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.
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