I have an e-mail address of a former employee of a client of mine that I use
(with permission) to monitor spam since this address receives MUCH spam. Of
course, it is within the realm of possibility that some of this was actually
subscribed to, but most of it is spam. Therefore, this account has value to
me, but is not to be confused with a real spam trap.
Today, this address received a spam which claimed that it was subscribed to,
but it...
(1) looks spammy
(2) contains spammy obfuscation... if they are so legit, why do they have to
obfuscate? That has always been a red flag
(3) and... the spam contains threats to anyone who might blacklist them (and
I take offense at the tone of these threats... especially since the text of
the actual thread is full of obfuscated words... wouldn't you take offense?)
Of course, if my recipient address was a true spamtrap address, this would
be a no-brainer... but since it wasn't a true spamtrap address, am I
actually putting myself at legal risk if I were to list this spammer on
SURBL and URIBL?
Also, another idea is to contact them and challenge them to provide the IP
address and date/time stamp of the supposed request from my client's former
employee. If the date/time stamp they provide is **recent**, they'd be
caught "red handed" as well... but the problem here is that I would then
have provided this e-mail address to the spammer for listwashing...
something I'm reluctant to do.
Any comments/suggestions welcome!
Rob McEwen
PowerView Systems
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(478) 475-9032
HERE IS THE SPAM:
(I replaced some text with "ANOMOMIZED" anywhere where the original message
might have given away the original recipient e-mail address)
Received: from mail7.mdx.safepages.com ([216.127.133.22])
by ANOMOMIZED (ANOMOMIZED) with ESMTP (SSL) id ANOMOMIZED
for <ANOMOMIZED>; Sat, 4 Mar 2006 ANOMOMIZED
Received: by mail7.mdx.safepages.com (Postfix, from userid ANOMOMIZED)
id 82BB91BCBFA; Sat, 4 Mar 2006 13:35:05 +0000 (GMT)
Received: from walla.com (71-214-97-102.ptld.qwest.net [71.214.97.102])
by mail7.mdx.safepages.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id ANOMOMIZED
for <ANOMOMIZED>; Sat, 4 Mar 2006 13:35:04 +0000 (GMT)
Message-ID: <ANOMOMIZED>
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: ANOMOMIZED
Subject: This is Lisa Sorensen, trying to reach you?
Date: 04 Mar 2006 ANOMOMIZED
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Is it working for you?</TITLE>
<META NAME=3D"generator" CONTENT=3D"ToniArts EasyHtml v.2.2">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<font color=3D"#0000A0" face=3D"verdana" size=3D"2 pts"><b>
Hello<br><br>
<p>
I want to talk with you on a personal level.<br>
About the company you're currently involved with,<br>
or the online program you're working.</p>
<p>Or, maybe you're just tired of your J.O.B. (Just Over Broke).</p>
<p>
I'm just going to come right out and ask you.</p>
<p>
<font color=3D"#FF0000">IS IT WORKING FOR YOU?</font></p>
<p>
Are you fed up with the LIES and the Get Ri*ch Quick Sch*emes,<br>
Or tired of working to put mo*ney in someone ELSE'S pocket?</p>
<p>I know how you feel. I have been there too.</p>
<p>There is HOPE.</p>
<p>
If you're ready to make some real mo*ney and work with a real </p>
<p>
Heavy Hitter, Follow Me! I help my downline. In fact,</p>
<p>
this mai*ling is for them:-) I will do it for YOU TOO!</p>
<p>Cl*ick The "Help Me Succeed Lisa Below to get started now</p>
<a href=3D"http://xoomaworldwide.com/lisalisa";><font color=3D"#FF0000">Help
=
me Succeed Lisa!</font></a><br>
<a href=3D"http://xoomaxooma.com";><font color=3D"#FF0000">Visit our Support
=
Site for Testimonials</font></a><br>
<br><br>
Moonlit Enterprises<br>
POB 2726<br>
La Pine, OR<br>
97739<br><br>
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D<br>
If you no longer wish to share infomation,<br>
and followup from me, please re*ply with NoThankYou in the subject,<br>
or click this self re*moval link: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
=3DNoThankYoualpha<br><br>
<font color=3D"#FF0000">W*ARNING: There will be a $500 fine PER INCIDENT
for=
False Sp*am accusations,<br>
resulting in loss of bu*siness for us. This is a serious offense.<br>
All of our ma*iling files include recipients ma*iling address, telephone,
me,<br>
and IP address at the time they requested more information from a 3rd party
=
vendor.<br>
Can and will be provided upon request.<br>
To find out what sp*am IS and what sp*am is NOT, please visit:<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm";>Federal
=
Can Sp*am Act</a><br>
We do NOT ha*rvest e*mails, use false headers, mislea*ding subjects, and we
=
do<br>
provide re*moval instructions. This is NOT SP*AM.<br>
I am a real person helping real people everyday. Please just hit your
de*let=
e key or follow re*moval info<br>
if not interested.</font>
<br>
Please be patient, it may take up to 24 hours for me to receive your
request=
.<br>
Thankyou, ALL requests honored.<br>
</font></b>
</BODY>
</HTML>
