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No Spam!
In January and February of 2004, the myparentime.com domain was illegally used by spammers -- they illegally forged myparentime.com in the "reply-to" field of hundreds of thousands of spam emails, most NOT family-friendly. The industry calls this a "Joe Job." Anyone is vulnerable. Read an informative article from TechTv.com.
Fortunately, my situation lasted only 2 months. But I am still working to undue much of the damage that has been done. I also believe that the myparentime.com domain is still listed unknowingly in some spam block systems. This round appears to have ended for the moment, and I feel like a winner for sticking it out and fighting for what is rightfully mine. But now I am more knowledgeable and full of informative resources, so I am more than ready to fight if this type of abuse does happen to occur again. Thanks to everyone who did provide their support, including friends, visitors, spam victims, my domain registrar Dotster, and a very special thank you to my wonderful webhosting company since 1999, FutureQuest, Inc., who not only provided resources but defended my domain when I wasn't able. I guess something good did come out of this mess...I came out knowing more about spam emails than I ever knew before. Knowledge is power, which is why I have left all the information regarding my situation exactly how it had been when the situation was most critical. Read, learn and apply what you've learned to help rid the Internet world of spammers and forgers!
Read a short description of "Joe Job" and what we and others have unfortunately experienced. Click here.
These emails are traveling all over the world, and tarnishing our good name. Before you email us about this spam problem, please understand...
1. We are very aware of the problem.
2. This issue has been reported to the FTC and IFCC.
3. We are reporting as much of this abuse as we can (but please remember that I am just one person).
4. If you plan on sending threatening emails, you want to be sure you are accusing the right person of the crime. We have listed many resources below where you can check the exact source of those spam emails you are receiving.
5. Please do not email us and ask us to remove you from the mailing list. We cannot remove you from any lists, since we have not sent you any emails -- spammers have done this, not anyone associated with myparentime.com.
6. Do not reply to spam emails! Why? One reason is...you don't want these people to know you have an active email address - this will only invite even more spam. Another reason? You may be replying to an innocent party, in which case that innocent party may receive 1000 times more emails due to the original spam emails sent (this is what was happening in my case).
How can you help us report these spam emails?
Before you decide to report any spam email, make sure you check the original, full email headers for the IP address to discover the true identity of the person sending the spam (see links below on how to do this). It is very easy to create a reply-to address in an email, which spammers often do.
IMPORTANT! If you are receiving spam emails containing any of the following websites: openz.us, ghor.us, whokz.info, amyz.info, gooodz.info, babz.info, hardtyz.us, etite.biz (operating off same server but different registrant), and 11dot.us (IP# 220.175.8.49 operating off same server but different registrant) - (IP# same for all sites 61.143.182.147), your spam has come from Chinanet (IP# 202.97.0.0 - 202.97.31.255), as listed in the APNIC Whois Database. Forward that entire spam email including FULL header information to: anti-spam@ns.chinanet.cn.net. Also from the APNIC Whois Database, CC that email to: mengjian@gwbn.net.cn - This is the email address of Greatwall Broadband Network Co. Ltd. (IP# 211.161.0.0 - 211.162.255.255).
In addition... some of these spam emails containing one of the above websites are also coming from: IP# 62.90.192.0 - 62.90.202.255. CC those spam emails to: abuse@barak013.net.il.
BEFORE YOU FORWARD SPAM: Please be sure that the information is the same as what is listed here - do not blindly report spam emails without confirming where they came from first.
Report spam to the FTC at UCE@FTC.GOV. Be sure you include the full header and complete email.
One other thing you can do, is post the full spam email (including FULL header information), to the following newsgroup: news.admin.net-abuse.sightings. There are some very knowledgeable people in this forum -- I've already posted a few email headers there.
If you decide to forward the spam email to us, please be sure to include the FULL HEADERS -- we cannot do anything without this information. Also, don't just include the header information...we need the full email forwarded to our Community Abuse Department, and the full headers.
How do I look up IP #s?
Here are a just a few 'WhoIs' Databases:
What if there are no email headers available, or I cannot locate full header information?
If there are no email headers available (we were informed that spammers are even using our domain email for cellphone text messaging! We have confirmed this, because unfortunately...angry victims of these spam text messages are calling us to complain), there is probably some other identifying information in the body of the message (possibly a website to visit, phone number or address). If this is the case, visit the following website for the WhoIs database and contact the abuse department of the appropriate webhosting company of that website.
DO NOT simply reply to the email address in the "Reply-To" field.
How can I decifer full email headers?
The websites below provide more information on how to do this.
Where can I learn more about emails, spam and other related information?
These websites are just a few that provide helpful information:
Spam laws
Thank you so much for your understanding and patience during this time. Please view our privacy policy for more information. Help us fight spam!
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