Technical Support |
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The purpose of this page is to assist
you in the reducing the amount of Spam you receive as well as in
reducing and combating the amount of Spam that is sent across the
Internet.
Below you will find a couple of links that may be of help toward
stopping SPAM or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email). Included within
these sites are suggestions and tips, some which you may find
interesting and helpful plus some that are even a bit humorous.
(MAPS)
Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC
ORBD.ORG
Death to
Spam -- A Guide To Dealing With Unwanted E-Mail
A source of one free handy tool is the program named SamSpade
which will help you to parse (decipher) the "full" email
header from a spam email. Other similar programs are also available
on the internet for you to use to help combat spam email. The
SamSpade (or other) programs will most usually give an accurate
indication of the actual source domain or IP number from which the
spam has originated.
Optionally, without such a program, you may be able to visually
determine the "real source" of the spam..... often it is
the domain or IP number shown furthest down (closest to the text of
the email message).
Additionally, the UXN Spam Combat
website has a lot of tools where you can enter a domain name or an
IP number and it will look up the registered information. Most
usually just the "Wordwide Lookup" at the UXN site will
give you the needed results, the other "utilities" in the
left column may also help for looking up by IP number.
Once you have looked up the registered information for the offending
source, you can then send a complaint letter to the abuse department
of the ISP (or host) provider for that source. Address your email to
abuse@thatdomain.com (replace thatdomain.com with the appropriate
domain.com or domain.net as appropriate from your "lookup"
results). Be sure that the full header is visible or included with
the offending spam following the text of your letter. Note that the
host is listed at the bottom of the lookup results. You may also
want to send a cc/copy of your letter to uce@ftc.gov
Important -- your email should go to the host ISP provider
and not to the actual sender's domain. Typically at the bottom of
the lookup results it will show something like NS1.THISHOST.NET and
NS2.THATHOST.NET and possibly more. The portion shown here as
THISHOST or THATHOST could be the same or different. Use the first
or both (if different). And if the spammer's actual domain is
something like makemoneyx.com and if the results of looking up
makemoneyx.com shows that the NS1 and NS2 hosts are the same or
similar to that domain then look up the host too. It could possibly
be the same company! If it's the same, then look up the host to see
who serves them. It is the host who is NOT associated with the
offending domain that you complain to. Thus if THISHOST.NET did not
own makemoneyx.com then you would send your complaint letter to
abuse@thishost.net
Also, if they are using an email at msn or yahoo, the odds are
probable that it is not a valid email address or it may be a pick up
point for replies. Your complaint letter should also be cc/copy to
the abuse@msn.com or as applicable.
If your complaint letter that you send to abuse@thishost.net is not
deliverable and is returned to you, you may want to resend it to
postmaster@thishost.net (substituting the appropriate name).
Simply state in your complaint letter that you are offended by
solicitations and that you feel your privacy is violated, and (if
applicable) that it violates U.S. federal and state laws, and ask
them to assist you. Do not use profanity or threats, as such could
also be considered illegal, and probably would not be of any
benefit. Try to also be as brief as possible as the host site may be
receiving a lot of complaints against a spammer.
Additional Notes
If the origination of the spam is from Canada or from a foreign
country outside of the U.S. and its territories any contact with
such originator could be a futile and wasted effort. Canada and
foreign countries either do not have laws against spam and/or may
not respect U.S. federal or state laws. For those people who are
more experienced at dealing with spam, you may desire to contact
"up-stream" parties in those cases. In the least you can
still forward the offending spam to uce@ftc.gov requesting that the
U.S. government put into effect stronger laws against spam.
Another item of help would be to check within the text of the spam
for a website that sender may want you to view or they may give a
telephone number or email address within that text. Information
within that text could also provide you with a source to forward
that spam to with your message requesting that they cease further
contact. Keep in mind that "toll free" telephone numbers
may reveal your own telephone number to them, later resulting in
unwanted solicitations by phone. Thus it may not be recommended to
call them.
An important item too, as recommended by many anti-spam websites, is
not to use their method which they suggest for being removed
from their list. Often to do so will only "confirm" that
your email address is valid, and you could continue to get more spam
from them or from others. So if they say "click here to be
removed" or say to reply with the words "remove" in
the subject line, or similar, it's recommended that you do not. You
could be simply confirming that your email address is a valid one.
Investigate Your Email Program
In order to fight against spam and to be able to use some of the
tools suggested, you will have to learn how to view the "full
header" of email messages.
In Outlook Express, with the offending email open, click upon View
(Tools) and then Properties...... a window will open showing the
full header. (It is the contents of this entire window that you have
to include in any forwarded letter that you may send. This is also
the portion which you would paste into SamSpade program, or from
which you can manually determine the real source of this spam.)
In Pegasus Mail, with the offending email open, click upon Reader
then Show All Headers. The full header will then be viewable within
the offending message. (The entire message with full header would be
pasted into your complaint letter. Only the portion from the top
down to the message text would be pasted into SamSpade or similar
program.)
With other email programs, typically with the offending email being
open and readable, try clicking upon some of the "tools"
above, eventually you will find the option that shows the full
header.
Your Privacy Rights
To help reduce or eliminate spam from being sent to your email, or
to reduce unwanted telephone solicitations, be sure to check the
"privacy policy" that most internet sites have posted.
Some sites may have opt-out features or a preference page where you
may set your preferences. Otherwise you may desire to enquire by
email about their privacy policy, but be sure to state in your
enquiry that your email address and other personal information is
not to be used by any party for any solicitation. And when dealing
with companies by telephone or by mail, be sure to state that you do
not want solicitations or to be put onto any list that could result
in same. Newsgroups and chat forums can also be a source for bulk
emailers or spammers.
Anti-Spam Software
Personal Anti-spam
applications can help you customize and add another protection layer
to fit your personal needs.
Spam
Buster by Contact Plus
SpamKiller
by Novasoft
eMailman
Comments
We hope that this page has been of some assistance to you. Other
sources of anti-spam information and programs that can help with
dealing with Spam can be found on the internet by using the search
engines. Try using search words such as "anti spam fight
email" and other words in various combinations.
Whereas it is you who is receiving the unwanted solicitations, it
must be yourself who deals with it. Either you simply ignore the
Spam and trash it, else if you are a fighter and you wish to stop it
then you must be the one who deals with it. Hopefully, you may be
able to stop some of the sources of Spam by contacting the hosts. By
advising the companies or sites that you deal with of your
preference against solicitation you may be able to further reduce
incoming Spam.
As a safety precaution, especially if you do not have an anti-virus
program running on your computer, if you ever receive an email with
an attachment you should never open or "run" it especially
if it is an exe, com, or other "run-able" program. Even if
it does not contain a virus there is still a possibility that a
program could cause harm to your computer. If such an attachment
came from a friend, do they actively use an anti-virus program? The
best safety for your computer is to have an anti-virus program.
If you have other questions or need further assistance, please email
the abuse department at IOLS at abuse@iols.net
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