From spamhater@bye-bye-spam.com Wed Sep 17 16:32:32 1997
imrket4u ttypb abq-ts1 Thu Sep 14 17:55 - 17:57
(00:02)
Filtering E-Mail using procmail or News with Gnus
==================================================
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/
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/mail/filtering-
faq/faq.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.best.com/~ariel/nospam
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
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 are some suggestions :
moneyworld.com
interramp.com
dm1.com
zygon.com
zygn.com
stockpick.com
netamerica1.com
selfhelpnet.com
helpnet.net
buytime.com
jackpots.com
cyberpromo.com
californiakid.com
lsat.com
megd.com
pwrnet.com
bulk-e-mail.com
bigprofits.com
bbbiiizzz.com
owlsnest.com
natureplus.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.
Bob's alternate view is that SPAM is an acronym for Send Phenomenal
Amounts of Mail.
To join a discussion list for Spams, send a message to
listserv@internet.com
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 majordomo@psc.edu 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)
or
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~cbrown/BL/ (USA)
First off, the only CORRECT way to "Spam" the net :
Show SPAM Gifts http://wolf.co.net/spamgift/index.html
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
The Church of Spam :
http://www.goodnet.com/~swiggy/
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/listing.html
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.
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.
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. 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 :
<A HREF="mailto:news.admin.net-abuse.email@myriad.alias.net"></a>
Or
<A HREF="mailto:news.admin.net-abuse.misc@myriad.alias.net"></a>
Or
<A HREF="mailto:news.admin.net-abuse.usenet@myriad.alias.net"></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
The MMF (Make Money Fast) Posts or any fraud on the Internet
================================================================
For a list of countries where Make Money Fast is illegal see :
http://www.pacifier.com/~klucke/mmf/mmf_table.html
MMFs should be reported to the user and their postmaster and the
following :
Federal Trade Commission Ms. Broder ( bbroder@ftc.gov ), the staff
attorney assigned to handle MMF. f you have a question or comment
regarding an antitrust or competition issue, please contact:
antitrust@ftc.gov . If you have a complaint or comment regarding a
consumer protection issue, please contact: consumerline@ftc.gov .
Fraud Department at the Internal Revenue Service net-
abuse@nocs.insp.irs.gov
National Fraud Information Center (NFIC) nfic@internetmci.com (may not
be working)
And the US Postal Inspection Service jcheezum@uspis.gov or
rrbroadnax@uspis.gov
For more info on the Postal Chain Letters & where to send them, take a
look at :
http://nctuccca.edu.tw/ftp/documents/Internet/MaasInfo/Other/NetAbuse.
html#USPS
Complain reasonably politely with a copy of the USPS URL on MMFs.
This stops 99%+ dead in their tracks. I've only had one person resist
the full treatment of getting the USPS web page dropped in their
mailbox - but their system admin fixed him up right quick :->
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.
Rolf has created a page dedicated to making fun of MMF losers :
http://www.clark.net/pub/rolf/mmf/home.html
Or the MMF myth :
http://www.pacifier.com/~klucke/mmf/mmf_myth.html
Keep track of On-Line Fraud, subscribe to the fraud discussion at :
http://www.silverquick.com
To subscribe by email send a message to :
newscaster@silverquick.com
The body of the message to read :
join fraudnews
Hoaxes and scams :
http://www.abraxis.com/fans/PAGE_7.htm
Or for the latest scams :
http://www2.scambusters.org/scambusters/
Call 1-800-688-9889 for the phone and fax numbers of the federal law
enforcement agencies near you.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission now has a web page
specifically set up to take reports of financial scams promoted over
the Internet. Basically, anything that involves promoting stocks,
bonds, and such comes under their authority. A big fraction of the
MAKE MONEY FAST postings fall in this category. For the full story
see :
http://www.sec.gov/enforce/comctr.htm or Email: enforcement@sec.gov
Food and Drug Administration "Have you had a problem with a food,
drug, cosmetic, medical device, radiation-emitting electronic product,
or veterinary drug? Did it cause you an injury or was it insanitary or
improperly labeled? Perform a public service and report the problem to
the Food and Drug Administration." :
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/problem.html
Also the FDA explains :
Complaints about the following should be made to the agencies listed.
Consult your local telephone directory or public library for specific
information.
o meat and poultry products: U.S. Department of Agriculture
o sanitation in restaurants and cafeterias: local or state health
departments
o unsolicited products in the mail: U.S. Postal Service
o accidental poisonings: poison control centers or hospitals
o pesticides, air, and water pollution: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency
o hazardous household products (including appliances, toys and
chemicals): Consumer Product Safety Commission
o exposure to hazardous materials in the workplace: Occupational
Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor
o advertising and warranties: Federal Trade Commission (except
advertising for prescription drugs, which is regulated by FDA)
o dispensing and sales practices of pharmacies: State Board of
Pharmacy
o medical practice: State Board of Healing Arts
There is a WWW site dedicated to *any* kind of fraud. It is :
A partnership of the National Association of Attorneys General, the
Federal Trade Commission and The National Consumers League
http://www.fraud.org/
Wolfgang sez :IMHO MMF is associated with "Hello, my name is Dave
Rhodes. In 198...".
There was also a forged article purporting to tell how MMF is illegal
:
From: purvis@hoover.fbi.gov (Melvin Purvis)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ he arrested / shot John
Dillinger.
Subject: 'Make Money Fast' Scam
Jon said : "Hermann" appears to have spammed at least 27 Bitnet
mailing lists, including TANGO-L, where I saw it, with a standard MMF.
I checked at the US Post Office web site and verified that chain
letters are federal crimes under Title 18, United State Code, Section
1302. This does apply to email as well as paper; quoting from URL
>From http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm :
"Recently, high-tech chain letters have begun surfacing. They may be
disseminated over the Internet, or may require the copying and mailing
of computer disks rather than paper. Regardless of what technology is
used to advance the scheme, if the mail is used at any step along the
way, it is still illegal."
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
I believe that the applicable Canadian description can be found at :
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/html/commerc.htm
[French language version]
http://canada.justice.gc.ca/folio.pgi/fstats.nfo/query=pyramidale+/doc
/{@1}/hit_headings/words=4/hits_only?
[English language version]
http://canada.justice.gc.ca/folio.pgi/estats.nfo/query=[jump!3A!27c34_
000r!2Ee0055!2E1!281!29!27]/doc/{@20517}?
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 ...
The law in Australia and where to send complaints to :
http://www.wa.gov.au/gov/mft/pages/mftbn10.html
Ministry of Fair Trading
P O Box 6355
EAST PERTH 6536
DOES ANYBODY HAVE POSTAL INSPECTOR ADDRESSES FOR OTHER COUNTRIES THAT
PONZI / MMF SCHEMES ARE ILLEGAL IN?
1-900, 1-800 and 1-809 may be expensive long distance phone calls
=================================================================
Be very careful when dialing a 1-800 or a long distance 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.
All 1-800 numbers are *not* free. 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.
Some area codes to look for :
1-809-XXX-XXXX - Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands
1-242-XXX-XXXX - Bahamas
1-246-XXX-XXXX - Barbados
1-441-XXX-XXXX - Bermuda
1-787-XXX-XXXX - Puerto Rico
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
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