Spamming Techniques

[Sirotnikov]

I have a policy of 0 spam policy.

Obviously since I can't really stop most of the spam, I just filter it using spambayes and mailwasher.

But when I meat Israeli spammers, I always read the mail, and then analyze the Received headers to find out how they were sent.

Most Israeli spammers are quite primitive and one can easily find their personal information, real IP and report them.

Reporting them causes very little problems since there isn't a clear anti-spamming law in Israel. So the ISP doesn't remove them, but instead makes a remark, and they have to say they are sorry and remove my address from their service.

It does create some hassle when you are confronted by your ISP, and I guess the ISP will use better judgement regarding this client form now on.

I also thought of actually using the personal info I find on spammers (usually via their web-site registrar information) and call them up at home or something, and yell at them. But I guess that would be a bad idea since they could sue and claim I was harassing them or making threats... which is more serious than spamming - much easier to explain a 60 y/o justice and I can't prove I didn't threaten to kill his family.

So this is out of the question in the meanwhile.


So I was going to report this spammer's site and his address to his ISP (tiscali is really really bad!) after I checked in his site and stuff. I even tried to look up stuff on them in spamcop.


Suddenly when I send the mail I get a notice of refusal from my mail server, citing my IP appearing in a spamcop!

The reason cited - I supposedly sent an e-mail to a spam trap... within the last half hour!

That is really odd!

I haven't sent any mails, nor have I got any worm / virus thing.


What I suspect, is that while I was visiting one of the spammer's sites, my visiting IP was logged, and somehow immediately used in a forge e-mail header, or submitted to spamcop.

This with the intention of blocking my possible reports.

Obviously all I did was disconnect and reconnect and my IP was changed.

But that is a horribly mischievous tactic!

[LordShiva]

I wouldn't know anything at all about spam

[Flubber]

Unless the laws in Israel are very odd I cannot see how a single phone call would constitute harassment.

Plus don't be dumb-- use a pay phone to call them (once every 30 minutes) -- If they do not answer, just fillup their voicemail with anti-spam messages and commentary

[Solver]

A single call wouldn't bring harassment charges in any civilized country, but it may be enough for charges of threatening the person. No way to prove you didn't say "I'll kill you effing spammer".

[Sirotnikov]

They could claim I threatened them and what ever.

This could be a lengthy / costly legal process.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
They could claim I threatened them and what ever.

This could be a lengthy / costly legal process.

Use the payphone and threaten away?


Oh and people can claim anything false they want. I don't live my life worrying about the fake claims people will make

[SlowwHand]

What if you just tracked them down and broke their fingers? See how much spam they send then.

[Japher]

nope, I can type with my... uh, family site and all... use your imagination

[Sirotnikov]

Originally posted by Japher
nope, I can type with my... uh, family site and all... use your imagination

Your Feet?

[Sirotnikov]

Good News
The host of the offending website has responded (in 3 AM!)

I always send a copy e-mail not only to the ISP of the mail service provider, but also to the web provider of the site promoted.

translation:

Thank you for turning our attention to this phenomena which can directly hurt our servers.

We shall approach the site owner and ask him to cease distributing mail using the server.

This is both good and... odd.

Good:
This is a first time that a hosting service provider responds kindly, instead of saying "well, he wasn't using our mail servers to do that, so ... not our problem".

Odd:
No where is there evidence that the spammer used his web server to distribute the e-mail.

From what I managed to understand from the e-mail header - he used a foreign mail address provider in the UK.

So how come the web provider does take supposed responsibility?

Either he
1) mistakenly thinks the spammer used his service for mail - in which case - what effect will it have on the spammer? eventually none.
or
2) he actually really knows the spammer used his service for mail (he better understood the e-mail headers) - then two things are possible: either this is a real acknowledgment, or this is a mere "hey, so nice of you to call us" PR attempt.
or
3) he somehow feels responsible for his client, which is a very good precedent.

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by Solver
No way to prove you didn't say "I'll kill you effing spammer".

No way to prove you did, either.

[Proteus_MST]

If it is just a small hosting provider with a small server hosting only a few websites I won´t find it hard to believe that he and the spammer might be connected.
You don´t need a lot of hardware to provide hosting services on a small scale (I know some of my friends who do and they are just "normal persons" and not owners from large companies or the like).

So, no reason not to believe that Spammer and Hoster have very close ties.

[Addled Platypus]

dont you have anything without so much spam

[Harovan]

I thought this was a thread about the fine art of spamming Apolyton.

[Krill]

Damn you Siro, we want to spam