Help !!!! They keep Bugging Me!!!!

Ever had some group target you for a harassment campaign?

Here are some ways to fight back.

Stopping E-mail Harassment

Sometimes, people won't quit. That is a reality that impacts all of us. But, there are ways to fight back if someone has targeted you for an E-mail campaign. Some of these suggestions you can do yourself, on your own PC. Others need a little more creativity. I will add more suggestions as additional information becomes available, so keep checking back.

1. If you are on AOL, Prodigy, or MSN contact the e-mail admin and tell them that you are receiving unsolicited e-mails. They will explain how to stop them.

2. If you are using Outlook (or any other POP3 based E-mail system) you can set Outlook to block, ignore, re-direct, or delete any message based on the address or description. Go to the home page for your software and find the directions to block this traffic. 

The above options won't stop someone from sending the E-mail, but you won't see or get it.

To Fight Back you need to :

3. Contact the sender's ISP (Internet Services Provider, the something.com after their account name) and inform them of the infraction. This option works best if the offending party is on one of the "ALL In One" online services (AOL, MSN, Prodigy). You must identify the account name and ISP for the offending Parties address. it will be in the form of me@myISP.com . if the address is something like me@aol.com   just reply to the sender's e-mail and add (AOL ONLY) tosemail1@aol.com as one of the recipients. Explain to tosemail1@aol.com  that the person in the attached note is violating the TOS (Terms of Service) for AOL by sending offensive mail. Once the person has received enough complaints, AOL will drop them like a HOT BRICK.  AOL has dropped several folks that I sent to them this way already.

If the address was something@MSN.com or something@hotmail.com forward the entire message to abuse@hotmail.com and explain to them that this person is threatening or harassing you. Hotmail has also dropped several folks who sent nasty e-mails.

If the address was something like me@MyISP.com (insert anything in any of those fields) then try responding to the E-mail and adding default@MyISP.com (keep the default@ in there but insert the appropriate name for the MyISP.com part, for instance if the person was using Sprint, the full address would be default@sprint.net) and explain that the person in this e-mail was sending offensive material to you, unsolicited, and request that they take action against them. I did this to some folks who sent me threats from their work address, and they were terminated. Companies don't like folks sending offensive E-mails, and I don't like getting them. And the companies send you notes asking for forgiveness.

Folks, I don't like doing this, but the harassment MUST stop.

Telephone Abuse

Telephone threats are against the law. Period. You can have the offending party arrested once they have been identified. In order to identify them, follow these suggestions.

1. Have ANI (Automatic Number Identification) (Also known as Caller ID) turned on through your local phone company. You will also need to purchase (either from the same phone company, or an electronics store like Best Buys or Radio Shack) an ANI (Caller ID) display unit. Get one with a large memory. This will allow you to see exactly who called you. You will also need to have Anonymous Caller Rejection turned on through your phone company. This blocks any call to you that doesn't have the ANI included. Some people have their ANI blocked to keep them from being able to be identified. 

2. Use *69. This service is available in most major cities. After someone has called you, pick up the phone and press *69. If the number was not blocked, a recording should repeat back to you the number that just called you. There is usually a per use charge associated with this.

Once you have the number that is associated with the caller, contact your local law enforcement. They will ask you to detail exactly when the call (s) took place, and you will need to detail exactly what was said, and the type of threats that were made. If this happens on a constant basis, consider buying a recorder that attaches to your phone receiver, and record the offending calls. Make sure and CLEARLY state to the offending party that you are recording the call.

Snail Mail (US Postal Service) Abuse

 If you receive any mail that is threatening, contact your local post master, and turn over the offending mail. Once the person who sent the mail has been located, they will be arrested.

If you get any package that looks strange, and you don't know the sender (or if there is no return address) contact your local post master. They will explain what to do with the package, but whatever you do, DON'T OPEN IT!!!!

Internet Hackers

Again, the brutal reality is that someone will try to hack into your web site, your network, or your individual PC. There are MANY programs out there, but I use a program called AVG (Look them up through your favorite search engine. I would put the link here, but you know THAT story). This program is great. It will detail for you the exact IP address of the person that is attempting to hack you. This is the address that you need to identify them. You can set the threshold for alerting you from mild to PARANOID. Needless to say, I am set to PARANOID. If you use a cable modem or DSL, getting a program like this is almost mandatory.

Those Crazy People Came to my House/Work!!!

This one gets a little rough. First, you MUST have no trespassing (or no soliciting) signs posted EVERYWHERE so they can be clearly seen. If you don't have the signs up, the police will just ask them to leave. The people can claim that they didn't know Blah...Blah.. If there are signs up, call the police and have them arrested. Press charges, and make it stick. If you don't press charges, they will keep coming back. If they keep coming back, get a court order banning them from your property. Then have them arrested again. You may also want to get a real big dog. I have 4 outside dogs that enjoy new people like that. The dogs say that the AR folks taste just like chicken. I wouldn't know.

Oh No!! These Idiots are trashing me on a Message Board!!

Let's say that you joined a message board, or a group, on the Internet. You wanted to find people just like you, and maybe learn a few things. Well, after a while, what you learn is that these people are nuts, and are now trashing you on the message board because of some comment, or whatever. First, don't fight back. Don't attempt to post a reply to every slam. This will not work, and all you are doing is providing them the entertainment that they were craving. Just calm down, and realize that these people are hiding from the real world, cloaked behind some character name on the message board. They are attacking you, and giving you no way to properly respond. The more you fight it, the worse it gets.

What can you do? Well first, contact the owner of the web site, or the moderator of the board. Explain that you are being trashed, and you want the messages removed right away. Also, ask them to post a message explaining that you have requested that the messages be removed, and that no further messages concerning the subject should be posted. If any are after that time, ask the web site owner to ban the offending people from posting.

If the web site owner does not respond in a reasonable time frame, send them a letter by US-Mail to the address as found by looking up the site at www.networksolutions.com . If you STILL don't get a response, have your attorney drop them a line.

More will be added ..........