Link redirection inside email

[ppk]

I have noticed this technique to protect the spammer's customer. They are using link redirection, and spamcop doesn't pick up the information from the destination link. For example, here is the HTML that I saw in a recent spam:

<a href="http://c.mdssvr.com/c.aspx?ad_key=ICUYVAJDRQVK&ro_url=http%3A//www.valentinesgifts.com/searchItem.cfm%3Fproductid%3D1439%26storeid%3D16%26did%3D4478">

The spammer is actually one that I personally have filed hundreds of reports against, but nothing ever seems to happen, but note the spammer's customer, valentinegifts.com. Shouldn't SpamCop generate a report against their ISP? It doesn't right now.

Look at the following SpamCop report for details:

http://www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z288148267zfb...a49c804be1aed9z

Your thoughts would be helpful. Please post them here. Thanks.

[Jeff G.]

Sorry, tracking URLs do not reveal or analyze bodies. If you need to

post a copy of spam, please post it only in spamcop.spam and refer to it

here.

[Jeff G.]

You asked me to post a copy of the spam in spamcop.spam and to refer to it in the forum. Is there a way to post the spam to spamcop.spam via the Web? I don't see any obvious links for that.

Please see the "spam lab" line on http://www.spamcop.net/forum.shtml or use the following (substituting spamcop.spam for spamcop.help:

Jeff G.'s Guide to accessing spamcop.help newsgroup using OE

v1.01 by Jeff G. as of 2004-01-14 00:48 EST

1. Print out this Guide or use it side-by-side with OE, as using it within

OE is nigh impossible.

2. Requirements: Outlook Express for Windows (this is written using OE6);

NNTP (Port 119) access to news.spamcop.net.

3. Open OE.

4. Select the "Tools" Menu.

5. Select the "Accounts..." Submenu to display the "Internet Accounts"

Dialog Box.

6. Click the "Add" Button.

7. Click the "News..." Additional Selection.

8. Enter your "Display name". This is the full name that will appear in

your postings. It need not be your full name, as many people use a handle.

My handle is "Jeff G." Click the "Next" Button.

9. Enter your "E-mail address". This is the email address that will appear

in your postings and people will use to reply to you. if you feel the need

to munge it, please note that this will limit the possibility of people

replying to your posts via email. If you don't want email replies, please

use the email address "nobody[at]spamcop.net". I use a different email address

ending in "[at]spamcop.net". Click the "Next" Button.

10. Enter the "News (NNTP) server" name "news.spamcop.net" without quotes.

This is the news server that SpamCop uses. Click the "Next" Button and then

the "Finish" Button.

11. Click on the News Server (news.spamcop.net) that you just added to

select it.

12. Click the "Properties" Button to open the "news.spamcop.net Properties"

Dialog Box.

13. On the default "General" Tab, make sure that the checkbox "Include this

account when checking for new messages" matches your preference.

14. On the "Advanced" Tab, in the Posting section, check the box for "Ignore

news sending format and post using:" and ensure that the "Plain Text" Radio

Button below it is selected.

15. Click the "OK" Button to close the "news.spamcop.net Properties" Dialog

Box.

16. Click the "Close" button to close the "Internet Accounts" Dialog Box.

17. Click the "Yes" button to answer the question "Would you like to

download newsgroups from the news account you added?". This will bring up

the "Newsgroup Subscriptions" Dialog Box.

18. Click the "spamcop.help" Newsgroup to select it.

19. Click the "Subscribe" Button to subscribe to the "spamcop.help"

Newsgroup.

20. Repeat the last two steps for any other Newsgroups you wish to subscribe

to.

21. Click the "OK" Button when you are finished.

22. In the OE Folder List, down at the bottom, click the "+" sign to open

News Server "news.spamcop.net" if it is not already open.

23. Click whichever Newsgroup (like spamcop.help) you wish to access. Posts

to that Newsgroup should show up in the Messages Pane (where you normally

see email messages).

24. Many Newsgroup-viewing options are available on the View / Current View

menu, such as "Group Messages by Conversation" (also known as threading).

25. To post a message, select "File / New / News Message".

26. To reply to a posted message, select "Message / Reply to Group

(Ctrl+G)". Replying to a SpamCop News Server post via email is strongly

discouraged, unless it is specifically requested in the post.

27. Enjoy!