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Can't Report AOL Spam anymore


IanDavid

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OK, I've tried everything I can think of to use SpamCop to report the spam I receive at my AOL address.

It used to work a few months ago, but not anymore.

Now, whenever I try, I get a message "No source IP address found, cannot proceed"

This is what I have tried:

1) Hitting the "forward" button to the reporting address.

2) Hitting "View Source" and pasting it into the SpamCop form.

3) Hitting "View Source," copying the data to the clipboard, hitting forward, and then pasting the sourcecode at the begining of the email, and then submitting via email.

4) Hitting "View Source" and then copying it into the reporting form along with the text of the email.

I've tried reporting my own email from my Spamcop address to see if maybe it is a clever trick that the spammers are using-- it is not. I can't report my own emails.

I've tried accessing the emails either directly from the AOL program, or from the AOL Communicator program-- doesn't work either way.

And don't laugh, but yes, I did contact AOL tech support.

The results were predictable:

Me: spam is bypassing my email setting that is supposed to limit email to only people in my address book or on my buddy list.

AOL: I am sorry you are having trouble. We'll have someone look into it.

Me: Also, is AOL stripping the IP addresses from incoming emails, or have they reformatted them? I'd like to be able to report the spam to SpamCop, but it says the messages do not have valid IP addresses.

AOL: I am sorry you are having trouble. We'll have someone look into it.

Me: So, is the thing with the IP addresses a bug, or something AOL is doing on purpose?

AOL: I am sorry you are having trouble. We'll have someone look into it.

Me: That's nice. When will they get back to me and tell me what is wrong, and what I have to do to fix it.

AOL: They won't.

Me: Why?

AOL: Because we don't do that. You will know the problem is fixed when you stop getting spam.

Me: But how will I know what to do about the incomplete headers?

AOL: I am sorry you are having trouble. We'll have someone look into it, but we won't tell you anything.

Me: This makes me very mad. I want someone at AOL to contact me.

AOL: We really don't care. We're AOL, and we're a bunch of dickheads. Thank you for throwing your problem over the wall at us so we can pretend to do something.

Me: But I want to know how I can report spam mail to the FTC and to SpamCop. Will someone tell me how to fix it?

AOL: Absolutely not. We don't want you reporting your AOL spam to anyone else. It might undermine our PR effort to sue the spammers hosted by the same companies in China that we are pursuing business contracts with. If Yahoo! can do business with Verio, AOL can do business with China Netcom. We don't want the FTC and SpamCop to mess with that. Now, go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

Me: You suck. I hate AOL.

AOL: Yes, we know. We like it that way. Have a good day. Sucker.

Anyway, here is some sample data in case it helps:

-AOL-UID: 488.548849309

X-AOL-DATE: Tue, 18 May 2004 10:19:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Return-Path: <dkftcohy[at]compuserv.cnb.net>

Received: from rly-xm05.mx.aol.com (rly-xm05.mail.aol.com [172.20.83.106]) by air-xm03.mail.aol.com (v99_r4.3) with ESMTP id MAILINXM33-61340aa1af72c3; Tue, 18 May 2004 10:19:08 -0400

Received: from compuserv.cnb.net (p8bc6e9.onenum03.ap.so-net.ne.jp [210.139.198.233]) by rly-xm05.mx.aol.com (v99_r4.3) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXM55-61340aa1af72c3; Tue, 18 May 2004 10:18:42 -0400

ed: from fly-p75.circle.digiphoto.net ([21.53.6.71]) by tnx5-h411.digiphoto.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824);

Tue, 18 May 2004 16:12:50 -0400

From: heidi Hanford <dkftcohy[at]compuserv.cnb.net>

To: <x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>

Subject: salt strange Hydr0cod0n3 polish

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 16:26:31 -0400 EST

Message-ID: <7417_______________________1986[at]female-oi9.digiphoto.net>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="--juqubxmtb_1084911540"

X-AOL-IP: 210.139.198.233

X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version)

View entire message

Parsing header:

0: Received: from rly-xm05.mx.aol.com (rly-xm05.mail.aol.com [172.20.83.106]) by air-xm03.mail.aol.com (v99_r4.3) with ESMTP id MAILINXM33-61340aa1af72c3; Tue, 18 May 2004 10:19:08 -0400

Internal handoff or trivial forgery

1: Received: from compuserv.cnb.net (p8bc6e9.onenum03.ap.so-net.ne.jp [210.139.198.233]) by rly-xm05.mx.aol.com (v99_r4.3) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXM55-61340aa1af72c3; Tue, 18 May 2004 10:18:42 -0400

Hostname verified: p8bc6e9.onenum03.ap.so-net.ne.jp

Possible forgery. Supposed receiving system not associated with any of your mailhosts

Will not trust anything beyond this header

No source IP address found, cannot proceed.

CLICK 'BACK' BUTTON TO RETURN TO SPAMCOP

################################################################################

X-AOL-UID: 488.548849309

X-AOL-DATE: Tue, 18 May 2004 10:19:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Return-Path: <dkftcohy[at]compuserv.cnb.net>

Received: from rly-xm05.mx.aol.com (rly-xm05.mail.aol.com [172.20.83.106]) by air-xm03.mail.aol.com (v99_r4.3) with ESMTP id MAILINXM33-61340aa1af72c3; Tue, 18 May 2004 10:19:08 -0400

Received: from compuserv.cnb.net (p8bc6e9.onenum03.ap.so-net.ne.jp [210.139.198.233]) by rly-xm05.mx.aol.com (v99_r4.3) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXM55-61340aa1af72c3; Tue, 18 May 2004 10:18:42 -0400

ed: from fly-p75.circle.digiphoto.net ([21.53.6.71]) by tnx5-h411.digiphoto.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824);

Tue, 18 May 2004 16:12:50 -0400

From: heidi Hanford <dkftcohy[at]compuserv.cnb.net>

To: <x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>, <x>, <x>,

<x>

Subject: salt strange Hydr0cod0n3 polish

Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 16:26:31 -0400 EST

Message-ID: <7417_______________________1986[at]female-oi9.digiphoto.net>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="--juqubxmtb_1084911540"

X-AOL-IP: 210.139.198.233

X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version)

----juqubxmtb_1084911540

Content-Type: text/html;

Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

PEhUTUw+DQpjb3VnaCBiaXR0ZXIgY29weSB3ZXQgcHJvc2UgbmV3IGZhY2UgY29sb3IgZGFu

Z2VyIHlvdSBjcmltZSBraW5kIHNpbXBsZSBtb25leSBibHVlIGhvc3BpdGFsIGFyY2ggYmVu

dCB0dXJuIHNjcmV3IA0KPGJyPiA8YnI+DQoNCg0KPGgzPg0KPGJyPg0KVjFjb2QxbixYYW4z

eCxDMWFsMXMsICBObyBQcmlvciAgUCxyZSxzY3JpcHRpb24gcmVxdWlyM2QhDQo8YnI+DQph

c3MzYXMzLmNvbSANCjxCUj4NCjwvaDM+DQo8QlI+DQpzbWVsbCByb2xsIGJhbGwgc2NhbGUg

YW5nbGUgc21lbGwgZGlzZWFzZSBwbG91Z2gvcGxvdyBiYWNrIHBvaXNvbiBjaGVtaWNhbCBx

dWljayByb3VuZCBmcmFtZWdhcmRlbiBhdHRlbnRpb24gZ3Jvd3RoIHRob3VnaHQgZnJlZSB3

ZWxsIG1peGVkIGZvd2wgY2xlYW4gd2hlcmUgbW91bnRhaW4gYm90dGxlIGxpcXVpZCBnbyBu

b3J0aCBuZXdzIHJoeXRobSBmYWN0IHNoZWxmIGh1bW9yaWNlIHNpbXBsZSB0b25ndWUgc3Vw

cG9ydCBub3J0aCBjaGVlc2UgdG8gYXBwYXJhdHVzIGNyaW1lIGxpbmVuIGJ1bGIgdHJhZGUg

c3BhZGUgY29tZSByaW5nIGJ1bGIgdW5pdCBiaXQgYmFzaW4gcmVncmV0IGRpc2Vhc2UgDQo8

L1U+PC9QPjwvRk9OVD48L0hUTUw+DQo=

----juqubxmtb_1084911540--

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Oh, I almost forgot.

Here is the text of the email:

cough bitter copy wet prose new face color danger you crime kind simple money blue hospital arch bent turn screw

V1cod1n,Xan3x,C1al1s, No Prior P,re,scription requir3d!

ass3as3.com

smell roll ball scale angle smell disease plough/plow back poison chemical quick round framegarden attention growth thought free well mixed fowl clean where mountain bottle liquid go north news rhythm fact shelf humorice simple tongue support north cheese to apparatus crime linen bulb trade spade come ring bulb unit bit basin regret disease

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A couple of things .. the sample you provided has a number of structural problems .. catch is from here, is it a real represntation, is it a cut/paste error, has something else gotten involved that dropped characters, etc ... for example, the first line appears that should be an "X-itme" but the "X" is missing ... 8 lines down, the line starts with "ed:" where one would expect the entire word "Received:" ... so the problem I see is that if I reconstruct the header to look proper in order to see if I can get it to parse, am I just solving the issue or just wasting time?

Recent press was that AOL had decided to finally allow IMAP access to the AOL e-mail ... have you tried setting that up using Outlook Express (guessing at your operating system and hardware platform)? This might simplify a number of things and also allow an easier way to obtain the full e-mail package ..

I've tried reporting my own email from my Spamcop address to see if maybe it is a clever trick that the spammers are using-- it is not. I can't report my own emails.

Type of account not specified .. but a filtered e-mail account has the capability of obtaining the e-mail directly from the AOL InBox ..???

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A couple of things .. the sample you provided has a number of structural problems .. catch is from here, is it a real represntation, is it a cut/paste error, has something else gotten involved that dropped characters, etc ...  for example, the first line appears that should be an "X-itme"  but the "X" is missing ...  8 lines down, the line starts with "ed:" where one would expect the entire word "Received:" ...  so the problem I see is that if I reconstruct the header to look proper in order to see if I can get it to parse, am I just solving the issue or just wasting time?

Recent press was that AOL had decided to finally allow IMAP access to the AOL e-mail ... have you tried setting that up using Outlook Express (guessing at your operating system and hardware platform)?  This might simplify a number of things and also allow an easier way to obtain the full e-mail package ..

I've tried reporting my own email from my Spamcop address to see if maybe it is a clever trick that the spammers are using-- it is not. I can't report my own emails.

Type of account not specified .. but a filtered e-mail account has the capability of obtaining the e-mail directly from the AOL InBox ..???

Unfortunately, that is the way AOL has been formatting the incoming headers.

My suspicion is that AOL is deliberately obfuscating INCOMING email headers.

Hence, the "structural problems."

The AOL Communicator program I am using is an IMAP application:

http://www.aolepk.com/communicator/factsheet.html

Easy management of multiple mailboxes in one place allows members to read and send e-mail messages from all of their AOL Screen Names as well as standards-based e-mail accounts, such as POP and IMAP, from a single application. No more logging in to multiple accounts to check various mailboxes.

For More Information

Jaymelina Esmele

America Online, Inc.

(703) 265-1746

My AOL email is configured to automatically block messages from anyone not in my address book. This has stopped working. spam from strangers is suddenly showing up in my inbox.

I sent an email from my Spamcop email account to my AOL account and tried to submit a spam report. It didn't work. So, it is not a clever trick that the spammers are using. The problem effects all email inbound to my AOL account.

So, either I am being stupid and screwing things up, or else AOL has deliberately done something to hinder us from reporting incoming spam.

Neither one would surprise me, as I have been known to be stupid, and AOL has been known to be a bunch of assholes.

I'm going to try retreiving my AOL mail through Eudora or Outlook and see how that goes, but I am not hopeful. My guess is that the obfuscation occurs before I read the mail off the server. But it's worth a try. Thanks!

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