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View Full Version : HELP ..... I've been SPOOFED!



Gus
14th-January-2004, 09:55 PM
Advice required. So far recived over 600 messages back on my business domain, "message undeliverable" responses to emails sent out from my domain ... except I didnt send them! Some ba****d has spoofed my email account.
Short of tracing the SOB down and beating him to death (I wish) ... any practical steps I can take to prevent my business being swamped?

bobgadjet
15th-January-2004, 12:57 AM
Originally posted by Gus
Advice required. So far recived over 600 messages back on my business domain, "message undeliverable" responses to emails sent out from my domain ... except I didnt send them! Some ba****d has spoofed my email account.
Short of tracing the SOB down and beating him to death (I wish) ... any practical steps I can take to prevent my business being swamped?

If I were in that position I would report it to my service provider.
They are inn the best postion to find out (maybe) who did it, if it's not too late.

I've not had the problem, but if it's happened to you I suppose it could to anybody.
Good luck, and please let us know the outcome.

Bob

Dreadful Scathe
15th-January-2004, 04:42 PM
only just noticed this thread

heres some info (http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/spoofing/) about spoofing and possible causes, and here follows some advice i ripped from elsewhere....




Spammers and/or their software often use names selected at random from
their list to use in the From: field, or spammers will just make up a
user name at a valid domain to make the return address look legitimate.
They don't want the bounces or angry complaints coming to them.

Sometimes spammers with a 'bone to pick' will wage an extended campaign
but these are fairly rare since even spam friendly ISP's and web hosts
will likely find such an attack unacceptable. Sending UCE is one thing,
using their network to intentionally abuse someone is something else.

Here are some suggestions on what you can do:

1. a. Contact your ISP or mail provider and make sure they understand
you're not involved. Using forged/bogus email addresses in the
From: field is common with spammers and your ISP/email admin
*should* be able to tell whether or not you're involved but some
places are more clueless than others.

b. If you own the domain being forged you may want to consider
putting a notice about the forgery on your main page (index.html,
default.html, etc.) and include a link to a page with a more
detailed description of what happened.

2. a. To report the spammer/forger you'll need to find a bounce that
contains FULL headers and message text. Some bounces may contain
no useful information, others will contain abbreviated headers,
and others will contain the full bounced message. Determine the
appropriate abuse department(s) responsible for the message
source and any URL's or email addresses used as a contact point
by the spammer.

b. You can use SpamCop to determine the appropriate addresses but
don't use it to send your complaint - you don't want to chance
your report being ignored because it arrives with other SpamCop
reports about the same incident. It could be counted as another
'strike' against their customer but not read. SpamCop reports
tend to be pretty much the same - most of the time.

3. a. Don't send 'spam' complaints -- send FORGERY complaints to the
abuse addresses. Many abuse departments will consider forgery a
more serious TOS violation than sending UCE.

b. i. Use the email address that was forged in order to establish
that you indeed have been forged.

ii. If your forgery complaint involves a non-existent email
address at a domain you own (and you get everything sent to
the domain that isn't delivered to a legitimate addy) send the
complaint using an email address of authority (postmaster@,
support@, abuse@, etc.) or use an email address that's
contained in the domain registration's contact information so
your authority to complain about the incident can be easily
verified.

4. a. Attempt to find any information of substance about a spamvertised
URL, check the domain's registration for example. Although it's
unlikely, you could find a site with sufficient assets to warrant
legal action.