I own a domain name. I have an email catch-all configured for that domain, and starting 2 months ago I started receiving reams of bounced emails that I never sent.

They are all spams that are being sent with the "from" email being from my domain.

I have been reporting these spams successfully until today, when I set up my mailhosts. Since I did that, I get this message:

Possible forgery. Supposed receiving system not associated with any of your mailhosts
Will not trust anything beyond this header

For example:
http://spamcop.net/sc?id=z982557828z2c3514...b5dcc397a1038fz

Is there a way that I can report these emails using spamcop?

Thanks.

The rules state you can report the bounces (the server is "resending" the spam to a forged email address) but you are not supposed to report the original spam which was not sent to you. Mailhosts is simply enforing that rule by only allowing you to report messages sent to your addresses (domains, actually).

Thanks for clarifying that, it makes sense.

But if I report the bounces, won't the reports be sent to the network of the poor schmuck who was receiving spam sent on my behalf?

The bounces aren't coming from the spammer, they're coming from the spamee.

I hope I'm making sense, I feel like I'm confused.

Very true. But the bounces themselves have become such a problem that they have become a form of spam. The point of reporting them is to get those that are bouncing mail to forged addresses to stop doing it. Mail needs to be rejected prior to being accepted at which point it is bounced back to the sending IP address where it actually came from rather than the forged reply to address.

You might try reading these FAQ also to learn more about the problem

How do I stop spammers from using my email address?
OR
Why am I getting all these Bounces?

Miss Betsy

Thanks for those.

Thing is, I've been patient. They say it lasts only a few days or a week, for me this is 6 weeks now with no signs of it slowing up.

My domain, the way it is now, only allows 5 email addresses. I have a valid use for the catch-all, I don't want to go into great detail, but it is a feature that has been handy for me.

My own internet service provider, roadrunner, is one of the offenders, just this morning I received 5 bounced email notices just from them. And from individuals, invitations to add myself to their allowed sender list.

I was patient for a long time, now I'm going nuts. Yesterday alone I received 100 of those notices. Not to mention the spam that comes through addressed to me, some of it with a "from" or a "reply to" address from my own domain.

I swear, I'm not a violent person, but if I had a gun and I knew where to point it...

This is one of those areas that spammers have ruined for everyone. If you leave a catch-all account open, you are likely to get much more spam that others do. I understand they are convienient, until something like this happens.

You are correct, 6 weeks is a long time for this type of activity. Is it possible you upset someone by reporting them and this is revenge? Until SMTP is replaced with something more secure (nothing on the horizon that I've seen) there is no way to stop someone from forging your domain on their spam messages.

While you should not report these through spamcop, you can use spamcop to determine the destination for reports and send manual reports. It is a lot more work, though. Also, reporting the sites that are bouncing to you (both non-deliverables and the "invitations to add myself") will possibly alert them to what they are doing (dumping spam on other innocent users). If they stop, your problem will be reduced as well.

See Challenge/Response for this bit of lunacy. Sure, it's wondeful for the person sitting behind that 'tool' ... but as you indicate, it is currently a real PITA for the rest of the world. On the other hand, some folks "gladly" follow through on that request for acceptance .. on the premise that future spam will end up in that very account rather than bouncing back to "your" InBox .....????