Well done Australia

**lynx** · 09-08-2006, 03:05 PM

I've recently been getting a mass of spam emails from what appears to be an Australian employment agency, always in pairs and usually about 5 pairs each day. They were just sufficiently different to get past spam blockers, though I suppose I could have configured them if I'd really tried. These things usually only last a short time, so I didn't bother at first.

After a week, having checked that I hadn't missed an unsubscribe link on the email or on the web and made an unresponsive complaint to the ISP, I decided to try to do something about it. I'd heard about an Australian anti-spam agency, so on Wednesday evening I looked it up and submitted my complaint. I got an immediate auto-generated response, but that effectively told me not to expect action quickly because of the number of complaints they receive.

However, about 6 hours later I received a personalised response, which told me that the email had actually originated outside Australia, but that the site was probably a money-laundering scam. Consequently they were passing the details of my complaint the the Australian High Tech Crime Centre.

I haven't heard (nor did I expect to hear) anything from the AHTCC, but whatever they did it has certainly been effective. I got another 2 pairs of emails, then they've stopped.

If other countries would set up agencies such as this we might have a chance of beating the spammers once and for all.

Once again I say, Well done Australia.

**suedenim** · 10-06-2006, 10:00 AM

I agree whole heartedly - we absolutely need a joint effort from all countries as the internet knows nothing (or almost nothing!) about national boundaries or territories.

Attacks come from anywhere and it's very easy to spoof originating IP addresses.