Spam is any message or posting, regardless of its content, that is sent to multiple recipients who have not specifically requested the mail. It can also be multiple postings of the same message to newsgroups or list serves that aren't related to the topic of the message.
The individuals who send spam are typically people who purchased or harvested a list of email address. They send messages from numerous different addresses to all areas of the Web.
What should I not do with Spam?
Never respond to unsolicited email/spam. To the individuals who send spam, one “hit” among thousands of mailings is enough to justify the practice.
Never respond to the spam e-mail's instructions to reply with the word “remove.” This is a ploy to get you to react to the email and alerts the sender that your email address is open and available to receive mail, which greatly increases its value. If you reply, your address may be placed on more lists, resulting in more spam.
Never click on a URL or web site address listed within a spam. This could alert the site to the validity of your email address, potentially resulting in more spam.
Never sign up with sites that promise to remove your name from spam lists. Although some of these sites may be legitimate, more often than not, they are address collectors . The legitimate sites are ignored (or exploited) by the spammers; the address collection sites are owned by them. In both cases, your address is recorded and valued more highly because you have just identified that your address is active.
How do I report unsolicited mail?
If you've been “spammed” by someone you don't know, don't reply to the sender or follow any removal instructions that might be included. Instead, complain to the sender's ISP.
Before it ever reaches your Inbox, each piece of mail must be sent from a server. Most server administrators are responsible and don't want their machines used for spamming. ISPs typically have policies prohibiting spamming through their accounts. Once they are notified that a user has been abusing their account, many ISPs will shut down the offender.
How do you find out whom t contact? Look at the domain. This is the part after the “@” sign in an email address or the last part of the server name in a URL. For example, the URL of http://www.abc-bds.bogus.net/somepage.html has a domain of “bogus. net.”
Once you know the domain (for example, “anydomain”), email the entire message (including full headers) to abuse@anydomain.com. Explain your situation. The ISP may have further requirements, but this is the person or group you need to contact.
If the spam or abusive email is being sent from a Yahoo! Mail account, please forward an unedited copy of the following information to abuse@yahoo.com for administrators to evaluate and take appropriate action per Yahoo's Terms of Service Agreement. Make sure to include:
the original subject line
complete headers
Email programs often display abbreviated headers. Learn more about headers
the complete message body
If reports are missing any one of these items, it may take longer for the Yahoo! Mail Abuse Team to properly investigate and take appropriate action.
How do I find out who sent the email?
Governmental law strictly limits the information that online service providers like Yahoo! may disclose about their users. However, the email message itself does contain some information relating to the sender's identity. In the headers of email messages sent via Yahoo! Mail, an Internet Protocol (IP) address that corresponds to the sender's Internet service provider (ISP) is included.
Provided that you have opted to display "full headers" in your email application, you should find a line in the email message that contains an 8 to 12 digit number, separated by periods. It should look something like this:
Received: from [123.456.78.91] by . . .
The "123.456.78.91" represents the unique IP address of the sender's ISP. Once you have identified the IP address, you can run a search to determine which ISP provides this person with Internet access.
There are several utilities available on the web to run a search. Here's one web site where the utility will try to determine the actual computer that uses the IP address:
