Please make them stop sending me this stuff. My mommy and my daddy don't like me looking at these things. I had help finding out where to send this but I typed it in all by myself.
[ I just don't bother to tell them my age (60) or the fact that the "help" was from Sam Spade. ]
cc: [abuse@<spammer's ISP> or postmaster@<spammer's ISP> goes here] US Postal Inspection Service <jcheezum@uspis.gov>, National Fraud Information Center <fraudinfo@psinet.com>, uce@ftc.gov Subject: Illegal pyramid scheme. Thank you for your unwanted and illegal e-mail pyramid scheme. Your e-mail has been forwarded to the FTC (uce@ftc.gov). You have also been reported to the National Fraud Information Center (NFIC), a non-governmental organization which deals with these things. This agency (fraudinfo@psinet.com) was formed by large commercial companies and the state's attorneys general. Their purpose is organize, classify, and forward potential fraud material to the appropriate body: the state Attorney General, FTC, FBI, Secret Service, etc. As this sort of email fraud falls under the jurisdiction of postal fraud when the mail is used to receive payment, a copy of your post has also been forwarded to the US Postal Inspection Service (jcheezum@uspis.gov). In addition, by copy of this email, your Internet Provider's Postmaster or abuse department has also been notified of your illegal message. Chain letters are a form of gambling, and sending them through the mail (or delivering them in person or by computer, but mailing money to participate) violates Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute. If in doubt, see the U.S. Postal Service's confirmation of this fact at http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm or http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1302.html . It is also in violation of Section 206 (1) (e) of the Criminal Code of Canada which you can see at http://insight.mcmaster.ca/org/efc/pages/law/cc/cc-text.html and in violation of Section 55.1 of the Competition Act (C-34) of Canada which can be found at: http://canada.justice.gc.ca/ftp/en/laws/chap/c/c-34.txt .
[ Next paragraph deleted if not applicable or changed if they are "selling" memberships on a mailing list: ]
Note that "selling" a "report" does not convert this from an illegal pyramid scheme to a legitimate Multi-Level Marketing plan if the only incentive for "buying" the "report" is to get in on the pyramid. Have a nice day.
May I suggest that you take the time to read some of the resources at: "Using the Internet To Advertise Successfully (An Index)" http://www.coyotecom.com/advertise.html "ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND PROMOTION FOR FREE!!! http://www.stop-spam.org/On-Line_Marketing/ Opt-In Email information: http://www.stop-spam.org/On-Line_Marketing/OPT-IN_Email/ "We are not opposed to Commerce" http://spam.abuse.net/overview/dweebs.shtml "Help for marketers" http://spam.abuse.net/marketerhelp/ "Some good ways to market on the Internet" http://spam.abuse.net/marketerhelp/good-marketing.shtml Marketing on the Internet without Spamming http://www.tincher.to/market.htm "Advertising on Usenet: How To Do It, How Not To Do It" ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/news/misc/Advertising_on_Usenet%3A_How_To_Do_It%2C_How_Not_To_Do_It and: "FAQ: How To Announce Your New Web Site" http://ep.com/faq/webannounce.html and then eschew the use of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail as a means of advertising in the future? Other sites you might find enlightening are: Spam Laws http://www.spamlaws.com/ Welcome...Information Commissioner/data protection/freedom of Information http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/ data protection guidance & other publications http://wood.ccta.gov.uk/dpr/dpdoc.nsf Data Protection Act 1998 http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm The Australian Privacy Commissioner's Web site http://www.privacy.gov.au/ Guides to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act [Canada] http://www.privcom.gc.ca/legislation/index_e.asp MAPS RBL Candidacy http://mail-abuse.org/rbl/candidacy.html Midday Express http://www.tarnium.fr/EUROPE/midday.htm Spam Costs Users $9.4 Billion - EU Study http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/161432.html Commission study: "Junk" e-mail costs internet users euro 10 billion a year worldwide http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/dataprot/studies/spam.htm ROWAN v. U. S. POST OFFICE DEPT. , 397 U.S. 728 (1970) http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=397&invol=728 Save the Internet: Stop Spam http://www.robertstech.com/spam.htm Whitehat Inc. http://www.whitehat.com/whi-index.cfm Whitehat Inc. -- introduction http://www.whitehat.com/interactive/bestpractices.cfm "Why is spam bad?" http://spam.abuse.net/overview/spambad.shtml "Why spam is bad" http://spam.abuse.net/others/why-bad.shtml "The Email Abuse FAQ, Version 2.02" ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/news/admin/net-abuse/email/The_Email_Abuse_FAQ%2C_Version_2.02 It would be a shame if you lost the good will of potential customers [or supporters] by engaging in sending UCE and getting associated with others who do -- those sending illegal pyramid schemes or (sometimes) marginally-legal Multi-Level Marketing schemes, dubious weight-loss formulae, web-promotion services by those who promise to increase your site's exposure in search-engines (and have fewer links show up in the search engines than my site does when I not even trying to get the exposure), pornographic web sites, gambling services illegal in the countries they advertise to, baldness cures, sex books, illegal credit-repair scams, dubious "make $10,000 per week in your spare time" schemes, and junk mail software and lists of e-mail addresses guaranteed to be targeted but are virtually certain to contain the address of everyone who has ever complained about junk e-mail on the news.admin.net-abuse.email newsgroup. Had I encountered your site, product, or service by any other means, I may have become a customer [or supporter] of yours. However, as is stated at http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/Profile.html#Contact on my web site, "I refuse to purchase ANYTHING that is advertised by means of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail." Since your message appears to be promoting legitimate products or services [or causes] your mass e-mailing may have been done in ignorance of Internet etiquette so I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and am not informing your ISP this time. I will welcome any queries from you on this subject provided you really wish to learn more about how to market your products or services without spamming. I do not welcome any more promotions. Informatively yours,
Hello,
Below my signature block is a copy of a recent message that arrived in my
mailbox. Somebody in the United States of America has made unauthorised
use of your computer to relay Unsolicited Commercial Email.
Information on preventing this can be found at:
http://www.ayamura.org/interop98/
http://www.janog.gr.jp
http://www.jpcert.or.jp/
ftp://ftp.jpcert.or.jp/pub/security/tools/CF/
More information but only in English can be found at:
http://mail-abuse.org/tsi/
http://mail-abuse.org/tsi/ar-fix.html
Sincerely and helpfully yours,
[ I was using the URL, http://www.ayamura.org/mail/anti_relay.html in my boilerplates but have been informed that it is no longer valid. ]