo up so that new subscribers
have to reply to a subscribe request, thus verifying the address is
legit. Additionally the lists can be configured so that only
subscribers can post. And finally you can put filters on content.
I've got the list I manage configured to reject multipart email and
email which contains html.
Richard mentions "Listserv can be configured to restrict non-members
from sending to a list and can restrict spam based on the headers
similar to Majordomo. I've used both of these features successfully.
You can read more about Listserv capabilities, if you are interested,
at:
http://www.lsoft.com/listserv.stm
http://www.lsoft.com/spamorama.html#FILTER (info on its spam
filter)
I suspect that Listserv's spam filter may be better than Majordomo's
(but I've not managed any Majordomo lists)."
Example Header appears below:
Received: from dir.bham.ac.uk (dir.bham.ac.uk [147.188.128.25]) by
gol1.gol.com (8.7.5/8.6.9) with SMTP id GAA27292 for <[email protected]>;
Sun, 5 May 1996 06:31:15 +0900 (JST)
Received: from bham.ac.uk by dir.bham.ac.uk with SMTP (PP) using DNS
id <[email protected]>; Sat, 4 May 1996 20:56:49 +0100
Received: from emout09.mail.aol.com (actually emout09.mx.aol.com) by
bham.ac.uk with SMTP (PP); Sat, 4 May 1996 21:13:03 +0100
Received: by emout09.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id PAA29156; Sat, 4
May 1996 15:35:53 -0400
Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 15:35:53 -0400
From: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: CRaZy Complimentary Offer........
This is a post from Kevin Lipsitz for his "===>> FREE 1 yr. USA
Magazine Subscriptions". The latest information indicates that the
state of New York has told him he should stop abusing the Internet for
a while ... lets hope it is forever. In relation to the Internet he
makes a slimy used car salesman look like a saint.
For more info about "Krazy Kevin" or the Magazine Spam , Tony tells us
the page "Stop Spam!" is available in html format at:
http://www.iac.co.jp/~issho/stop-spam.html
But as David reminds us, There are a million Kevin J. Lipsitz's out
there. All selling magazines, Amway, vitamins, phone service, etc.
All the losers who want to get rich quick, but can't start their own
business.
Like :
http://com.primenet.com/spamking/
That having been said, e-mail from a Listserve can usually be broken
down the same way as "normal" e-mail headers. There are just more
waypoints along the way. As you can see from the above, the e-mail
originated from :
emout09.mail.aol.com
You might with to also direct the listserve owner to look at & ask
questions in news.admin.net-abuse.misc about how to keep spam off the
listserve. It probably won't be all that difficult of a thing to do.
Reporting Spam and tracing a posted message
============================================
If someone posts a message with your e-mail in the From: or Reply-To:
field, it can (and will if you request) be canceled. Please repost
the message to news.admin.net-abuse.misc WITH THE HEADERS (or it will
probably be ignored) so that the message cam be canceled (the message-
id is the most important) with a suggested subject of the following:
Subject: FORGERY <Subject from the Spam message>
Or you can look at the Cancel FAQ at :
http://www.ews.uiuc.edu/~tskirvin/faqs/cancel.html
Try to make sure that the message has not already been posted to
news.admin.net-abuse.misc, news.admin.net-abuse.email or
news.admin.net-abuse.usenet and that it is less than 4 or 5 days old.
Chris reminds us that yes, there are a lot of annoying, off-topic and
stupid postings out there. But that doesn't make it spam. _Really_.
All we're concerned with is _volume_. Don't report any potential
spams unless you see at least two copies in at least 4 groups. The
content is irrelevant. Spam canceling cannot be by content.
For off topic posts, see http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html
The first thing to do is to post the ENTIRE message (PLEASE put the
header in or it will probably be ignored) to the newsgroup
news.admin.net-abuse.misc. Do not reply or post it back to the
original group. A suggested subject is one of the following:
Subject: EMP <Subject from the Spam message>
Subject: ECP <Subject from the Spam message>
Subject: UCE <Subject from the Spam message>
Subject: SEX <Subject from the Spam message>
Please include the original Subject: from the original Spam so that it
can easily be spotted. Thank you.
Take a careful look at the header, if there are "curious characters"
(characters that look like garbage) in the X-Mailer: line, or any
other line in the header, then delete those characters otherwise the
message may end up truncated. The offending line consists of the
EIGHT characters D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1 (in hex).
If the post is particularly amusing (Spammer threat or a postmaster
threat), put C&C in the subject. Seymour tells us it means Coffee and
cats. This originated from a post claiming that a particular
outrageous article had caused spewing of coffee into the keyboard and
jumping while holding a cat, resulting in scratched thighs.
An Excessive Multiple Post (EMP) may exceed the spam threshold and may
be canceled. An Excessive Cross Post (ECP) may not be canceled
because it hasn't reached the threshold. A UCE is for Unsolicited
Commercial Email, SEX is for off-topic sex-ad postings.
Make Money Fast message is immediately cancelable and are usually
canceled already by others, so please do not report MMF posts. See
MMF section below.
Tracing a fake post is probably easier than a fake e-mail because of
some posting peculiarities. You just have to save and look at a few
"normal" posts to try to spot peculiarities. Most people are not
energetic to go to the lengths of the below, but you never know.
Dan reminds us that first you should gather the same post from
*several* different sites (get your friends to mail the posts to you)
and look at the "Path" line. Somewhere it should "branch". If there
is a portion that is common to all posts, then the "actual" posting
computer is (most likely) in that portion of the path. That should be
the starting postmaster to contact. Be sure to do this expeditiously
because the log files that help to trace these posts may be deleted
daily.
If you *really* want to see some fake posts, look in alt.test or in
the alt.binaries.warez.* groups.
A fake post:
Path:
...!news.sprintlink.net!in2.uu.net!news.net99.net!news!s46.phxslip4.in
direct.com!vac
From: [email protected](Female User)
Subject: Femdom In Search of Naughty Boys
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected](Female User)
Nntp-Posting-Host: s46.phxslip4.indirect.com
Organization: Internet Direct, Inc.
X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows[Version 1.0 Rev B final beta #1]
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 01:59:38 GMT
Approved: [email protected]
Lines: 13
This poor lady (Name deleted by suggestion) was abused by someone for
a couple of days in an epic spam. Many messages were gathered. The
message ID was different for several messages. But several anomalies
showed an inept poster.
The headers were screwed up, and when looking at a selection of
messages from several sites, the central site was news.net99.net,
where goodnet.com gets / injects news at. This lead to the conclusion
that either goodnet.com or news.net99.net should be contacted to see
who the original spammer was. I never heard the results of this, but
the spamming eventually stopped.
You can try looking at sites & see if they have that message by :
telnet s46.phxslip4.indirect.com 119
Connected to s46.phxslip4.indirect.com.
200 s46.phxslip4.indirect.com InterNetNews server INN 1.4 22-Dec-93
ready
head <[email protected]>
430
Message was not found at that site, so it did not go thru that
computer, or the article has already expired or been deleted off of
that news reader.
If you wish to track a particular phrase, user-id (whatever) take a
look at the URL for getting all the posts pertaining to "X" :
http://www.deja.com/
http://www.altavista.com/
WWW IP Lookup URL's
=============================
http://samspade.org/t/ - My personal favorite. All the tools on one
page.
http://www.amnesi.com/hostinfo/ipinfo.jhtml - Reverse lookup
http://cities.lk.net/trlist.html - Traceroute Lists by States and
Backbone Maps List
http://www.net.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/netops.cgi - Traceroute and ping
Note : Studio42 lists its blocked users as: "All UU.Net dial-ups, thus
most MSN subscribers and a percentage of Earthlink users."
http://www.studio42.com/cgi-spam/nph-traceroute.pl - Traceroute
http://www.studio42.com/cgi-spam/nph-nslookup.pl - NSLookup
http://www.studio42.com/cgi-spam/nph-dig.pl - Dig
Index to Traceroute pages:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Communications_and_Network
ing/Software/Networking/Utilities/Traceroute/
http://www.traceroute.org/
http://boardwatch.internet.com/traceroute.html - Traceroute Server
Index
SWITCH WHOIS Gateway:
http://www.switch.ch/search/whois_form.html
Or
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois
http://www.ripe.net/db/whois.html - European countries WhoIs
http://www.apnic.net/apnic-bin/whois.pl - Asian Pacific WhoIs
whois.nic.or.kr - Korean Whois
http://www.arin.net/whois/arinwhois.html - North / South America WhoIs
http://mjhb.marina-del-rey.ca.us/cgi-bin/ipw.pl - Whois
IP to Lat - Lon (For those times when only a Tactical Nuke will do ;-
)) :
http://cello.cs.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/slamm/ip2ll/
Yet Another IP to name:
http://cello.cs.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/slamm/ip2name
What do those domain names mean :
http://www.alldomains.com/alltlds.html
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/wwwstat/country-codes.txt - Country
Codes for the last characters in a domain name
http://x.deja.com/article/660567270 - Badly Formed DNS article
Converting that IP to a name
=============================
When all you have is a number the looks like "204.183.126.181", and no
computer name, then you have to figure out what the name of that
computer is. Most likely if you complain to "
postmaster@[204.183.126.181] " it will go directly to the spammer
themselves (if it goes anywhere at all).
If nothing else works, you might wish to go ahead and send a complaint
to [email protected]. Ina tells us that the reason for this
is "that we've seen that forged DNS-records will mislead the
complainer. I've seen this done from time to time, and though not
common yet, it probably will become so."
Marty reminds us that there are some "special" IP's that are allocated
as private networks. These fall within the confines of 0.0.0.0 to
255.255.255.255 but should be ignored. The addresses are :
Class Start Address End Address
A 10.0.0.0 10.255.255.255
B 172.16.0.0 172.31.255.255
C 192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255
D 224.0.0.0 239.255.255.255 - Multicast
E 240.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 - Multicast
And the "special" addresses:
127.0.0.0/8 (Loopback address)
See :
http://www.umnet.umich.edu/groups/UMnet-
Routing/UAssignedPrivateIP.html
First off try using NSLookup (there is software for PC's, I use
http://samspade.org/t/ , put the address in the section "address
digger", click on Whois IP block and Traceroute and click on "do
stuff" or look at the URL's at the bottom of this FAQ). If the
NSLookup does not give you a name then try a Traceroute. Somewhere
you will get a "name" and at that point I would complain to the
postmaster@<that name>. See below for complaint addresses.
What to do with "strange" looking Web links
===========================================
To convert that decimal number to a "dotted quad octet" :
http://3438189385/yt/rotten1/
You can put this "strange" number in at any of the following :
http://samspade.org/t/
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ipconverter
http://www.isit.nl/cgi-bin/isitbv/ip.cgi
http://www.netdemon.net/ - Automatic url decoder built in for Windows
95.
And you get an answer like:
204.238.155.73
You can try the "strange" number at :
http://www.abuse.net/cgi-bin/unpackit
Kirk tells us wsftp and the traceroute that comes with wsftp will take
those number and automatically translate them into the IP addresses.
Or under Widows 95 :
start --> Programs --> Accessories --> Calculator
Choose view --> Scientific
Put in the "strange" number (3438189385) and click on HEX. You get:
CCEE9B49
Then type in each of the two characters in HEX and click DEC after
each number:
CC = 204
EE = 238
9B = 155
49 = 73
Viola ... Your IP is 204.238.155.73
For more general funny URLs, like
http://23123443~32:3758493879/www.samspade.org/10.00.0.1/xxxstuff.html
, try http://samspade.org/t/url.cgi?x
If you get a strange URL like:
http://www.nt.dahouc.mx^T^B^T^E^T.com|net.fr^B^E^T^B^T^E^T^T.ooooooooo
ooooooooo.com:80/nt/dahouchy/
Where the ^B = Control "B", ^T = Control "T", etc. you can look at the
very end right before the first "/" to figure out what the site is, on
this case it is oooooooooooooooooo.com, using port 80. The rest of it
is "decoded" by oooooooooooooooooo.com to give the "real" site name.
For MS Windows the program at http://www.netdemon.net will decode
these with ease.
If the site is a IP address like "198.41.0.5", you can do a DNS lookup
to backtrack the site. A DNS lookup or a host command (see example
below) uses the info in a Domain Name Server database. This is the
same info that is used for packet routing. The UNIX command is :
nslookup 198.41.0.5
Commands:
nslookup hostname dns_server
or
dig @dns_server hostname
And you get :
Name: whois.arin.net
Addresses: 198.41.0.5, 198.41.0.6
If you are having problems with this, Josh suggests you try :
$ nslookup
Default Server: ddi.digital.net
Address: 198.69.104.2
> set type=ptr
> 181.126.183.204.in-addr.arpa
Server: ddi.digital.net
Address: 198.69.104.2
Non-authoritative answer:
181.126.183.204.in-addr.arpa name = kjl.com
Authoritative answers can be found from:
126.183.204.IN-ADDR.ARPA nameserver = escape.com
126.183.204.IN-ADDR.ARPA nameserver = ns.uu.net
escape.com Internet address = 198.6.71.10
ns.uu.net Internet address = 137.39.1.3
Looking up IP address ownership
InterNIC is your friend. The InterNIC Registration Services Host
contains ONLY Internet Information (Networks, ASN's, Domains, and
POC's). Please use the whois server at nic.ddn.mil for MILNET
Information. Try :
Bruce tells us that there are three places where you can lookup an IP
address, being the current trinity of Regional Internet Registries.
These RIRs are:
Asia and Pacific Rim: APNIC - Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
whois.apnic.net
http://www.apnic.net/apnic-bin/whois.pl
Americas and parts of Africa: ARIN - American Registry for Internet
Numbers
whois.arin.net
http://www.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl
Europe and Surrounding Areas: RIPE NCC - RИseaux IP EuropИens,
Network Coordination Centre
whois.ripe.net
http://www.ripe.net/db/whois.html
Under Unix, you can use:
whois -h whois.arin.net 198.41.0.5
or
whois -h whois.apnic.net 198.41.0.5
or
whois -h whois.ripe.net 198.41.0.5
Each of the above three RIRs may refer to one of the other RIRs.
Please do not send complaints to any of the RIRs as they merely
provide contact information, and are not related in any way to the
possible spammers.
Dan has said that the NIC technical contact is the address to contact
if there is a technical problem with the name service records for that
domain. Sending spam notifications to the zone tech contact is an
abuse of the NIC whois records. Sending to the admin contact is
marginally more justifiable, but should only be used after postmaster
and abuse address has been tried. Sending a complaint to all of the
intermediate sites in a traceroute should *not* be done, these sites
in all likelyhood cannot do anything about the problem (with the
exception of possibly the next to last site).
For domains that have invalid contact information you should contact
the appropriate RIR (see above)
To see who the upstream provider is, try :
traceroute ip30.abq-dialin.hollyberry.com
You might get :
traceroute to IP30.ABQ-DIALIN.HOLLYBERRY.COM (165.247.201.30), 30 hops
max, 38 byte packets
1 cpe2.Washington.mci.net (192.41.177.181) 190 ms 210 ms 120 ms
2 borderx1-hssi2-0.Washington.mci.net (204.70.74.101) 100 ms 100
ms 60 ms
3 core-fddi-0.Washington.mci.net (204.70.2.1) 180 ms 130 ms 70 ms
4 core1-hssi-4.LosAngeles.mci.net (204.70.1.177) 150 ms 140 ms
150 ms
5 core-hssi-4.Bloomington.mci.net (204.70.1.142) 180 ms 200 ms
180 ms
6 border1-fddi-0.Bloomington.mci.net (204.70.2.130) 170 ms 290 ms
240 ms
7 internet-direct.Bloomington.mci.net (204.70.48.30) 300 ms 210 ms
270 ms
8 165.247.70.1 (165.247.70.1) 180 ms 240 ms 180 ms
9 abq-phx-gw1.indirect.com (165.247.202.253) 290 ms 220 ms 230 ms
10 * * *
The first column is the "hop" that traceroute is working on. The next
is the "computer" (and IP) of the computer at that hop. The last
three numbers are the milliseconds it took to get an answer from that
computer.
You can get "codes" instead of the milliseconds. An example of a
"code" is the "* * *" for hop 10.
Here is a list of the codes:
? Unknown packet type.
H Host unreachable.
N Network unreachable.
P Protocol unreachable.
Q Source quench.
U Port unreachable.
* The Traceroute Packet timed out (did not return to you).
Chris clarifies that a '*' in actuality could be caused by a timeout
OR something listening on the UDP ports traceroute uses to get it's
port unreachables back from, to work, OR the router simply does not
support ICMP/UDP unreachable ports and traceroute cannot determine
it's status so it displays asterisks.
Humm..... Seems that after abq-phx-gw1.indirect.com we get no
response, so *that* is who I would complain to... or you can just send
a message to [email protected] ... If that doesn't work then
complain to MCI.net.
JamBreaker sez : Be sure to let the traceroute go until the traceroute
stops after 30 hops or so. A reply of "* * *" doesn't mean that
you've got the right destination; it just means that either the
gateways don't send ICMP "time exceeded" messages or that they send
them with a ttl (time-to-live) too small to reach you.
Try 'dig' (or one of its derivatives), it is used to search DNS
records :
(For the software :
http://www.rediris.es/ftp/infoiris/red/ip/dns/dig-2.0/ )
yourhost> dig -x 38.11.185.89
; <<>> dig 2.0 <<>> -x
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY , status: NOERROR, id: 6
;; flags: qr aa rd ra ; Ques: 1, Ans: 1, Auth: 3, Addit: 3
;; QUESTIONS:
;; 89.185.11.38.in-addr.arpa, type = ANY, class = IN
;; ANSWERS:
89.185.11.38.in-addr.arpa. 86400 PTR
ip89.albuquerque.nm.interramp.com.
;; AUTHORITY RECORDS:
11.38.in-addr.arpa. 86400 NS ns.psi.net.
11.38.in-addr.arpa. 86400 NS ns2.psi.net.
11.38.in-addr.arpa. 86400 NS ns5.psi.net.
;; ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
ns.psi.net. 86400 A 192.33.4.10
ns2.psi.net. 86400 A 38.8.50.2
ns5.psi.net. 86400 A 38.8.5.2
;; Sent 1 pkts, answer found in time: 64 msec
;; FROM: (yourhostname) to SERVER: default -- (yourDNSip)
;; WHEN: Thu Nov 16 23:30:42 1995
;; MSG SIZE sent: 43 rcvd: 216
Getting a World Wide Web page busted
====================================
Many spammers use throw away accounts, accounts that they know will be
deleted as soon as the service gets a complaint. Of course the
spammers mentality is "if it is free it is for me to abuse". If the
spammer really annoyed you then you might wish to dig and get every
account possible deleted. What you need to do is actually go to the
WWW page that they advertise, look at the page and usually the page
will redirect you to another site (or possibly redirect 2 or 3 times).
Send a complaint to these sites (with the original spam). It is
important to explain to the site you are complaining to how you got to
their site so that they don't ignore you.
In Netscape and Explorer there is an option to "view source". This
will pop up a page with all of the http source from the page. This
page will have all of the "links" to the next site.
If you look at the http source and it is unreadable (and sez
"Haywyre"), take a look at :
http://www.netdemon.net/haywyre/
A list of Usenet complaint addresses
============================================
O.K... So you have a common site that you can complain to. Good. If
you cannot figure out where the message came from, you can post the
FULL HEADERS (this is *very* important for tracing) to alt.spam,
news.admin.net-abuse.misc, news.admin.net-abuse.email or
news.admin.net-abuse.usenet (see the section entitled Reporting Spam
and tracing a posted message). Usually you can get someone to help
with the message.
If you complain (or asked to be removed) to the spammer directly, you
may just be confirming a "real" live e-mail address, which may lead to
even more junk e-mail. I would suggest complaining to the owner of
the site only. You can send e-mail to [email protected] (where
foo.bar.com is the provider you are complaining to) and it will get
forwarded to the "best" e-mail address.. See http://www.abuse.net/
There is a list of admins to contact (besides the list contained
here):
http://www-fofa.concordia.ca/spam/complaints.shtml
Greg reminds us that if you are complaining to a postmaster about a
week-old post, don't bother. It's not on their server, they can't
verify it. Make sure you use terms correctly. A recent trend is to
call any off-topic post "spam". It's not. I deal with spammers and
off-topic or advertising posters differently. Other providers do
also. Also, try to keep the clutter in your complaints down. I don't
need a copy of the referenced RFC or statute. It doesn't help either
of us if I can't find your complaint in between all the mumbo jumbo.
Send complaint with FULL HEADERS in e-mail to any or all of the below
:
[email protected]
[email protected]
The following providers have now created an "abuse" address, so I have
listed them to shorten the FAQ. Just send an address to abuse@<the
provider listed> for a complaint, i.e [email protected] :
2die4.com, ABAC.COM - http://www.abac.com/use.html , Above.Net -
http://www.above.net/images/aug.pdf , academics.net -
http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , Access1.net, accountant.com,
adexec.com, africamail.com, AGIS.NET, Airnet.net, ALABANZA.COM,
Alladvantage.com, allergist.com, Alltel.net, Aloha.Net,
Altavistausa.com, alumnidirector.com, Ameritech.net, ANV.NET -
http://www.accessnv.com , APEXMAIL.COM, Appliedtheory.net,
archaeologist.com, arcticmail.com, Arizonaone.com, artlover.com,
asia.com, ASR.net, Atlantic.Net -
http://www.atlantic.net/company_info/acceptable.htm ,
australiamail.com, Autonet.net, AXS.net, Bayoucom.net,
Bellatlantic.net, Bellglobal.com, Bellsouth, berlin.com, Best.com,
Bigger.net, Bigpond.com, bikerider.com, Boo.net, Bright.net, BT.net,
Buzzlink.com, Cableinet.net, Cais.net -
http://www.cais.com/comp_aup.htm , catlover.com, Centurytel.net -
http://www.centurytel.net/terms.html , CERF.net -
http://www.ipservices.att.com/policy.html , Cetlink.net -
http://www.cetlink.net/cetlink/terms.html , cheerful.com, chemist.com,
CJB.net, Clara.net - http://www.clara.net/aup.html , clara.net -
http://www.clara.net/aup.html , Clear.net.nz, clerk.com,
cliffhanger.com, Clover.Net, CNX.NET, coam.net, columnist.com,
Combase.COM, comic.com, Compuweb.com, Concentric.net -
http://home.concentric.net/support/tos.html -
http://home.concentric.net/support/faq/general/aup.html ,
Connect.ab.ca, Connect.com.au -
http://info.connect.com.au/docs/legalese/acceptuse.html ,
Connectnet.com - http://support.cp.net/AUP/ , consultant.com,
counsellor.com, CriticalPath.net, cutey.com, CWI.NET -
http://www.cwix.net/business_solutions/internet/aup.html ,
Cyberlynk.net - http://www.cyberlynk.net/policies.html ,
Cyberthrill.com - http://www.cyberthrill.com/antispam.html ,
deliveryman.com, Demon.net - http://www.demon.net/connect/aup/ ,
Dencity.com - http://www.dencity.com/terms/ , Digiweb.com,
diplomats.com, dN.NET - http://www.dn.net/aup , doctor.com,
doglover.com, dr.com, dublin.com, EasyStreet.com, Eclipse.net,
efortress.com, engineer.com, ENI.net -
http://www.eni.net/Our_Network/aup.html , Erols.com, Espire.net -
[email protected] - http://www2.espire.net/aup498.cfm , europe.com,
evcom.net - http://www.evcom.net/services/access/acceptab.htm ,
execpc.com, execs.com, Execulink.com, Exodus.net -
http://www.exodus.net/corp/about/antispam.html /
http://www.exodus.net/about_us/policies.html#online , Fastpoint.net,
financier.com, Flashmail.com, FLIPS.NET -
http://www.flips.net/terms.html / http://www.flips.net/spamnote.htm ,
Forfree.at - http://forfree.at/registration/ , Fortunecity.com,
Freecybercity.com, Freenet.carleton.ca, freeserve.net -
http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , Freeservers.com -
http://WWW.FREESERVERS.COM/policies/abuse.html , Freestation.com,
Freeuk.com - http://www.freeuk.com/support/terms.html , Freeyellow.com
- http://home.freeyellow.com/tos/ , Fuse Internet Access -
http://www.fuse.net/service/account/ca.html , gardener.com, Gate.net,
Geocities.com - http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/geoterms.html ,
geologist.com, Globalcenter.net - http://www.globalcenter.net/aup/ ,
Globix.net, GMX.net, Golden.net - http://welcome.golden.net/aup.shtml
- $200 cleanup fee !!!, goodnet.com, Gotoworld.com, graphic-
designer.com, greatxscape.com - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net ,
Gridnet.com, GSTIS.NET, GXN.NET, hairdresser.net, HiSpeed.com -
http://hispeed.com/about/policies.shtml , HK.Super.NET -
http://www.hk.super.net/email-aup , HKnet.com -
http://www.hknet.com/iPage/policy.html , Home.net / Home.com -
http://www.home.net/aup , Homepage.com / Homepagecorp.com,
Homestead.com, hot-shot.com, HotPOP.com, HSACorp.net, IBM.net -
http://help.ibm.net/service/abuse.html , IDT.Net -
http://www.idt.net/usage , IMPSAT.NET.AR, IMSIS.COM, india.com,
Infi.net - http://www.infi.net/policy.html , InfoAve.Net, inorbit.com,
insurer.com, Interaccess.com, Intergate.bc.ca -
http://www.intergate.ca/personal/icsa.htm , Interland.net,
Intermedia.com - http://www.intermedia.com/aup , internetprimus.net -
http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , interramp.com, INVISIO.COM,
Island.net, istar.ca, japan.com, journalist.com, JPS.net -
http://www.jps.net/support/spam , junglelink.net - AUP
http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , lawyer.com, legislator.com,
Level3.com -
http://www.level3.com/services/inter_acc_acceptableuse.html ,
Lietome.com, LIGHTNING.NET - http://www.lightning.net/support/AUP.html
, LN.NET, lobbyist.com, london.com, loveable.com, mad.scientist.com,
madrid.com, mail.com, Mediacity.com, MediaOne.com, Micron.net -
http://www.micron.net/subtlbx/acc_use.html#policy , MicroServe.net -
http://www.microserve.net/aup / http://www.naispa.org/aup ,
milehigh.net, minister.com, ML.org, Monisys.ca, Monmouth.com,
moscowmail.com, msn.com - http://www.msn.com/aup.htm , munich.com,
musician.org, myezmail.com, myfreeoffice.com, myself.com,
NameSecure.com, nashville.com, NaviNet.net -
http://www.navinet.net/aup.html , neta.com - http://www.neta.com /
http://www.getnet.com , Netcom.ca, Netfirms.com, Netforward.com,
Netins.net, Netins.net, NETSCAPE.NET, netzero.net, nextra.no,
nextra.sk, nextra.de, nextra.at, nextra.cz, nextra.ch, nextra.it,
Nid.ru, NIS.net, Nodewarrior.net, nycmail.com, oneandonlynetwork.com,
optician.com, outblaze.net - http://anti-spam.outblaze.com/ ,
OZemail.com.au, Pacbell.net -
http://public.pacbell.net/dialup/usepolicy , Pacwest.com ,
Pagepark.com , Pair.com - http://www.pair.com/abuse/, paris.com,
Peclink.net - http://www.peclink.net/ , pediatrician.com,
planet.net.uk - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , playful.com,
poetic.com, pol.co.uk - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , popstar.com,
post.com, Power-tech.net, Powernet.net, POWERSITE.NET, presidency.com,
priest.com, prodigy.net, programmer.net, PSI Net -
http://www.support.psinet.com/PSIabusetik/ -
http://www.psi.net/legalinfo/netabusepolicy.html , publicist.com,
pwrnet.com, Quixtar.com - http://www.quixtar.com , Rain.net,
realtyagent.com, registerednurses.com, Relcom.ru -
http://www.relcom.ru/English/Services/Reglament/ , repairman.com,
representative.com, rescueteam.com, Rocketmail.com -
http://www.rocketmail.com/py/RMailTermsText.py , rome.com,
sageconnect.co.uk - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , Sagenetworks.com,
saintly.com, samerica.com, sanfranmail.com, Savvis.net, scientist.com,
Seanet.com - http://www.seanet.com/help/abuse.FAQ.html ,
seductive.com, Seed.net.tw, SendMoreInfo.com -
http://www.sendmoreinfo.com/members/spam.cfm , singapore.com,
Singnet.com.sg, Slip.net, Snap.com, sociologist.com, Softaware.com -
http://www.softaware.com/support/policies.html , soon.com,
Splitinfinity.net, Splitrock.net, Sprint.ca, Sprint.net,
Sprintlink.net - http://www.sprintbiz.com/ip/policy.html ,
Sprintmail.com, Stargate.net -
http://www.stargate.net/stargate/policies-terms.html -
http://www.noc.stargate.net/abuse/ , State.net -
http://www.state.net/MNonline/Admin/aup.html , SWBell.net -
http://public.swbell.net/faq/spam.html , swinternet.net -
http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , Sympatico.ca, teacher.com,
techie.com, Teleport.com - http://www.teleport.com/info/tos.phtml ,
Telstra Big Pond Direct - http://www.direct.bigpond.com/ ,
TerraNova.net - http://www.terranova.net/policy.html ,
Thedoghousemail.com, Theplanet.net - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net,
Theplanet.net.uk - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , TIAC.net, Tin.it,
TIR.com - http://www.tir.com/about/terms.htm#spamming , Together.net,
tokyo.com, Total.net -
http://central.total.net/centrale/totalnet/usepolicy.shtml (French) -
http://central.total.net/central/totalnet/usepolicy.shtml (English),
tpnet.co.uk - http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , Tripod.com,
UAlberta.ca, ULINK.NET, umpire.com, Unbounded.net, underwriters.com,
usa.com, USA.Net - http://netaddress.usa.net/tpl/Info/Main ,
USwest.net, USWest.net -
http://www.uswest.com/siteincludes/legal/terms.html , uunet.ca -
http://www.uunet.ca/aup.html , Valueweb.net, VCnet.com, Verio.net,
Videotron.net, Virtualave.net, VPWEBHOSTING.NET, WCom.Net,
Webbernet.net, Webjump.com, Webtv.net - http://webtv.net/tos.html ,
whoever.com, Wild.net, winning.com, Winstar.com -
http://www.winstar.com/solutions/copyright/index.asp , witty.com,
Worldwideinet.com, writeme.com, wwwatt.net -
http://www.abuse.theplanet.net , xoom.com, Yahoo.com -
http://edit.my.yahoo.com/config/form?.form=yahoomail_agree ,
yours.com, Zebra.net, Ziplink.net - http://www.ziplink.net/accept.html
, Zipmail.com, Zippp.com
For the following providers the correct e-mail address is:
1-800-242-0363 # (Some Extension) - [email protected] - Digitcom
Nationwide Services
1-800-600-0343 # (Some Extension) - [email protected] - Digitcom
sells flat rate $19.95 per month services, 100 messages per day.
Spammers love this as it is no muss no fuss flat rate.
1-800-607-6006 # (Some extension) - [email protected] - Associated
with www.linkems.com
1-800-811-2141 Code # (some code number) - [email protected]
9netave.com - [email protected] - AUP
www.9netave.com/forms/au_policy.shtml
ABSnet - [email protected] or [email protected]
Accesspro.net - [email protected] -
http://accesspro.net/techsuppn.htm
ACN US Tech - [email protected]
Adobe software piracy - [email protected]
AiNET - [email protected] - http://www.ai.net/aup.html
Allinfosys.com - [email protected] - Allinfosys advertises an open
SMTP port at smtp1.allinfosys.com [209.44.59.8]
Alter.net - [email protected]
Angelfire.com or angelfire.com - [email protected] (place the offending
URL or Email address in the subject) -
http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
AOL - E-Mail abuse [email protected] - UseNet (News) abuse
[email protected] - Internet security issues, member harassment or
threats [email protected] - AOL Web pages which do not comply with
AOL's Terms of Service [email protected] - IRC abuse [email protected] -
http://www.aol.com/info/bulkemail.html - AOL UCE policy
APNIC.net - IP Lookup - whois -h whois.apnic.net <IP address> - APNIC
Does not provide network services. APNIC is the Internet registry for
the Asia and Pacific Rim regions -- we primarily delegate blocks of
addresses to service providers. We do not run a network (other than
our internal network) nor do we have customers or non-staff accounts.
ArgosWeb.net - http://www.ArgosWeb.net/ - [email protected]
AT&T - dial-access.att.net - [email protected]
AT&T WorldNet Services - [email protected]
ATTmail.com - [email protected]
AudioPhile.com - [email protected]
B-INTOUCH - [email protected] / [email protected]
BBN.com / BBNplanet.com - [email protected]
BCtel.ca / BCtel.net - [email protected] - http://www.bctel.net/aup
befree.com - [email protected] / [email protected]
bfast.com - [email protected] / [email protected]
bfit.com - [email protected] / [email protected]
BFP.net - [email protected] ??? (They deleted [email protected]). No
website, no AUP. Obviously rogue.
bigfoot.com - [email protected] - To check and see if a user is
active, go to http://www.bigfoot.com/RUN?FN=sendpassword_frameset ,
put in the user and click on "Get It". If that user is still active
then Bigfoot will reply with password sent, otherwise you will get an
error.
Biglobe.ne.jp - [email protected] / [email protected] /
[email protected]
Bigstep.net / Bigstep.com - [email protected]
BioGate.com - [email protected]
Biosys.net - [email protected]
bitmail.com - [email protected]
BitSmart.com - [email protected]
Biznizlist.com - www.biznizlist.com - [email protected] - Spam friendly
see : http://www.biznizlist.com/FAQ/faq.html
bounce.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
browse.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Businessman.org - [email protected] / [email protected]
(abuse mailbox was full ...)
Campus.MCI.Net - [email protected]
cci-29palms.com - [email protected] / [email protected]
change.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
CNC.net - [email protected] -
http://home.concentric.net/support/tos.html -
http://home.concentric.net/support/faq/general/aup.html
Codetel.net.do - [email protected]
Coloradosoft.com - Wrote a mail merge program that used to allow
spamming, has since fixed the code but old versions are still out
there ... Please do not complain to them ...
Com.BR - Policy - [email protected] security violations write the
list [email protected]
Come.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html - Complaint form
at http://v3.come.to/webmaster.html
Commtouch.com - [email protected]
ComPorts.com - [email protected]
Compuserve - [email protected] : Email "spam"/massmail
complaints - [email protected] : News "spam" complaints
CRL.com - [email protected] / [email protected] - Send to One and ONLY one
address or it will bounce back to you unsent, and a bug in the
software they have will *not* let you send that complaint to only one
recipient after that first e-mail.
Cryogen.com - [email protected]
CW.net - [email protected] - Cable and Wireless - Security -
http://security.cw.net/
CWIX.NET - [email protected] -
http://www.cwusa.com/internet_aup.htm
CWUSA.com - [email protected] -
http://www.cwusa.com/internet_aup.htm
CyberJunkie.com - [email protected]
CyberTours.COM - [email protected]
da.ru - [email protected]
DeathsDoor.com - [email protected]
DejaNews - [email protected] - http://www.deja.com/help/faq.shtml#abuse -
http://www.deja.com/info/postrules.shtml
demon.nl / nl.demon.net - [email protected] - Dutch
http://www.demon.nl/extra/algemenevoorwaarden.html
Dhs.org - abuse-<full hostname>@dhs.org Example: abuse-
[email protected]
Dial-access.att.net - [email protected]
Dialsprint.net - [email protected]
Digex.net - [email protected] (along with your real name) see
http://www.access.digex.net/~policy/digex-aup.html
DigiCron.com - [email protected]
Direct.CA - [email protected]
DittosRush.com - [email protected]
DRAGG.NET - [email protected]
drive.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
EarthCorp.com - [email protected]
earthlink.net - [email protected] or [email protected]
http://www.earthlink.net/about/policies/aupolicy.html - Acceptable use
ELI.net - [email protected] (reports to [email protected] are NOT
forwarded to [email protected] , they are deleted).
http://www.eli.net/techsupport/aup.shtml
Email.com - [email protected]
Empirenet.com - [email protected] -
http://www.globalcenter.net/launchpad/util/antispam.html
eranet.net - [email protected]
excite.com - [email protected] -
http://www.excite.com/terms.html
excitecorp.com - [email protected] -
http://www.excite.com/terms.html
Fastresponse.net - [email protected]
Flashnet - [email protected] -
http://www.flash.net/~support/esupport/postmast.html
fly.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
FLYINGCROC.com - [email protected]
Freei.net - [email protected]
Frontiernet.net - [email protected] -
http://www.globalcenter.net/aup/
Funtv.com - [email protected]
GalaxyCorp.com - [email protected]
Genuity.net - [email protected]
gergs_bane.org (does not exist, it is faked) - See UUNET -
[email protected]
get.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Getnet.com - [email protected] - http://www.neta.com /
http://www.getnet.com
GlobeComm, Inc. - GlobeComm is the parent company of iName -
[email protected]
GNN.Com - For help regarding a problem with a GNN member -
[email protected].
go.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Go2net.com - [email protected]
Good.Net - [email protected]
Grid.net - [email protected]
GTE.net - [email protected]
GTEI.net - [email protected]
Gulf.net - [email protected] - Spam cleanup charges !!!
Hinet.net - [email protected]
HKU.HK - Hong Kong University - [email protected]
HLC.NET - [email protected] - http://www.eni.net/Our_Network/aup.html
hm-software.com - [email protected]
Holonet.net - [email protected] - Complaint must contain e-mail
address, real name, address, and day time telephone number
homeschools.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email
address in the subject) -
http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
Hotbot.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email address
in the subject) - http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
Hotmail.com - [email protected] - http://wy1lg.hotmail.com/cgi-
bin/dasp/tos.asp - Also look for "X-Originating-IP: [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]"
in the header to see where the e-mail originated from.
i.am - [email protected]
ICQ - See http://www.icq.com/features/security/spam.html
Idirect.com - [email protected]
iname.com - [email protected]
information4u.com - [email protected]
Inreach.com - [email protected] -
http://members.inreach.com/acceptable.html
Intercom.net - [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] -
http://www.abac.com/use.html
Internex.net - [email protected] -
http://home.concentric.net/support/tos.html
interserve.com.hk - Mr. K H Lee - [email protected].
Islandonline.net - [email protected]
ISPchannel.com - [email protected]
inforamp.net - [email protected]
hotstar.net - [email protected]
magi.com - [email protected]
nstn.ca - [email protected]
jump.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Juno.com - [email protected]
k12mail.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email address
in the subject) - http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
LAKER.NET [email protected] or VOICE 1-954-359-3670 FAX 1-954-359-2741
LD.net - [email protected] / [email protected] for spamming
incidents - http://LD.NET/bizop/bizop.html#nospam -
http://ld.net/6.9/LD1999 - Spammer Canceled
LI.net - Owned by longisland.verio.net - [email protected] or
[email protected]
Listbot.com - [email protected]
listen.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Logicalhosting.com - [email protected]
looksmart.com - [email protected]
Loop.Com or Loop.net - [email protected]
Lycosmail.com - [email protected]
Mail.com - [email protected]
Mailcity.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email
address in the subject) -
http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
Mailexcite.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email
address in the subject) -
http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
MailMe.net - [email protected] / [email protected]
(abuse mailbox was full ...)
MALIBU - [email protected]
marchmail.com - [email protected] - http://anti-spam.outblaze.com/
Maverick.NET - [email protected]
MCI Net - [email protected] - Security
http://security.cw.net/
mckinley.com - [email protected] -
http://www.excite.com/terms.html
MCSNet - [email protected]
Members.xoom.com - [email protected]
Mersinet.co.uk - [email protected]
MicroSoft software piracy - [email protected]
Mindspring.com - [email protected]
money.com or money.now - [email protected]
mrearl.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email address
in the subject) - http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
MWIS.net - [email protected]
myworldmail.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email
address in the subject)
n2<anything>.com - (Example : n2mail.com, n2adventure.com,
n2acting.com) [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email address
in the subject) - http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
naispa.org - [email protected] - http://www.microserve.net/aup/
http://www.naispa.org/aup
NAMESERVERS.COM - [email protected]
Nap.net - [email protected]
Netaxs.com - [email protected] / [email protected]
Netcom.com or @ix.netcom.com - Put "E-Mail" or "News" in Subject -
[email protected] / [email protected] -
http://www.netcom.com/netcom/aug.html -
http://www.mindspring.com/aboutms/policy.html - $200 cleanup fee!!!
Netease.com - Apparently [email protected] is not read (quota
exceeded) use [email protected] -
http://corp.163.com/eng/contactus/contactus.html
nextel.no - [email protected] -
http://www.online.no/kundeservice/iguides/nettvett.html (Norwegian
only)
NFmail.com - [email protected] "Any use or exploiting of the
Project Netfraternity (registered) for profit or commercial aims, by
any person or organization, will be pursued by law."
NKN.NET - [email protected]
NL.net / NL.uu.net - [email protected] or [email protected]
one-and-only.com - [email protected]
online.no - [email protected]
OnRamp - [email protected]
Optilinkcomm.net - [email protected]
Orbita.Starmedia.com - [email protected]
PBI.net - [email protected] -
http://public.pacbell.net/dialup/usepolicy.html
Pipeline.com - [email protected]
PIPEX- [email protected] , International - [email protected] ,
Unipalm PIPEX - [email protected]
POBoxes.com - [email protected] -
http://www.netforward.com/rules.shtml
Pompano.net - [email protected]
popsite.net - [email protected] (spam) / [email protected]
(internet abuse) - Killed users - http://www.popsite.net/kill.html
portal.com - [email protected]
Primenet.com - [email protected]
Psynet.net - [email protected]
QWest.net - [email protected]
RadioLink.net - [email protected]
redirect.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
reporting.net - [email protected] / [email protected]
Rostelecom.net - [email protected]
scroll.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Sensewave.com - [email protected]
SGI.net - [email protected] -
http://www.stargate.net/stargate/policies-terms.html -
http://www.noc.stargate.net/abuse/
Shore.net - [email protected]
Sitesinternet.com - [email protected] /
[email protected] (abuse mailbox was full ...)
Smartworld.net - [email protected] - "We will promptly terminate
accounts of UCE originators and occasionally sue them. So please
forward us any spam you get from our dns."
snap.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Southwindent.com - [email protected]
Starmedia.com - [email protected]
Starnetusa.net - [email protected] -
http://www.starnetinc.com/support/tos.html
start.at - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
State.tx.us - [email protected]
SUMMITPOINT.COM - [email protected] - (Merged with State.net) -
http://www.state.net/MNonline/Admin/aup.html
surf.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
switch.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
talk.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Tande.com - [email protected]
TeenWorld.POBoxes.com - [email protected]
Tele2 AB - [email protected]
Teleline.es - [email protected]
Telenordia.se - [email protected]
The18thHole.com - [email protected]
Theglobe.com - [email protected]
TheGrid - [email protected]
TheGym.net - [email protected]
Theheadoffice.com - [email protected]
TheOffice.net - [email protected]
ThePentagon.com - [email protected]
TheWaterCooler.com - [email protected]
tip.net - [email protected] [email protected]
Topsecrets100.com - [email protected]
travel.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
TSEinc.com - [email protected]
Tucows.com - [email protected]
UK.uu.net - E-Mail problems - [email protected] , News problems -
[email protected] , Security problems -
[email protected]
Ultra.net - [email protected]
usol.com - [email protected]
UTrade.com - [email protected]
UUNET - E-Mail Spams [email protected] - Newsgroup Spams abuse-
[email protected] - If you don't want a reply [email protected] -
http://www.usa.uu.net/support/usepolicy/
UWO.CA - [email protected] -
http://publish.uwo.ca/~reggers/spammers
Vids.com - [email protected]
webcrawler.com - [email protected] -
http://www.excite.com/terms.html
Webmaster.se - [email protected]
welcome.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
Whowhere.com - [email protected] (place the offending URL or Email
address in the subject) -
http://pages.whowhere.com/internet/nospammers
window.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
WOWmail.com - [email protected]
Writeme.com - [email protected]
zap.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
zip.to - [email protected] - http://come.to/abuse.html
From : David Jackson ([email protected]) (and this applies to *any*
abuse) :
To report an instance of USENET abuse send mail to [email protected]
- please remember to include a complete copy of the USENET article,
including all headers, to help us quickly quash the abuse.
Scott reminds us :
It might also be a good idea to remind people that sometimes the
postmaster _is_ the spammer. Joe Spam might have his own domain (since
they _used_ to be free) inside of which they are the postmaster. This
is terrifyingly common with net.twits (kooks, etc.) but seems rare for
spam. A quick note that if the spammer is the admin contact in whois,
notifying the postmaster will surely generate laughs on their end.
In the letter to the postmaster, you might wish to mention Joel's very
good FAQ about advertising on the Internet :
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/usenet/advertising/how-
to/part1.html
http://www.cis.ohio-
state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/usenet/advertising/how-
to/part1/faq.html
One company that was suckered in by a bulk e-mail company received 35
responses to the addresses in the body of the message, and 100% of
them were negative. Additionally the ISP that hosted them received 15
complaints asking for them to terminate their service. UUNet received
50+ complaints about this UCE.
And where they *should* advertise :
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/finding-groups/general.html
Additional business links:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmm/papers.html#efi - Economic FAQ
about the Internet
http://www.si.umich.edu/Classes/555/resources/si555syllabus.html -
Electronic Commerce
http://www.si.umich.edu/Classes/555/resources/addition.html -
Additional Resources
If you don't get a proper response from the postmaster, remember,
Whois - rs.internic.net is your friend. See the section labeled
"Converting that IP to a name" for more information on Internic.
This *should* get you a person to talk to & their personal e-mail
address. If you don't get any response from that postmaster, then you
should try the provider to that site. This gets a little trickier,
but a traceroute should show you the upstream provider, and from there
you can try contacting the postmasters of *that* site.
Any non-profit organization (like a University) should be very happy
to help get rid of a spammer if the non-profit organizations resources
are being used to spam a for-profit business. The IRS can take their
non-profit status away for such things. Talk to the legal council at
the non-profit organization if you don't get a positive response from
the postmaster.
Worst case, a site can be UDP (Usenet Death Penalty) out so that other
sites stop accepting news or even e-mail from that site. They are cut
off from the net. Decisions like this are discussed in the news group
news.admin.net-abuse.misc .
If the spammer site has problems trying to figure out where the spam
came from, they can *always* get help from the denizens of
news.admin.net-abuse.misc, but have them take a look at their logs
first and see if they see something like (Thanks to help from
Michael):
My news logs (for INND) are:
$ cd /usr/log/news
$ ls
OLD expire.log news.err unwanted.log
errlog news news.notice
expire.list news.crit nntpsend.log
and here is my syslog.conf:
## news stuff
news.crit /usr/log/news/news.crit
news.err /usr/log/news/news.err
news.notice /usr/log/news/news.notice
news.info /usr/log/news/news
news.debug /usr/log/news/news.debug
but, what they need to remember, is they HAVE TO LOOK QUICK!. INND
expire puts all these logs in OLD, and recycles them, and expires them
at the 7th day (and gzips them), i.e., OLD/:
ls -l news.?.*
-r--r----- 1 news news 181098 May 23 06:26 news.1.gz
...
-r--r----- 1 news news 319343 May 17 06:29 news.7.gz
so... to grep an old log looking for sfa.ufl.edu:
(the {nn} is how many days ago, 1 is yesterday, 2 is 2 days ago, etc)
cd {log/OLD}
gunzip -c news.1.gz | grep sfa.ufl.edu | more
Fraud on the Internet and The MMF (Make Money Fast) Posts
================================================================
A partnership of the National Association of Attorneys General, the
Federal Trade Commission and The National Consumers League :
http://www.fraud.org/
Call 1-800-876-7060 or fill out an on-line scam sheet:
http://www.fraud.org/info/repoform.htm
http://www.junkemail.org/scamspam/ - FTC ScamSpam - [email protected]
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/dotcon/index.html FTC Scam Page
The Better Business Bureau has a web site at:
http://www.bbb.org
Hoaxes and scams :
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Fraud/
http://HoaxBusters.ciac.org/
http://www.scambusters.com/
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39298,00.html - A scam if
you download a program you may pay $250 in telephone charges.
Robert Heinlein has a saying "TANSTAAFL" (There Ain't No Such Thing As
A Free Lunch). If it looks too good, it probably is.
http://www.deja.com/article/518601356 - Article on "HOW TO CONVERT $99
INTO $588 AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT" fraud
There is also a fraud promising you millions of dollars from a
"government official" in a small country with a "secret" bank account,
but all he needs to transfer the money to you is:
(a)Your CompanyМs Name and Address
(b)Your full Name(s), Telephone, and Fax numbers (Private and Company)
(c)Your Bank Name, Address, Account number, Telex and swift code (if
any).
If you send this information, they have all the information they need
to drain your account of all money that is in there. See :
http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/news1998.htm
http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/ - How to contact the US Gov't
about this scheme
Send scams to [email protected] (Put No Monetary Loss in the
header if you haven't lost any money)
http://www.cbintel.com/nigeriafraud.htm
http://www.byte.com/column/vox/BYT19990707S0001
In the United States :
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission web page (stock
solicitations, stock manipulation by sending out spam after buying a
stock to get others to buy the stock and increase the price)
http://www.sec.gov/enforce/comctr.htm or Email:
[email protected]
http://www.sec.gov/consumer/iemmtips.htm - Pump and Dump tips
http://www.sec.gov/news/netfraud.htm - SEC prosecutions
Net Securities scam: Report to [email protected]
The Food and Drug Administration :
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/problem.html
Medical Items:
US Federal Drug Administration - MedWatch - [email protected]
Make Money Fast is a pyramid (or Ponzi) scheme where you are in a
chain of people wherein you send money to a few people and try to
recruit others to send money to you. Basically if it even remotely
smells like a MMF scheme it is illegal (even tho' many of the MMF
schemes "claim" to have been looked at by a lawyer or checked by the
United States Postal Authorities).
For a list of countries where Make Money Fast is illegal see :
http://www.stopspam.org/usenet/mmf/mmf_table.html
http://www.stopspam.org/usenet/mmf/
http://ga.to/mmf/
Scams can be found at places like :
http://ga.to/mmf/currency.html
Please, only report MMFs in news.admin.net-abuse.misc if they're spam
and you've seen it in lots of groups and / or the postmaster/user are
defiantly stupid.
MMFs should be reported to the user and their postmaster and the
following :
Where to send complaints to in Australia:
Ministry of Fair Trading
P O Box 6355
EAST PERTH 6536
In Canada I believe that the applicable Canadian description can be
found at :
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/html/commerc.htm
And from the Canadian Department of Justice server (
http://canada.justice.gc.ca/ ):
STATUTES OF CANADA, C, Competition - PART VI OFFENSES IN RELATION TO
COMPETITION - Definition of "scheme of pyramid selling" - Section 55.1
EXTRACT FROM THE CANADIAN CRIMINAL CODE
Chain-letters
206. (1) Every one is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years who . . .
Pyramid Schemes
55.1 (1) For the purposes of this section, "scheme of pyramid selling"
means a multi-level marketing plan whereby ...
United Kingdoms:
Consumer Affairs and Competition Policy Directorate 2
Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET
Tel: 0171 215 0344
Have a booklet called 'The Trading Schemes Guide' which is very useful
indeed and explains the UK legal details on these things,
In the United States, you should write the Federal Trade Commission
Ms. Broder
( [email protected] ). For more info on pyramid schemes use
[email protected]
To find your nearest postal inspector in the USA, see URL
http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/locators/find-is.html
California MMF law :
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-
bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=endless
DOES ANYBODY HAVE POSTAL INSPECTOR ADDRESSES FOR OTHER COUNTRIES THAT
PONZI / MMF SCHEMES ARE ILLEGAL IN?
Trying to catch the suspect still logged on
==================================================
If you think you know a machine close to the spammer, you can change
your default DNS lookup server (and get *lots* more info ;-)) by :
$ nslookup
> server wb3ffv.abs.net
Default Server: wb3ffv.abs.net
Address: 206.42.80.130
> ls -d kjl.com
[wb3ffv.abs.net]
kjl.com. SOA kjl.com dns-admin.abs.net. (10
21600 3600604800 86400)
kjl.com. NS ns1.abs.net
kjl.com. NS ns2.abs.net
kjl.com. MX 10 abs.net
kjl.com. SOA kjl.com dns-admin.abs.net. (10
21600 3600604800 86400)
If you are quick enough, you can see if the spammer is still on by :
rusers rust.nmt.edu
And you might get :
kuller ray timbers jweinman timbers john timbers rayzer
Assuming that the spammer is from ingress.com you can expand the
Spammers UserID (some sites have expn / vrfy turned off) by:
> telnet ingress.com smtp
Trying 199.171.57.2 ...
Connected to ingress.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 ingress.com Sendmail 4.1/SMI-4.1 ready at Sun, 22 Oct 95 15:13:39
EDT
expn krazykev
250 Lipsitz Kevin <[email protected]>
We connect to port 25 (smtp) and issues an expn command. Looks like
[email protected] is being used as a maildrop for this user. I'll
would send my complaint to [email protected] as well (not that it
would do any good in Krazy Kevin's case... but the reply to your e-
mail might be amusing).
To find out the Mail Exchange records, do a nslookup for the MX
records only. You can then look up the expansion of the postmaster or
root to see who they really are. For example :
% nslookup
> set type=mx
> gnn.com
gnn.com preference = 20, mail exchanger = mail-e1a.gnn.com
gnn.com preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail-e1b.gnn.com
% telnet mail-e1a.gnn.com smtp
220 mail-e1a.gnn.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.7.1/8.6.9 ready at Thu, 11 Jan
1996 12:54:26 -0500 (EST)
expn postmaster
250-<[email protected]>
250 <[email protected]>
expn root
250-<[email protected]>
250 <[email protected]>
Duncan tells us 80% of sites that have EXPN and VRFY disabled are
"vulnerable" to the following technique. The risk factor is not
exactly huge it can only be used to test whether an address will
bounce at the tested box.
$ telnet localhost 25
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 domain.name.you.want.to.know.about ESMTP Sendmail 8.8.8/8.7.3;
Mon, 5 Jun
2000 17:54:21 GMT
EHLO my.computers.name.here
250-my.computers.namme.here Hello admin@localhost [127.0.0.1], pleased
to meet
you
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-ONEX
250-ETRN
250-XUSR
250 HELP
MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
250 <[email protected]>... Sender ok
RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
550 <[email protected]>... User unknown
RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
250 <[email protected]>... Recipient ok
QUIT
221 domain.name.you.want.to.know.about closing connection
Connection closed by foreign host.
(The names of the computers have been changed to protect spammer's
accounts and my mailboxen. Naturally you would not normally probe your
local machine this way.)
This obviosuly only works when you are talking to the machine that
actually delviers the email, so pull out your copy of nslookup find
the MX records, and be sure to use the best MX. I sometimes use this
method to test for abuse, which is probably an alias--this method can
not distinigish between aliases and accounts.
You can use the 'host' command. It's really simple:
% host -t any domain.name
This will give you anything your name server can find out.
% host -t ns domain.name
This tells you the name servers. Not all systems have host, but it's a
small program which should be easy to compile (like whois).
The command "last" will tell where the spammer logged on from last,
but it has to be done by a user from that site. For example :
last imrket4u
Would produce :
imrket4u ttypf ip30.abq-dialin.hollyberry.com Fri Sep 15 00:27
- 00:34 (00:06)
imrket4u ttyq8 ip30.abq-dialin.hollyberry.com Fri Sep 15 00:19
- 00:20 (00:01)
imrket4u ttyqc abq-ts1 Thu Sep 14 20:42 - 22:21
(01:39)
imrket4u ttyqc rust.nmt.edu Thu Sep 14 18:39 - 18:41
(00:01)
imrket4u ttypb abq-ts1 Thu Sep 14 17:55 - 17:57
(00:02)
Filtering E-Mail BlackMail, procmail or News with Gnus
=======================================================
Filtering with BlackMail. This is free software that works with
Mailers Smail, Sendmail, Qmail or Fetchmail under the OSes: Aix,
various BSD, Irix, Linux, NeXTStep 3.x, Solaris, SunOs, SVR4:
http://bitgate.com/spam/ - By Ken Hollis (Not me ...)
Or
http://www.jsm-net.demon.co.uk/blackmail/source
Get the procmail FAQ :
http://www.ii.com/internet/faqs/launchers/mail/filtering-faq/
or
http://www.best.com/~ii/internet/faqs/launchers/mail/filtering-faq/
http://www.ii.com/internet/robots/
or
http://www.best.com/~ii/internet/robots/
Procmail ruleset :
http://sepwww.stanford.edu/oldsep/joe/AntiJunkEmail.html
Or read about it when it is posted to :
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc , comp.mail.elm , comp.mail.pine ,
comp.answers , news.answers
Subject: Filtering Mail FAQ
Bob tells me that Eudora Pro has a good filtering capability. You can
filer based on who you send e-mail to, known spammers, etc. Enough
filters and you may see hardly any Spam. Claris E-Mailer, likewise,
has a filter option.
Brian has a Gnus scorefile from the Internet blacklist :
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/edmonds/usenet/gnus/BLACKLIST
Or his example global scorefile :
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/edmonds/usenet/gnus/SCORE
Many news readers have a "kill" file that will filter out the posts
from either a certain user-id, or posts with certain titles. Each
news reader is unique. You might wish to read the help file on the
subject of kill files.
Rejecting E-Mail from domains that continue to Spam
====================================================
Spamfilters can be found at:
http://www.io.com/~johnbob/jm/index.html
http://www.samiam.org/spam/index.html
http://www-new.hrweb.org/spambouncer/
List of spammers:
http://www.samiam.org/spam/spammers.txt
http://www.idot.aol.com/preferredmail/
Or look at a page on how to block e-mail :
http://www.nepean.uws.edu.au/users/david/pe/blockmail.html
Also how to stop your mail server from being a Spam Relay :
http://maps.vix.com/tsi/
Sendmail patch that permits filtering by envelope sender and recipient
as well as by Received: lines, header recipient (To: friends@public..)
and enables refusing of relaying _before_ transmission of the message:
ftp://ftp.hiss.org/pub/sendmail/
Ask your admin to add the following to their sendmail.cf. This will
reject all mail that continues to come in from domains that only send
out spam. This is a group effort from many admins :
Modify your sendmail.cf in the following way.
1. Setup a hash table with the domains you wish to block:
# Bad domains (spam kings)
FK/etc/mailspamdomains
2. Add the following rules to S98 (be sure that there are three lines
(i.e. the lines are not split up) and be sure to put a TAB character
between the $* and the $#error, not a space) :
### Spam blockage
R$* < @$*$=K . > $* $#error $@ 5.1.3 $: "Your domain has been
blocked due to spam problems. Contact your administrator."
R$* < @$*$=K > $* $#error $@ 5.1.3 $: "Your domain has been blocked
due to spam problems. Contact your administrator."
3. Make your hash table. Here is a very small example :
moneyworld.com
globalfn.com
Mail that comes in from any of these domains will be returned to
sender with the error. If the sender is bogus, it will bother the
postmaster at the bad domain in an appropriate manner.
Keep in mind that *ALL* email from these domains will be blocked.
This is really only a good solution for domains that are setup by
spammers for spamming. Blocking something like aol.com, although it
may seem initially attractive, would cause problems for legitimate
users of email in that domain. Compile your list after careful
verification that these domains fit the above description.
Misc.
=================================
Origins of Spam
======================
The history of calling inappropriate postings in great numbers "Spam"
is from a Monty Python skit (yes, it is very silly... see
http://www.ironworks.com/comedy/python/spam.htm ) where a couple go
into a restaurant, and the wife tries to get something other than
Spam. In the background are a bunch of Vikings that sing the praises
of Spam. Pretty soon the only thing you can hear in the skit is the
word "Spam". That same idea would happen to the Internet if large
scale inappropriate postings were allowed. You couldn't pick the real
postings out from the Spam. See:
http://www.geocities.com/~hkentcraig/HowInternetSpamGotItsName.html
Geek cartoons, some anti-spam cartoons mixed in:
http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/
To join a discussion list for Spams, send a message to
[email protected]
In the body of the message type :
subscribe spamad your_name your_affiliation
Or a real mailing list for the discussion on spamming and about what
is and/or isn't possible in dealing with this problem. If you would
like to join the mailing list send mail to [email protected] with the
following message in the body :
subscribe spam-list [preferred address]
Black listed Internet Advertisers :
http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/BL/ (Europe)
Oldmilk tells us the alt.spam Commandments :
1) Thou shalt not post binaries to a non binary group.
2) Thou shalt not post "sPaM this l00zer" to alt.spam
3) Thou shalt not post to inform us for the thousandth time that this
group was started to discuss the fine spiced ham product from Hormel.
4) Thou shalt not spam this newsgroup.
5) Thou shalt not post on a topic that has nothing to do with spam
fighting.
6) Thou shalt not harass any regular poster here, lest your ass be
spanked to rosy hue.
7) Thou shalt not attempt to make any straw man arguments that spam is
good.
8) Thou shalt read the newsgroup before posting.
First off, the only CORRECT way to "SPAM" the net :
http://www.spam.com/
http://www.spam.com/fc.htm - SPAM Fan Club
http://www.spam.com/ci/ci_in.htm - Spam, SPAM and the Internet ...
Use "Spam" when referring to Internet Unsolicited E-Mail, ONLY use
"SPAM" (all CAPS) when referring to the Hormel Product.
Show SPAM Gifts http://coyote.co.net/spamgift/
Or for the free SPAM recipe Book ($1.00 postage and handling) :
SPAM recipe Book, P.O. Box 5000, Austin, MN 55912
Or for SPAM merchandise and apparel call 1-800-LUV-SPAM
SPAM Sites (the food) / The Church of Spam :
http://pemtropics.mit.edu/~jcho/spam/ - SPAM Haiku
http://www.go2net.com/internet/useless/useless/spam.html
http://www.iconnect.net/home/jstrong/spam.html
http://www.rsi.com/spam/
http://www.rsi.com/spam/spam-recipes.html - SPAM Recipes
http://www.spam69.demon.co.uk/spam.htm
http://www.stampo.com/spam.html
There is also a letter circulating about "dying boy wants postcards"
(Craig Shergold) which is no longer true. Same as with the Blue Star
LSD addicting children hoax. See Urban Folklore FAQ at :
http://www.urbanlegends.com/classic/craig.shergold/craig_nyt.html
http://www.urbanlegends.com/classic/blue.star.tattoos/blue_star_lsd_fa
q.html
A complete Urban Legends listings (It is big) :
http://www.urbanlegends.com/afu.faq/index.html
Some other hoax pages:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html - Symantec Hoax Page
http://www.icsa.net/services/consortia/anti-virus/alerthoax.shtml -
Hoax
http://kumite.com/myths/myths
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html - Chain Letters
http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/billgate.htm - All about the Bill
Gates Hoax chain letter that was followed by a hoax letter from The
Gap, Bath & Body Works, Old Navy, Abercrombie & Fitch and probably
just about any company you can imagine.
http://www.vmyths.com - Virus Myths
And why Disney is *not* giving away 13,000 free trips, why Bill Gates
is not collecting e-mail addresses (and many other hoaxes):
http://www.deja.com/article/406150013
My usual response goes something like:
<Quote part of the hoax)
> Hi! My name is Janelle McCan, Founder of the Gap. I am offering
> thirty five dollar gift certificates to every seven people you send
> this to.
If you ever get an e-mail that tells you to forward it to other
people, it is *almost certainly* a hoax. Specifically if it tell you
about a "new virus" or free money. Before you send it along *please*
look it up by going to http://www.google.com and typing words from the
e-mail into the search line, like (in this example) and the word hoax:
Gap gift certificates e-mail hoax
Sorry. This is a hoax. See:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/billgate.htm
Plus, if the Gap could trace your e-mails, don't you think the
Government could do the same and wouldn't that make you worry *just* a
bit? Not that they aren't trying, see:
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2606926,00.html
But anyway, there are no free Gap certificates, no free $1,000 bills
from Microsoft or any free trips to Disney. Sorry.
PLEASE read about the Gullibility Virus. This is a very funny
editorial to be passed along to your friends who send you all these
kinds of hoaxes :
http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/warning.htm
<end of hoax message>
There has been some discussion that such things should be canceled
because they exceed the BI 20 index. They are untrue and they waste
bandwidth.
A conversation with a spammer. I was amused. First time I had ever
spoken with one. I also forgot to mention (in our very short
conversation) that his World Wide Web service would be deleted (which
it was) :
Me (7:04 PM): I got your spam. By Monday morning all your
accounts should be canceled. That would be your AT&T account, your
Hotmail account and this AOL account. You are welcome. Bye.
GS711 (7:05 PM): <snip - Expletive Deleted>
Me (7:05 PM): Thank you very much. You should learn how to
advertise correctly on the Internet.
Me (7:06 PM): If you do it correctly than you won't have to run
and hide.
GS711 (7:06 PM): thanks for letting me know who you are
Me (7:06 PM): Who am I? :-) ...
Me (7:06 PM): BTW, all your Spams will be reported by many other
people other than myself ...
(He signed off)
And another exchange with a spammer:
http://x.deja.com/article/607067261
A Spammers Soliloquy. I had to keep this one because it was actually
very creative (unexpected from a spammer) :
http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/spammersoliloquy.html
And a final note to spammers (I try not to make too many "personal"
statements in this FAQ ...). It is best not to be such a pain that
the Geeks find an intense interest in you. They are almost certainly
smarter than you, at the very least they are smarter in the ways that
the Internet works. The worst thing for you, however, is that they
usually have no life and can easily make you "their life".
How *did* I get this unsolicited e-mail anyway?
==================================================
Unfortunately just posting a message to a news group can get
unsolicited e-mail. Some spammers "harvest" e-mail addresses by
stripping e-mail return addresses out of messages people post. Try
posting to alt.test a few times. You will get not only a few
autoresponder messages (that is how it is *supposed* to work) but also
a few unsolicited pieces of e-mail. The solution to this is to "mung"
your address when you post by adding in extra characters (like "Spam")
in your return address. You then put in your signature something like
"Remove the word Spam from my e-mail to contact me". See:
http://www.private.org.il/harvest.html - How spammers harvest
addresses
http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/mungfaq.html - Address Munging
Another way to get e-mail is to have a World Wide Web page. Some
spammers just start a web spider (a piece of software that just
traverses World Wide Web pages and collects information) going and
collect e-mail that way. To prevent your e-mail from being harvested,
you can "mung" your web e-mail.
Yet another way for spammers to verify your address is real is to have
multiple unique pages to their site so that when you click on the URL
they provide, they know that you (and only you) got that URL. See:
http://cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/01/14/email.privacy.idg/index.html
Pierre suggests that when putting a mailto URL in a web page, precede
and follow it with "%20". When someone clicks on it, it will merely
put spaces, which will be ignored, around the address, but when a
spammer harvests the address, it will have a %20 in it, which will
render it undeliverable.
For additional munging see:
http://www.powerup.com.au/~mfleming/antispam/webmung.html
A suggestion of some nasty little HTML items to have in your WWW page
(invisible, of course) are :
<A HREF="mailto:root@[127.0.0.1]"></a>
or if your server allows "server-side includes" (and .shtml) :
<a href="mailto:abuse@<!--#echo var="REMOTE_ADDR"--> ">anti
spambot</a>
Also you might include a mail to news gateway like the following so
that the Spam is posted to Usenet :
See http://www.sabotage.org/~don/mail2news.html for mail to news
gateways.
<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"></a>
Or
<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"></a>
Or
<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]"></a>
Note : You should note on your World Wide Web page that these links
should *not* be followed by Lynx users, as they will see them no
matter how you choose not to display them on a graphical interface.
The last few in the below list are particularly not nice as they
execute commands on a UNIX host. Substitute root@[127.0.0.1] with any
of the following :
postmaster abuse root admin postmaster@localhost abuse@localhost
root@localhost admin@localhost postmaster@loopback abuse@loopback
root@loopback admin@loopback
`cat /dev/zero > /tmp/...`@localhost
;cat /dev/zero > /tmp/...;@localhost
`umount /tmp`@localhost
;umount /tmp;@localhost
`halt`@localhost
;halt;@localhost
How To Respond to Spam
===========================
Howard reminds us :
Note to all: NEVER followup to a spam. NEVER. Express your
indignation in mail to the poster and/or the
[email protected], but NEVER in the newsgroups!
Karen asks:
But what about the newbies who look at a group, see lots of spam and
ads, see NO posts decrying them, and conclude that ads are therefore
OK?
Ran replies :
When it gets bad, you'll usually see some "What can we do about
this?" threads. That's a good place to attach a reply that tells
people why it's bad, and what they can, in fact, do.
Austin Suggests:
At the risk of attracting flames, let me suggest an exception to
Howard's law. A followup is allowed if the following 3 conditions
hold.
1) The offending article is clearly a SCAM (for instance, the
*Canada* calls with the Seychelles Islands phone # scam)
2) No one else has followed-up with a posting identifying it as a
scam (in other words, no 'Me too' warnings)
3) It is unlikely to be canceled soon, either because it seems to
be below the thresholds, or it is in a local hierarchy that doesn't
get cancels, or Chris Lewis is on vacation in the Seychelles Islands.
If all three conditions are met, a followup that X's out the contact
information , severely trims the contents and identifies the post as a
scam is exempt from Howard's law.
Bill's and Wolfgang's addition :
4) Follow-ups should be cross posted to news.admin.net-abuse.misc
_and_ the groups of the spam, but Followup-To: *MUST* be set to
news.admin.net-abuse.misc *ONLY*
_or_
post a follow-up and *SET* Followup-To: alt.dev.null.
In the first case change
Subject: Important FREE $$$
to
Subject: Spam (was Re: Important FREE $$$)
and include the original Newsgroups and Message-ID line, so the
professional despammers will immediately find what you're talking
about. Do not post unless you're absolutely sure that you can do all
that properly. Also 1) - 3) do apply.
If you see the same article with different Message-IDs in several
groups, collect the _complete_ headers of each article and check
news.admin.net-abuse.misc if it's already been reported. If not, start
a thread with Subject: Spam (was Re: <original Subject>) in
news.admin.net-abuse.misc or news.admin.net-abuse.usenet . Include all
of the headers and as much of the body of one article as you see fit.
Shalon adds:
One note here: in the soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm group, we have 3 or
4 netcops who *do* follow up each spam message with header, whois,
traceroute, and contact address info so that those in the group who do
not have the technical skills to determine this can complain. It's an
unmoderated sex-related newsgroup which has almost no spam -- so it
would appear that the technique works extremely well.
Firewalls and protecting your computer
========================================
If your computer is constantly connected to the Internet (DSL, cable
modem, thru a corporate connection) you should have *some* kind of
software or hardware that monitors to keep ackers out.
A description of of what a firewall looks for / can tell you is at:
http://www.robertgraham.com/pubs/firewall-seen.html
Review and explanation of firewalls:
http://grc.com/su-firewalls.htm
An example of personal firewall software is:
http://www.zonelabs.com/ - Free for personal use
http://www.finjan.com/ - Surfgaurd Free for personal use (protects
against malicious web pages)
http://www.networkice.com/
The problem with some of these types of software is that they are
"technical" when they report an "attack" and the "attack" may or may
not be worth noting. Network Ice (Black Ice) seems to work fairly
well IMHO, but again you will need to examine each "attack" and see
what it really is before complaining to a provider.
Bottom line, if you are constantly connected to the Internet (or even
if you dial up for long periods of time) you should either have a
firewall in your network, or run software like the above.
Revenge - What to do & not to do
========================================
No matter how much we hate Spam and how much we dislike what the
spammers to our quiet little corner of the Universe known as the
Internet, Spam is not illegal (yet). If you try anything against the
spammers, please * do not * put yourself in risk of breaking the law.
It only makes them happy if you get in trouble because you were trying
to get back at them.
The reason why spammers use "throwaway" accounts is because they know
the e-mail account will be deleted. They usually provide either
another e-mail address or a name / phone number or postal address so
that prospective "customers" can be contacted. Be sure to complain to
the postmaster of all e-mail names provided to make sure that this
route is inhibited.
There are sites dedicated to revenge like
http://www.spamcentral.tsx.org
You can ask the Attorney General of a state whether or not that
business is licensed in that state, and who runs the business. I
looked up a business out of Nevada and found :
http://www.naag.org/ - National Association of Attorney Generals
http://www.state.nv.us/ag/ - We welcome any comments or concerns from
you regarding Attorney General matters. If you would like a response
from this office, please provide your name, address and telephone
number, with your electronic inquiry and this office will respond to
you by mail.
Write to : [email protected]
Look the business name / owner up on the WWW for Las Vegas NV :
http://sandgate.co.clark.nv.us:8498/businessLicense/blindex.htm
Which gave me the following info for the spammer "ROAD TO WEALTH INC":
http://sandgate.co.clark.nv.us:8498/servlet/BusinessLicense?instance=b
lotdetl&license_number=000144-533-3
And see if they are paying the correct taxes:
http://www.state.nv.us/binn/license.htm
Nevada Department of Taxation
555 E. Washington Ave.
Suite 1300
Las Vegas, NV 89101
PH: (702)486-2300
FAX: (702)486-2373
City of Las Vegas
Department of Business Services
P.O. Box 1900
400 Stewart Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89125
(702)229-6281
Telephoning someone
======================
Calling someone once is fine. If enough people are irritated at the
spammer and they all call the 1-800 number the spammer provides, the
spammer will get the idea (sooner or later) that it is costing them
more in irate people (and most especially loss of business) and it is
not worth it to spam.
Do not dial any phone numbers more than once from your home. Phone
harassment is * illegal * and you * can * be prosecuted in court for
this. Even tho' the caller id blocking code (may be *67 or *71 or some
other code) prevents your number from being displayed on their
telephone at home if they have caller ID, *57 will give the phone
company the number, *69 will dial back the phone number via automatic
call back. If it is a 1-800 number there are two problems. First
they can *always* get your phone number, and secondly it may *not* be
a toll free number. You may be charged for calling a 1-800 number.
Likewise, do not call collect using 1-800-COLLECT or 1-800-CALL-ATT
from home, once again this can be traced.
Austin comments : I would say that calling a listed non-800 number
*once* collect to voice a complaint is not harassment, but justified.
They sent you a postage due message, didn't they? If they don't want
to accept collect calls, they should say so - and if they do, you
should be a responsible person and not do it again.
AT&T Information for 1-800 numbers is 1-800-555-1212, but that only
helps if you know the company name you are trying to call. Also, you
can try searching for a 1-800 number (you do not have to know the
company name) at :
http://www.anywho.com/tf.html
Other telephone search mechanisms:
http://expertx.com/Free/xPhone/Locate.htm - Where that phone number is
located
http://www.zip2.com/
http://www.bigbook.com/
http://www.switchboard.com/
http://www.555-1212.com/
Snail Mailing someone
=======================
Likewise, one well thought out letter sent to the spammer might help
convince the spammer not to do this again. Especially if the spammer
was part of a corporation that didn't realize the detrimental effects
of spamming the Internet.
If you decide to deluge the spammers postal address by filling out one
or two "bingo" (popcorn) postage paid cards in the technical magazines
(by circling a few dozen "product info" requests per card & putting on
printed out self sticking labels with the spammers address), or by
putting preprinted labels on postage paid cards that come in the mail
in the little plastic packages, don't organize a public campaign (that
they can point to) against the spammer in the newsgroup.
Scott also reminds us :
Since this is the "Spam FAQ", I'd like to point this out: You're
basically Spamming the company offering information in a magazine. It
costs companies money, not the one you're spamming. They get a free
pile of junk which is easy to throw out. In other words, this may be
harming third parties more than the intended target. I'm not trying
to be Mr. Nice Guy, just trying to point out an important
technicality.
Organizing a campaign against the spammer could lead to the spammer
trying to get a cease & desist police order against the organizers.
Likewise, FAXes that are inverse pages (black background on white
letters) to a spammer could probably give you problems.
1-900, 1-800, 888, 877 and 1-### may be expensive long distance phone
calls
======================================================================
=====
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/nine.htm - 1-900 explained
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/cramming.htm - Mysterious
Phone charges
Be very careful when dialing a 1-800 or any "toll free" number you are
not familiar with. It may end up being a very expensive mistake.
Remember to dial these numbers from a phone booth so that your home
phone will never be charged. Another reason to call from a pay phone
is so that the spammer cannot get your home phone number. Even if you
are "Unlisted" when you call a toll free number the spammer gets your
phone number.
All 1-800, 888 or 877 numbers are *not* free. You may be charged for
the phone call. You can tell if the number charges by calling from a
phone booth. If you cannot get through then it charges. See below.
Likewise, numbers that may "look" like they are United States long
distance phone numbers may in fact be out of country and may cost you
$25 or more for a couple of minutes call. These calls are not
refundable. A scam artist trying to get money from the phone calls
(he gets a skim off the top) was dialing random beepers with an out of
country number.
A phone scam can be read at http://www.scambusters.org/809Scam.html
Some area codes to look for (some may not be active for another year
or two):
(Also see http://www.nanpa.com/number_resource_info/assignments.html )
242 Bahamas
246 Barbados
264 Anguilla
268 Antigua
284 British Virgin Islands
340 U.S. Virgin Islands
345 Cayman Islands
441 Bermuda
473 Grenada
649 Turks and Caicos
664 Monserrat
670 CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands?)
671 Guam
758 St. Lucia
767 Dominica
784 St. Vincent and Grenadines
787 Puerto Rico
868 Trinidad and Tobago
869 St. Kitts and Nevis
876 Jamaica
If the ad says "Procall", it is a large service bureau for 1-900
numbers in Arizona. When you call a pay-per-call number, there should
be a recorded intro that will give a customer service number. That
*should* connect with a live person.
I would like to thank Eileen at the FTC for kindly answering my
questions about 1-900 & 1-800 phone numbers.
Paraphrasing what she e-mailed me :
When a 1-900 number is advertised, the price must also be disclosed
(this may be found at 16 CFR Part 308).
When calling a 1-800 number that charges, there must be an existing
subscription agreement between the buyer and the seller
http://www.ftc.gov/ Federal Trade Commission Home Page
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/telemark/rule.htm Telemarketing Sales Rule
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/telemarketing/index.html -
Telemarketing information / scams
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/fraud.htm Reporting fraud
(from the "Online Scams page)
Junk Mail - The Law
===================
http://www.jmls.edu/cyber/index/spam.html - Collection of legal spam
items
http://www.vtwctr.org/casewatch/
http://192.41.4.29/index.html - 'Lectric Law Library
Kevyn tells us that : In many countries, forgers of headers can be
prosecuted. This is the equivalent of forging a postmark and
delivering it yourself. When someone sends out spam with forged
headers, he or she clearly:
a) knows that what they are doing is wrong, and that they can be
punished for it
b) is clearly attempting to evade detection and punishment.
For Norwegians, these pages may be interesting:
http://www.datatilsynet.no/
(Datatilsynet is a government controlled organisation, made to
protect people's right to privacy. This page explains that if someone
wants to advertise by email or SMS messages, they need prior consent
from the victims)
http://odin.dep.no/bfd/norsk/aktuelt/pressem/004051-070038/index-
dok000-b-n-a.html
You should also read Title 47 of the United States Code, Section 227.
There is a FAQ at cornell.law.edu for the text of the law (gopher or
ftp or http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/227.html ), and you can
use DejaNews to read the USC 47 thread on news.admin.net-abuse.misc to
make up your own mind (it invariably comes up) or you can look at :
http://www.cybernothing.org/docs/code47.5.II.txt
In Washington (State) (for example) fax laws (RCW 80.36.540 -
Telefacsimile messages) define "telefacsimile message" in such a way
that could be interpreted to include E-mail. It was not originally
written to cover E-Mail, but that is for the courts to decide :-).
California regulates it thru Section 17538(d) of the Business and
Professions Code.
A spammer has actually been prosecuted. See:
http://www.oneworld-design.com/nospam.html
In California (Quoted from http://Spam.abuse.net ): Spamming to or
from California e-mail service providers against their policy is now a
civil offense under California Business and Professions Code Section
17538.45. If you run a California-based e-mail service provider, you
need to notify your customers of the law and your anti-spam policy in
order to be eligible to collect damages of $50 per message.
Jeff tells us the California Code referring to spam (CA Bus. Prof.
Code Sections 17538.4 and 17538.45) may be found through entering
"17538" into:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html (A pretty authoritative source)
That search pointed to:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-
bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=705326548+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
Also see:
http://www.netatty.com/spam.html - Sue a California spammer
The Virginia law : http://leg1.state.va.us/000/cod/code51.htm
The Washington State Law : http://www.wa.gov/ago/junkemail/
The Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act :
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1030.html
Additional Resources - Lots Of Links and a *really* good book
=============================================================
The latest & greatest version of the Spam FAQ is found at:
http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html
Or *nicely* HTML'ed at:
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/net-abuse-faq/spam-faq.html
http://fuzzo.com/spam_faq.htm
or
http://www.netmeg.net/faq/internet/net-abuse/spam-faq/
Or the archive at:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.spam/
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/news/admin/net-abuse/misc/
This is addition to the most excellent Net Abuse FAQ (posted to
news.admin.net-abuse.misc, alt.current-events.net-abuse etc...),
brought to you by J.D. Falk <[email protected]> :
http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html
http://samspade.org/d/nanaefaq.html - news.admin.net-abuse.email FAQ
http://www.abuse.net/books.html - Spam Books
A most excellent book for novices and System Admin's alike, much more
in depth than this FAQ. A full 191 pages of how to fight Spam.
Hopefully if they sell enough then this book will stay updated :
Stopping Spam - Alan Schwartz and Simson Garfinkel ISBN : 1-56592-388-
X - $19.95
O'Reilly & Associates - 90 Sherman St., Cambridge MA 02140 707-829-
0515
Or :
http://stopspam.oreilly.com/
Spam cancellation notice (spam guidelines) :
http://spam.ohww.norman.ok.us/notice.htm
http://www.cm.org for info on NoCeM
http://www.ews.uiuc.edu/~tskirvin/faqs/spam.html
Net abuse jargon:
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ip/freenet/subs/complaints/spam/jargon.txt
http://www.deja.com/article/391150606
Software to track the headers / eliminate Spam for you :
http://mirrors.cylink.net/tucows/mac/macintosh.html - Mac software
http://samspade.org/t/ - Sam Spade WWW Spam tools - Excellent!
http://samspade.org/classic/ - Classic version
http://www-oss.fnal.gov/~kschu/fnnews.html - INND PERL spam filter
written by Jeff Garzik (Version 3)
http://www.areianet.gr/IRIX_Spamshield/ - Spam Block for IRIX (SGI)
based on KAI's spamshield 1.40
http://www.cix.co.uk/~net-services/library/ - Windows Spam Hater
http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/cleanfeed.html
http://www.julianhaight.com/spamcop.shtml - Spam Cop - Does the header
analysis for you.
http://www.neoworx.com/home122share.asp - NeoTrace - helps to find any
IP number, and possibly the name, address, telephone number and Email
contacts of the provider.
http://www.netdemon.net/ - 30+ spam tools ...
http://www.newapps.com/appstopics/Win_95_Anti-SPAM_Tools.html
http://www.spamhippo.com/
http://www.spammerslammer.com - Works with windows e-mail programs
that uses pop mail
http://www.ssi-us.com/remove - A project to clean your e-mail from
spammers list - You decide if it is good or bad ...
http://www.vipul.net/ricochet/ - automated spam tracing and reporting
agent
To FTP spamhl.exe Send the following E-Mail:
TO: [email protected]
BODY: open ftp.compulink.co.uk
cd /pub/net-services
get spamhl.exe
quit
Your Daily Spam News:
[email protected] - Web: http://spam.concordia.ca
Subscribe to Spam-News : [email protected]
or - [email protected]
http://www.spam-news.com
http://www.spamhippo.com/cgi-bin/newsspam - Top Spam Sites
Spammers and how to stop them :
http://abuse.net/spam-l - Improve your spam-fighting skills
http://abuse.sourceforge.net/ http://spam.sourceforge.net/ - Anti-spam
support site
http://combat.uxn.com/spamhaus.html - spam havens listing
http://come.to/the.lumber.cartel - TINLC - There Is No Lumber Cartel
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Communications_and_Network
ing/Electronic_Mail/Junk_Email/
http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Tech/Spam_Wars/ - spam news
http://home.att.net/~marjie1/ - Spam killer central
http://home.att.net/~marjie1/faq.htm - FAQ and gives how to view
headers (about half way down)
http://home.att.net/~marjie1/Glossary.htm - Glossary of terms
http://i.am/Spam.Anti/ - Spam Anti!
http://members.aol.com/bombagirl/freeware/email4u.txt - getit4u.txt
has a Spam section
http://members.aol.com/macabrus/cpfaq.html - CyberPromo Saga
http://members.tripod.com/~cyberstalked/hb140.html - Maryland Anti-
Harassment bill
http://members.tripod.com/~cyberstalked/story.html - Stalked by The
Woodside Literary Agency
http://members.tripod.com/~JOWazzoo/ConsumateSpamLinks666-FAQs.html
Consummate FAQ's page
http://members.tripod.com/~JOWazzoo/ConsumateSpamLinks666.html -
Consummate Spam Links Page
http://morehouse.org/hin - Internet Security
http://persona.www.media.mit.edu/judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.htm
l
http://rvl4.ecn.purdue.edu/~cromwell/lt/468.html - Internet Security
http://slashdot.org/articles/99/08/02/129213.shtml - ISP sues spammer
http://spam.abuse.net/spam/
http://spam.abuse.net/spam/howtocomplain.html
http://viper.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/oceanf.htm Regulation of
Computing and Information Technology
http://www-db.aol.com/corp/news/press/view?release=531& - AOL wins
against Spammers
http://www-fofa.concordia.ca/spam/complaints.shtml - Complaint
Addresses
http://www.abuse.net/cgi-bin/list-abuse-addresses - Complaint
http://www.antionline.com/ - Internet Security
http://www.ao.net/waytosuccess/nospam.html
http://www.ao.net/waytosuccess/spamnews.html
http://www.cabal.net/jason/index.html - A spammer tries to sue the
Cabal (TINC)
http://www.cauce.org - Trying to legislate against
http://www.ecofuture.org/ecofuture/jnkmail.html - How to Get Rid of
Junk Mail, and Telemarketers
http://www.claws-and-paws.com/spam-l/ - Improve your spam-fighting
skills
http://www.claws-and-paws.com/spam-l/tracking.html
http://www.coachnet.com/soho__21.htm - Small Office / Home Office
Newsletters Anti-Spam Articles for business
http://www.coachnet.com/soho__22.htm
http://www.coachnet.com/soho__29.htm
http://www.cs.purdue.edu/coast/hotlist/ - Internet Security
http://www.cybercrimecorp.com/ - CyberCrime Corp Hi-Tech Crime
Prevention and Investigation
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/news/news.admin.net-
abuse.email.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq/
http://www.hostedscripts.com/scripts/antispam.html - A script to
generate e-mail addresses
http://www.internetwk.com/columns/frezz020199.htm - A good article on
why the Internet should be self governing WRT Spam
http://www.junkemail.org/scamspam/ - "Help stop Scam Spammers!"
http://www.kclink.com/spam/ - A fight to bill Spammers
http://www.looksmart.com/eus1/eus53832/eus53833/eus225492/eus282819/eu
s278700/r?l&igv& - Spam link list
http://www.mcs.com/~jcr/junkemail.html
http://www.MsgTo.com - spam free e-mail - Asks first-time unsolicited
senders of email to prove they're human and not a spambot.
http://www.nags.org/
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/anti-spam - Anti-Spam mailing
list
http://www.ot.com/~dmuth/spam-l - Maintainer of the Spam-L FAQ
http://www.petemoss.com/
http://www.phase-one.com.au/fravia/pageadvi.htm - Stalking the spammer
Enemy
http://www.robertgraham.com/ - Infosec / computer security page
http://www.sengir.demon.co.uk/spam_sites.html - Where spammers get
their software
http://www.sengir.demon.co.uk/uf000359.gif - A computer contemplates
spam (see http://www.userfriendly.org/static )
http://www.spamgirl.com/email.htm
http://www.stanford.edu/~edhou/StanfordSpamFAQ.html
http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers/headers.html - More Reading
Headers
http://www.studio42.com/kill-the-spam/index.html - "I am sick of Spam
and I want it to stop"
http://www.sunworld.com/swol-08-1997/swol-08-junkemail.html - Sunworld
Anti-Spam
http://www.usenet2.org/ - A Usenet with no Spam
http://www4.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_index_19970819.html -
Special Spam Fighting Edition
E-Mail headers and tracing tools FAQs and links:
ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~bryanc/ - Mac WhatRoute
http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess/local/spam.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~laser3/simon.html - Yet another newbie
guide
http://kryten.eng.monash.edu.au/gspam.html
http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/emailfaq.html
http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/resource-list.html
http://t2.technion.ac.il/~s2845543/yanig.html - Also yet another
newbie guide
http://www-fofa.concordia.ca/spam/tools.html - Macintosh Spam fighting
http://www.crl.com/~sjkiii/news-admin-net-abuse.html
http://www.deja.com/article/420339665 - Forgery FAQ
http://www.deja.com/article/436881631 - How spammers get your E-Mail
address
http://www.elsop.com/wrc/nospam.htm
http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/antispam.html - Spam Software
http://www.rahul.net/falk/index.html#howtos
http://www.spam-archive.org/ - A collection of email-Spams.
http://www.ultranet.com/~gmcgath/selfdefense.html
http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.biblio.html - General E-Mail info
http://www.winsite.com/win3/winsock/page6.html - Windows Internet
Utilities
http://www.winsite.com/win95/netutil/index.html - Win 95 Net Utils
http://www.winsite.com/win95/netutil/page11.html - netcop /
netlab95.zip
Spam Info in other languages:
http://cwisdb.cc.kuleuven.ac.be/pisa/nl/spam.htm - Netherlands
http://inews.tecnet.it/articoli/aprile98/Netsurfing9804a.html -
Italian
http://kulichki-lat.rambler.ru/moshkow/SECURITY/stopfash.txt - Russian
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/usr/negi/news.html - Japan
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/usr/negi/newsgroup0.html - Japan
http://people.frankfurt.netsurf.de/Wolfgang.Kynast/nospam.htm - German
Anti-Spam links ...
http://perso.magic.fr/roumazeilles/spamantf.htm - Spam Anti! French
http://www.alkar.net/moshkow/html-KOI/SECURITY/stopfash.txt - Russian
http://www.despaml.interrob.de/ - German Anti-Spam Mailing List
http://www.droit.umontreal.ca/~labbee/ - French (Canadian)
http://www.ethereal.ru/~avk/anti-ad.html - Russian spam & headers page
http://www.nextel.no/kundesenter/hjelp/guider/901645506.5885.html -
Norway
http://www.online-recht.de/vorent.html?LGBerlin980514 - German Anti-
Spam and costs
http://www.rewi.hu-berlin.de/~gerlach/falsche-email-adressen.html -
German False E-Mail FAQ
http://www.snafu.de/~laura/de.admin.net-abuse.mail.txt - German net
abuse FAQ
http://www.student.hro.nl/0445746/ - Dutch anti spam site
Translate from/to English French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-
bin/translate?urltext=http%3a%2f%2fdigital%2enet%2f%7egandalf%2fspamfa
q%2ehtml&lp=en_de - English to Deutsch
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-
bin/translate?urltext=http%3a%2f%2fdigital%2enet%2f%7egandalf%2fspamfa
q%2ehtml&lp=en_fr - English to French
Or paste the text into:
http://www.unojust.org/html/trans.htm
Or why Netabuse is bad :
http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9808/10/tastyspam.idg/
http://www.fraudbureau.com/articles/consumer/article14.html - The cost
of spam
http://www.angelfire.com/co2/spamjamr/index.html - Good commentary on
why SPAM costs
Equal time, The spammer's viewpoint (Why Spam is good):
http://www.juicycerebellum.com/spam.htm
http://listen.to/spammers - Spammers Speak
http://members.theglobe.com/SpamSucks/spamspeak.html - Spammers Speak
http://x.deja.com/article/484286843 - Gerald Kohler (
[email protected] ) argues for spam, with some good rebuttals.
Click on "Thread" then click on message 8 then click on next in thread
to follow the conversation.
What the alt.binaries.slack Organization has done to fight Spam :
http://www.sputum.com/spit/Main.htm
http://www.shreve.net/~cuthulu/sputum/
Proud to be a NetScum (Many anti-Spammers have been added by the
spammers) :
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/supplements/TheNet/fall97/NET_SCUM.html
http://www.algebra.com/~ichudov/images/netscum/
http://www.netscum.org/
http://www.aldeberan.org/netscum/index.html - NetScum Site Recreated
Disclaimer : I am not a lawyer, 80% of the Internet is bull, free
advice is worth every penny you paid for it :-). Brought to you via
News since November 1995.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards for they are subtle and
quick to anger.
Ken Hollis - Gandalf The White - [email protected] - O- TINLC
WWW Page - http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/
Trace E-Mail forgery - http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html
Trolls crossposts - http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html
|
Закладки на сайте Проследить за страницей |
Created 1996-2024 by Maxim Chirkov Добавить, Поддержать, Вебмастеру |