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[Resolved] Reporting Gmail Spam


csouter

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Hi, everyone!

Every now and then (about 4 or 5 times daily), I receive spam emails at my Gmail address.

That's not many, compared with the number I get at my ISP, but some of the Gmail spams

also contain links to Google URLs.

For example, the following is the tracking URL for the most recent message

I have received of this type:

http://www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z1172779785z6...dd361898dad244z

The page referenced above contains, (among other things), the following comment/error/message

(I can't decide how to describe it):

ISP does not wish to receive reports regarding http://www.google.com/url - no date available

http://www.google.com/url has been appealed previously.

Can anyone explain what this means?

Are Google saying that they don't want to know about spams which contain links to URLs in

their domain? Why don't they want the reports? It all seems very strange to me.

Also, what does "...has been appealed previously." mean?

Thanks and regards

Christopher E. Souter

(Sydney, Australia).

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Often spammer's use fictitious links sometime mixed with offensive ones

A site like Google has both to many false reports mean they do have the resources to deal with them

Unless you have the time to check every Google link do not bother and if you do you can make your own submission

the source of the spam IP will be included in SpamCops scoring with reports often sent to various third parties for further analyse and maybe crime authorities will then get involved

It is important to report spam and SpamCop will send as best it can to those who can do something about it

The SpamCop blocklist itself lists spammers in seconds blocking spam as it is being sent not after (spam runs take hours) The IP released when spam has stopped. Every effort is made by SpamCop to notify the ISP f offending IP before it is blocked.

The major problem and cause of all spam is far to many ISP's are incompetent

Never automatically accept an email account from anyone as most are useless I recommend the only email address you will ever need being a SpamCop Email account (US$30 per annum) for a spam free inbox and all spam Very Easily Reported (VER) no email lost

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It is important to report spam and SpamCop will send as best it can to those who can do something about it

At present, I'm reporting spam from all my ISP mailboxes as well as my Gmail mailbox. The ISP mail is nearly all "quick" reported to SpamCop automatically by my spam filtering software. My whitelist is working correctly, so that legitimate messages from SpamCop to me aren't getting reported back. (This took a bit of setting-up at first, but it's working fine, now. SeaMonkey Mail sees the JunkEmail: tag in the subject line and forwards the message also to KnujOn).

Also, I keep an old IBM ThinkPad 600 running continuously. I use it for very little else except automatic spam reporting. SeaMonkey Mail runs continuously, as does JunkSpy (my spam filtering app). I login to SpamCop for 2-day periods at a time (just in case I need to shutdown temporarily or do a reboot for some reason). SeaMonkey is also continuously logged into Gmail, and any spam received there is manually reported without delay, usually as soon as I become aware of its arrival. SeaMonkey Mail fetches from my ISP mailbox every 5 minutes, which means that any spam received is reported almost instantaneously! I have set it up this way so that I can use my desktop PC to get on with my "real" work, unhindered by spam.

Additionally, I feel that time really is of the essence in spam reporting: it's not much use waiting until the morning to report spam which has arrived overnight, and is therefore already several hours old. So, the little TP600 just sits there, day in, day out, 24/7/365, silently collecting and reporting spam!

The major problem and cause of all spam is far to many ISP's are incompetent

Mine isn't! They're using spam filtering from IronPort. ;) So far, there hasn't been a single false positive.

I recommend the only email address you will ever need being a SpamCop Email account (US$30 per annum) for a spam free inbox and all spam Very Easily Reported (VER) no email lost

I already have a SpamCop WebMail account. I tried it for a while, but I eventually went back to downloading my mail directly from my ISP mailboxes and then reporting the spam. There are some issues with the SpamCop Email System and HTML mail. I have no such problems with Gmail or SeaMonkey Mail. Having said that, I still retain the SpamCop WebMail account, because it gives me access to the flat-rate reporting. (I found that the spams had been getting bigger: previously they averaged about 2-4K in size, but, for about the past 12 months or so, they have increased to an average 28-30K in size, an increase of about 1500%)! :o This meant that I was using up my "fuel" much more quickly than before, so I opened the SpamCop WebMail account and I intend to keep it going, if only for the flat-rate reporting.

My fondest hope is that one day, the Internet can return to the free and open communications medium it was originally intended to be, without the countless millions of spam messages clogging our mailboxes every day!

1. Someone at Google has decided that they don't want to hear complaints about the redirection links.

Do you have any idea why? It would seem to me that they ought to know about abuse of their service.

2. SpamCop Reporting Accounts describes the 'extra' functions provided to paid-acccount members.

Thanks for the link. I'm still a little unclear about who does the "appealing." Is it the owner of the link, or is it the ISP hosting the link, or is it the SpamCop organisation or is it the SpamCop reporting account Holder? Also, just exactly what is it that they are "appealing?"

Thanks and regards

Christopher E. Souter

(Sydney, Australia)

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Hi, Christopher!

<snip interesting detailed description of automated spam reporting>So, the little TP600 just sits there, day in, day out, 24/7/365, silently collecting and reporting spam!
...Wow, that's some setup -- nice! Please just be careful to not report your own provider: see one of my posts in thread "FAQ Entry: What is Quick Reporting?"
<snip>

1. Someone at Google has decided that they don't want to hear complaints about the redirection links.
Do you have any idea why? It would seem to me that they ought to know about abuse of their service.
...Wazoo almost certainly won't be able to answer that question -- best to refer that directly to Google.
2. SpamCop Reporting Accounts describes the 'extra' functions provided to paid-acccount members.
Thanks for the link. I'm still a little unclear about who does the "appealing." Is it the owner of the link, or is it the ISP hosting the link, or is it the SpamCop organisation or is it the SpamCop reporting account Holder?
...The relevant bit on the page pointed to by that link is "A premium account gives you [emphasis mine] access to more features on SpamCop.net ..." In other words, "you" as the "Paid Reporting (Premuim) / (Fuel) Service Member."
Also, just exactly what is it that they are "appealing?"
...ADD? :) <g> We are discussing the part of your parse results that reads:
ISP does not wish to receive reports regarding http:/ /www.google.com/url - no date available

http://www.google.com/url has been appealed previously.

aren't we? :) <g>
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Additionally, I feel that time really is of the essence in spam reporting: it's not much use waiting until the morning to report spam which has arrived overnight, and is therefore already several hours old. So, the little TP600 just sits there, day in, day out, 24/7/365, silently collecting and reporting spam!

Freshly reported spam is best and makes the SCBL even more effective. However day old is also good

Mine isn't! They're using spam filtering from IronPort. So far, there hasn't been a single false positive
A company I contract too started using IronPort filtering as well, got to say its excellent in stopping spam. However SpamCop goes one better by issuing a report for each and every spam. Just deleting spam does nothing (Ironport does throttle spam intensely slowing down spammers delivery)

I already have a SpamCop WebMail account. I tried it for a while, but I eventually went back to downloading my mail directly from my ISP mailboxes and then reporting the spam
Yes I am not partial to WebMail type accounts and POP/IMAP SpamCop email directly which works perfectly. I use The Bat from a USB pen drive to send and recieve email through SpamCop (using untrusted computers care is needed)

I'm in Sydney also not had much luck with ISP's. UnWired hopefully will be introducing WiMAX this year (70 meg a second), if so I will be chopping the wires to my home and using VOIP Already use a virtual fax to send and receive (faxes are becoming obsolete in competition with email)

I find that very little spam gets through SpamCop Email filtering and zero false positives (I have whitelisted most Australian domains (which can cause a little spam leakage to be easily moved to SpamCop's VER folder for Very Easy Reporting

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Hi, Christopher!...Wow, that's some setup -- nice! Please just be careful to not report your own provider: see one of my posts in thread "FAQ Entry: What is Quick Reporting?"

Thanks, I did actually read that before I set up Quick Reporting... It's been working fine for about 3 months now, with only two errors: both of them reporting SpamCop's own messages to me. The first time, I didn't realise that I needed to add "[spamCop" and "[ SpamCop" in the subject line to my whitelist; the second time, I forgot to copy my backup whitelist to the JunkSpy folder when I had had occasion to do a re-install. Don d'Minion was furious with me! :blush: It's all fixed now. Also, my mail hosts are all working correctly: I have never in my ~2-years' membership reported my own ISP.

Do you have any idea why? It would seem to me that they ought to know about abuse of their service....Wazoo almost certainly won't be able to answer that question -- best to refer that directly to Google.

Maybe you're right, but I have to say that it's VERY difficult to find any contact information for the Gmail admins. You can only contact them through a web form, which is set up in such a way that you can only ask specific questions. I just thought that Google must have given their reasons to somebody at SpamCop/IronPort; although, on second thought, maybe they just said "Go away... don't bother us... we've got money to make... etc." However, if they had given their reaons, I would have thought that someone at SpamCop/IronPort, (not necessarily Wazoo), would know what those reasons were.

Also, on the subject of Gmail and spam, when I first started receiving spam at Gmail, I joined one or two of the Gmail (Google) Groups, to try to research what I could do about it. I posted a few questions, and, in some of my postings, I also made mention of SpamCop and KnujOn. The response to this was basically: "Get a life... Just delete it... You'll never be able to do anything about it..." Nobody seemed to care. The same thing happened in the eBay user groups when I started receiving spam at my special eBay address.

It's really very hard to get anything done about spam unless EVERYBODY works together and reports every spam message. They (I mean people who make no contribution of their own to the fight against spam) all complain that SpamCop and other reporting agencies/entities, such as KnujOn, are having no visible effect on the spam deluge, but my urgings for them to join in the spam-fighting effort are simply either deprecated or ignored. I have even been added to a few "plonk" files on the grounds of being a dangerous fanatic!

If we can't all work together to fight this problem, I really can't see how we can eventually defeat it. :(

Thanks for the link. I'm still a little unclear about who does the "appealing." Is it the owner of the link, or is it the ISP hosting the link, or is it the SpamCop organisation or is it the SpamCop reporting account Holder?...The relevant bit on the page pointed to by that link is "A premium account gives you [emphasis mine] access to more features on SpamCop.net ..." In other words, "you" as the "Paid Reporting (Premuim) / (Fuel) Service Member."...ADD? :) <g> We are discussing the part of your parse results that reads:aren't we? :) <g>

I think, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." :D I am failing to understand the meaning of the sentence: "XXX has been appealed previously." Appealed by whom and for (or against) what? I, personally, haven't appealed anyone or anything, for any reason. Has SpamCop/IronPort appealed to Google to accept reports on the URLs, or has Google appealed to SpamCop not to add the URLs to the SBL, or just what else might have been appealed?

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I'm in Sydney also not had much luck with ISP's. UnWired hopefully will be introducing WiMAX this year (70 meg a second), if so I will be chopping the wires to my home and using VOIP. Already use a virtual fax to send and receive (faxes are becoming obsolete in competition with email)

I'm with ExeTel... Excellent service! I'd recommend them to anyone. I don't trust wireless, and, anyway, I can't get it in Homebush West (near the Flemington Markets), even though UnWired's map and online check says I can. I read in the SMH's "NeXT" columns that wireless networks are very vulnerable to attack, even from a mobile phone signal! :huh:

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I think, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." :D I am failing to understand the meaning of the sentence: "XXX has been appealed previously." Appealed by whom and for (or against) what? I, personally, haven't appealed anyone or anything, for any reason. Has SpamCop/IronPort appealed to Google to accept reports on the URLs, or has Google appealed to SpamCop not to add the URLs to the SBL, or just what else might have been appealed?

The ISP/Host has said, in essense, that they have taken care of the problem and don't wish to see any more reports. A paid reporter, having seen the same or similiar spam and seeing the "it's been taken care of" message, appeals to the deputies to investigate further exactly what was done and to have them explain the latest report.

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Hi, Christopher!...Wow, that's some setup -- nice! Please just be careful to not report your own provider: see one of my posts in thread "FAQ Entry: What is Quick Reporting?"
Thanks, I did actually read that before I set up Quick Reporting...

<snip>

Also, my mail hosts are all working correctly: I have never in my ~2-years' membership reported my own ISP.

...Very good but please be aware that your provider may change things without warning and render your MailHosts configuration insufficient or useless, so you have to use Quick Reporting with care forever, not just for two years.
<snip>

Wazoo almost certainly won't be able to answer that question -- best to refer that directly to Google.

Maybe you're right, but I have to say that it's VERY difficult to find any contact information for the Gmail admins. You can only contact them through a web form, which is set up in such a way that you can only ask specific questions. I just thought that Google must have given their reasons to somebody at SpamCop/IronPort; although, on second thought, maybe they just said "Go away... don't bother us... we've got money to make... etc." However, if they had given their reaons, I would have thought that someone at SpamCop/IronPort, (not necessarily Wazoo), would know what those reasons were.
...Well, that certainly suggests a lack of interest in their users, wouldn't it? Such a lack of interest hardly merits your continued support, IMHO.

...If you wish to contact "someone at SpamCop/IronPort," this isn't the place -- the SpamCop staff rarely come here. Please see SpamCop FAQ (link near top left of almost all SpamCop Forum pages) entry labeled "How can I contact a SpamCop representative?"

<snip>

I think, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." :D I am failing to understand the meaning of the sentence: "XXX has been appealed previously." Appealed by whom and for (or against) what? I, personally, haven't appealed anyone or anything, for any reason. Has SpamCop/IronPort appealed to Google to accept reports on the URLs, or has Google appealed to SpamCop not to add the URLs to the SBL, or just what else might have been appealed?

...Yes, a definite failure to communicate.

...Okay, I'll reluctantly stop using the Socratic method and answer directly *sigh* :) <g> -- a "Paid Reporting (Premuim) / (Fuel) Service Member" has exercised:

The option to appeal a website/URL issue in parsed spam that you find has been incorrectly reported as 'closed' or an innocent bystander
Does that (or StevenUnderwood's reply, immediately above, made while I was composing this reply) make it clearer? If not, please keep asking until someone can answer you in a manner that gets the job done for you! :) <g>
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Yes, thank you very much! It's all quite clear, now. :D Thank you both for all your help!

Also, I do always keep an eye on my ISP mailhosts setup. So far, so good. :unsure:

Additionally, my SpamCop contact address (the one SpamCop admins use to communicate with me) is no longer routed through my JunkSpy filter, even though messages containing "[spamCop " and "[ SpamCop " are already part of my JunkSpy Global exceptions list (whitelist).

BTW, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!! :D

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Yes, thank you very much! It's all quite clear, now. :D Thank you both for all your help!
...On my own behalf, you are most welcome. And thank you very much for taking the time to let us know. Based on this reply, I shall mark this thread as "Resolved."
Also, I do always keep an eye on my ISP mailhosts setup. So far, so good. :unsure:
...Great, please continue that practice. :) <g>
BTW, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!! :D
...Thank you -- same to you and yours!
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