Friday, December 26, 2008

Reporting A Spammer


Many of you might have been victims of spam, or are victims as we speak. Sitemeter has a wonderful little feature that can track location, IP address, and so on. A certain little spammer spent over 95 minutes on my blog this past evening. He accessed 12 pages and left several messages advertising an unnamed drug.

Tracing the IP address through Sitemeter shows an IP Address in India. Seems simple enough right? Nope, using a simple little website found here, I was able to not only find the originating IP Address, but the address WITH a telephone number AND name of the person who is very likely committing the offense of spamming this blog. The person is not in India where the initial IP Address pointed us to, he is most likely the person I traced to Minnesota in the good old United States.

The person(s) who I found listed at the Minnesota address received a call from me yesterday afternoon, and I am waiting to see if he has the nerve to return my call as a message was left for "John" the Spammer. He hasn't as of yet. This certainly tells me something. It is probably the same person who has been a constant spammer of blogs, not just mine.

There are of course many, many spammers, but to be able to trace just one was somewhat a victory for me. While spam seems harmless, it is very irritating and time consuming to me. I am quite perturbed (to put it mildly) about it all, and since I ALWAYS report the spam and promptly delete it as well, the time the spammer
spent to send out his ads was wasted on him as well as me.

I am very against spam not only for what it is, but the fact it takes away a choice from me. It is my choice not to post advertisements on this blog. Why then does someone feel the need to post ads on this blog or any blog whether they have ads or not? It should always be the blogger's choice to post ads AND the type of ads they wish to post, not a commenter's choice. As long as I am able to prevent ads and spam, ads will NOT be placed on this blog either by me or by commenters such as this "John" person. While I believe I do know his name, without irrefutable proof of the fact, I will have to leave his name as "John". I mean after all that is what name he "commented" under. So this is a short note to "John" the Spammer:

"John" kindly leave any advertising for this blog totally up to me by refraining from placing your ads on my blog in the form of comments. Comments are just that, not advertisements. And, if at such time you wish to advertise on my blog via comments, do it openly so I can correspond with you personally regarding this matter. Don't be afraid and hide behind a profile "Not Available".

You have my telephone number, feel free to either contact me that way, or by email. Thank you.


My goal in publishing this information is twofold. One I'd like to let other bloggers know who are bothered by spam to please report it immediately to the appropriate authorities. Blogger has an easy to report system and all you have to do is copy the applicable information and send it in here. I sent in both the Sitemeter information and the comment. In this case this person hit 12 pages of mine.

Additionally, since I am fairly confident I found the correct person and his IP Address, I took the time to not only report the spam to local law enforcement (no law against spam here in Tennessee but the officer was quite nice and sympathetic), but also to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. I included all IP Addresses found in the trace process, as well as addresses.

I do realize when we post we are in a public domain that allows for anyone to come onto our blogs. Anyone, including these spammers, but not taking action and just accepting the spam is not a solution to the fact that what these folks do is just plain wrong, annoying, irritating, and illegal. Some say just delete it and move on but that is not going to stop the problem. I am sure some poor person out there gets paid for the number of spam hits he can leave on websites. The more websites he hits, the more money he gets, but his pay is NOT my concern! This website and readers is my concern and the spammer should seek more reputable work in order to pay his bills. What a pathetic life the spammer must lead to go around in the middle of the night and spam people.

One more note for you bloggers, on the Sitemeter comment information page there is a "Referring URL" listed. This would be the URL the spammer would have to use to access your blog. In the case of this "John" spammer, he accessed this website. If you click on the referring url, you will see all of the blogs that were most likely targets of this unscrupulous spammer. Do take the time to report him. If enough of us report these acts, then perhaps, just perhaps, something will be done to stop this person and others like him.

in the garden....

34 comments:

  1. Tina,

    I am so sorry that you have been harassed by a spammer. Thanks for the tip on how to proceed if/when they visit the rest of us!

    I hope your holidays were bright and filled with love!

    Gail

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  2. How annoying! I am wondering why they try to be so deceptive too. I mean what in the world is someone from MN doing with an IP address from India anyway? That's just crazy.

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  3. Tina,

    I know this annoying. You've done everything you can and the person is probably shutdown by now.

    I still don't understand how spammers actually make any money since they annoy us; offend us; and we immediately delete their attempts at contact.

    Cameron

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  4. Thanks for the info on tracking spammers. I'm surprised at all the info you were able to get.

    I had a regular reader of my blog publish a criticism of sitemeter when I installed it. Invasion of privacy because sitemeter puts a tracking cookie on visitors browsers and tracks their movement across the web. I doubt if my reader knew it was possible to find her name and address thru sitemeter.

    Blogger doesn't give us a lot of options to stop spam. I don't use the word verification option because it wouldn't stop this type of spam. Since I have never been bothered by spam from a 'bot' automated source (yet), it would seem only one anti spam option would work--that being the comment moderation.

    Good luck!!!!
    Marnie

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  5. Good morning all! Lovely day here and I'm looking forward to some garden time.

    Gail, Our holidays were lovely. So glad to hear yours were too!

    Cinj, It is a matter of hopping IP addresses. I have no idea how it is done but the web tools I can use when necessary. Very annoying. I hope Peanut gets well soon.

    Cameron, You as a former computer person would know this IS frustrating! I just don't see the point of it all! Drives me nuts! I was pretty stunned I could track this particular person down. It won't work on all cases but it did here. Still no phone call back to me.

    Marnie, Yes, it can be a bit disconcerting with the Sitemeter for readers. I totally understand this. I was very hesitant to put it on my blog, but am glad I did. Each time there is spam I use the Sitemeter to send in the info. Well after seeing the Air Tel India web address on all the spam I decided to track it and look what I found out! An eye opener indeed. I even emailed Air Tel. Folks need to know that you CAN'T ALWAYS track home addresses and originating IP address either. Just plug in your own IP and you'll see. Plus, who would take the time to do this to see who is reading our blogs? Unless that person is spamming or other to our blogs-then I take great offense and track it. I know, I should let it go but the war is only won with small victories and this was one for me. I had the bots at the beginning of the blog. They came in cycles so it was not a big deal. This is a person though, while not personal-it is a problem for all of us. Too much info? I am on a soapbox today I guess. Nuff said! Have a great day!

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  6. I've only had the one about the window dressing but I read the one about the unamed drug! Good for you! You got him!

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  7. Tina, did you remove the link to the 'website' he accessed? I get an invalid url message when I click it.
    Marnie

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  8. Linda and Dawn-thanks very much! It took an awful lot for me to post this but after much, much editing I thought (hubby agreed as he is mad too) I should go ahead and post it. Come what may it will be what it is.

    Marnie, I had to reinsert it. You should be able to access it now. It is important information because it has a TON of blogs listed. Some of which I have commented on and get the email followups and guess what? They got hit too. Try it again.

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  9. I saw several of the "John" comments for the unnamed drug and I thought how sad that people have to do stuff like that but then I thought how sad of a person, no scum bag is more like it. Is'nt it great that he is not our father, brother, or any other family member. I know that took a lotta your time and hopefully all other bloggers will do the same to get these scum bags shut down. You go girl!!!

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  10. Tina, I see a lot of scary things on the web. I've made some screenshots of some "famous" social media sites that have holes where spammers and hackers can crawl to do their evil. I've not posted those because it could be used as instructions on how to be malicious. I reported a few holes to the owners of some sites, but I don't know what to do about the trickery that is being done -- let me put it this way -- don't ever let a social media site IMPORT YOUR CONTACT LIST to INVITE YOUR FRIENDS to join the club. That is basically giving away the password to your email account -- and access to your local computer. I could really get on a soapbox about this, but I'd probably need to talk to a lawyer before I "name names" of these sites!

    Cameron

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  11. Mom, Thanks! It was frustrating but I really felt empowered when I could go track it. He still has not called.

    Cameron, You are so right. Lawyers are important in these matters and you will notice I was careful with this post. But! Your warning to the masses is also important! Most are not Internet savvy and can take risks (think teenaged boy) so it can be damaging to one's computer forever. I try hard to avoid some sites that are notorious cookie depositers. These are easily spotted once you check your cookies in the Tools option of the browser. And it is really an eye opener too. Thanks for the tip on social networking sites. It is important info indeed!

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  12. Sometimes I think people who are vengeful latch onto any opportunity to hide and makes others miserable. Maybe it is a turn-on for these sick people. It saddens me that there are so many of these individuals out there. Lurking. Waiting to pounce.
    Brenda

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  13. Tina, well done! I am amazed at your skills. You are right about reporting spam. We all need to be more alert. Not onlt for our own protection, but for those we communicate with as well. Thanks for all the info.

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  14. Tina I am so proud of you --I can't stand spam! And, you're right who would make money doing this since it annoys the daylights out of us? I hope you have a great rest of the day:) I actually took Sidekick and Girl Model out to pick up a few rolls of wrapping paper --for next year:) I must say I was quite pleased with how fast we made it back and I didn't buy anything I didn't need besides the wrapping paper:)

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  15. UGH. This is a problem I've battled with on my blog too. Fortunately Wordpress allows me to block IP addresses, and I can set up a moderation for all comments that contain a link.

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  16. Good on you for investigating and tracking down the nuisance spammer.

    Remind me not to get on your wrong side ;) because you have excellent skills - may your kind increase! I need to try to fight spam more vigorously. Wordpress has various plugins that weed out spam, but I put my blogger blog on moderation to keep a handle on it.

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  17. Brenda, It is sad. All for a few bucks? Can't see it myself.

    Thanks Beckie, I am so NOT a computer geek, but I was surprised at how easy it was to find all this info out. Anyone can do it. Hopefully it won't happen anymore-yeah right! Hope your holidays are special, even with my downer post.

    Anonymous, Thanks! It took some time but what a small victory indeed. Great on the wrapping paper. We are going out soon too to get some bargains-hopefully. Have a great day! Oh yes, we finally baked some cookies AND some artesian bread. I am delivering some to a friend whose husband is sick. It was so easy to make too!

    Fern, The blog platforms work hard to prevent these comments but they still manage to get thru by some crazy reason! I have done like you and blocked links. I hope that helps. I think it neat you can block IP addresses, I am sure we don't have this feature here at Blogger.

    Illona, Hubby and I got a laugh out loud from your comment! Too funny! I believe in being empowered that's for sure-research and knowledge seem to empower me so that is why I pursued this issue. You have nothing to fear-I promise!

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  18. Good Afternoon All,
    Tina, this was a very valuable post. The info you provided is great. I'm so glad you "caught" this bum or should I say as Jean did, the scum bag. If more "crime" was reported promptly maybe more "criminals" would be caught & prosecuted.
    Thanks again & you go girl.
    Hope you had a marvelous holiday.
    Hope all have a very good rest of the day & evening.

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  19. Tina, Thank you for all this helpful information. I don't think I've had a problem with any spammers, but I'm going to make a note of this post in case I do. I applaud you for all the work you did in tracking him down and reporting him--good for you! People like this spoil the fun of blogging.

    I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

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  20. Well done for taking a proactive approach to this sort of intrusion

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  21. Good for you Tina! Making a stand is what we all need to do to protect ourselves from spam. Wordpress has a great way of blocking the spam before it even shows up in my comments section. I've been lucky thus far without having to add codes & stuff.

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  22. Thanks all! I appreciate the kind comments and words of encouragement!

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  23. Way to go girl!! I'm so impressed that you were able to track this guy down so well. Hopefully it made him sweat bullets and think twice about spamming anyone every again!

    Amy

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  24. I've had a couple spammers on my blog. It's really too bad, because the safeguards we are forced to use make it hard for people who do not blog to leave comments. People find my blog through search engines, and I'd like to hear from them, but don't.

    Tina, I subscribe to the comments on the blogs I leave comments on. I noticed someone left spam on several of the comments, and I was thinking it was on more than one blog, but I'm not sure. I'm wondering if it was Skywatch ones.

    I usually do report spam email, but when it involves blog comments, I haven't. I'll have to remember it was you who told us how to.

    I hope this doesn't happen again.

    Sue

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  25. Hi Tina - I've noticed more spammers lately it seems and your information has been very informative for me. Thanks for doing all that legwork!

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  26. Thanks for the useful info, Tina--I noticed you'd started moderating comments. Great detective work (maybe you could write a novel about a blogging detective who gardens . . .)

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  27. Hi Cosmo, You are busy this morning for sure and I'm happy to hear from you. The spammer's comments were posted to six posts, the newest one about a week ago. So I thought it prudent to moderate the older posts. It will prevent those ads next time. Sorry about it. I was quite shocked to see on my email something that said to "Publish" "Reject" and something else. Of course I publish all legit comments. This guy just made me SO mad. I may change it back at some point. But to think a person is sitting on the other end of a computer and searching out people to spam-it is awful. Anyhow, I am hoping the info in this post will help others and warn still others. We shall see. hugs tina

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  28. Those pesky Spammer are such an intrusion on our lives... Argggggg...

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  29. Good for you Tina. I think it's wonderful you tracked him down. It's so discouraging when these kinds of things happen, makes you wonder if its worth it to blog at all and put yourself "out there."

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  30. Thanks for the public service announcement. Spammers are truly a lower lifeform.

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  31. Thanks all! It is SO frustrating, but I will deal with it all, that delete button works well:)

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  32. I had several comments from "John" on my blog as well. I usually just delete them because I did't know there was actually anything else I could do. Good for you for going after him. I think he must be in hiding now.

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  33. Thanks Robin. This guy was quite irritating to me and I was fortunate to be able to track him down. He still hasn't returned my call. Go figure. I am not sure my sleuth work will make a difference, but it was a small battle won for me! Have a great day!

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